What better birthday gift could Jasiah Watson ask for than a career-high in rushing yards.

The Oswego East senior ran for 208 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead the visiting Wolves to a 24-7 victory over Willowbrook Friday night in Villa Park.

Running behind an offensive line of Rocco LaCalamita, Anthony Thornley, Zane Hotchkiss, Connor Griffin and Jeremiah Smith (and later Greyson Hohimer), Watson found the endzone on scampers of 14 and six-yards.

“That was very cool,” said Watson, who carried the ball 31 times. “I made some good memories today. Our O-line really stepped it up and they helped me. I was able to break some tackles but I couldn’t have done anything without my O-line. They made it easy for me. I saw the gaps and hit the hole. Just ran hard. The first person can never take me down, that is my mindset.”

Caden Bregar added a 24-yard field goal which kicked off the scoring late in the first quarter and quarterback Niko Villacci put the game out of reach with a six-yard TD with three minutes remaining. Villacci ran for 64 yards on 11 attempts.

Oswego East (2-0), which was coming off a 41-0 shutout of Joliet West in week one, also forced three turnovers on defense, with Jamari McKay and Kameron Williams both notching interceptions and Zamarion Taylor recovering a fumble. Frank English also tallied a pair of sacks.

“They’ve got some guys who can go (on offense),” said Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc, “and their quarterback is a pretty special player. I’m proud of our overall effort. We talked about controlling the second half and I thought we did that.

“Their (Willowbrook) program is very-well respected, when we got them on the schedule we knew it would be a battle. They are so well-coached. Anytime you can win on a Friday night but especially against a really good program is a great thing.”

After falling 28-21 to Glenbard East in their opener, the Warriors (0-2), who were 1-3 a year ago before reaching the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, once again struggled to sustain anything on offense.

Willowbrook did pull within 10-7 with 31 seconds to go before halftime on a six-yard pass from Jahonise Reed to Hayden Roscoe. Reed threw for 229 yards while Roscoe hauled in five passes for 92 yards.

Roscoe also had an interception on defense, as did Aris Neal.

“Just no rhythm,” said Willowbrook coach Nick Hildreth, whose team opens up conference play against Leyden next week. “There were plays there that were missed and then three turnovers. We weren’t physical on defense, established no rhythm and drives. That’s how you lose football games.

“It’s beyond frustrating. Every team develops their own identity and we haven’t done that yet. It’s up to us as a staff to figure that out. They (Oswego East) have a good football team and they controlled the line of scrimmage but I still think we beat ourselves and put ourselves in bad spots. There is no panic but we have to figure it out.”