Oswego was clinging to a 13-7 lead late in Thursday’s IHSA Kankakee Regional semifinal clash with Joliet West, but had to punt the ball away to the Tigers with just under a minute remaining.

The Panthers had held Joliet West off the scoreboard since midway through the first quarter and needed to come up with one more stop to keep their season alive and advance to Thursday’s regional title game against Yorkville.

They got that stop when, with 27 seconds to go, a Joliet West pass found itself in the hands of Oswego junior Jazmin Hurston for a game-sealing interception.

“I just wanted to make sure I got the ball,” Huston said on what was going through her mind once she saw the ball headed in her direction. “At the beginning of the season I was getting a lot of interceptions, and then I died down a little bit. I wanted to make sure I was back at it.

“Interceptions, I love them.”

That interception was Oswego’s second of the game, coming a little under three minutes after Sophie Augustine picked off a pass on Joliet West’s previous possession. The Panthers held the Tigers off the scoreboard for the final three and a half quarters while the offense pushed across just enough points to grab the lead.

Their first score came when Leona Bateman caught a pass from quarterback Violette Wisniowicz and broke free along the sideline for a 72-yard touchdown. A conversion pass to Alexis Fomby tied the score 7-7 with 9:41 to go in the second quarter.

Oswego’s game-winning score came with 9:58 to go in the third quarter when Wisniowicz connected with Mak Hill in the corner of the end zone on a 14-yard score, putting the Panthers up 13-7.

“I was definitely happy about it, and it definitely helped out my team,” Hill said. “It loosened everyone up, knowing it was a tie score and I scored there, and just gave us that go-ahead.”

While all of the state’s flag football programs are relatively new (the game is in just its second season as an IHSA sport), Oswego was the only team in the semifinals of the Kankakee Regional that is in its first year.

Considering most of the team’s players have half the experience as many of their counterparts, Oswego head coach Abby Jambor said they have done a great job growing throughout the season.

“You see that learning curve that they have to catch up to on kids that have been playing for a year plus. ...” she said. “All we can do it ask that of them, and ask them to continue to put the time in and the grind in. So I think they just deserve this.

“They deserve to be in this opportunity Thursday to make history for Oswego in flag football.”

The Panthers will face a familiar foe in Thursday’s title game – Yorkville, a team that beat them 41-0 back on Sept. 10.

Wisniowicz said that the team has come a long way since the season started, and she’s hoping they can go a little further.

“At the beginning of the season we all made goals for ourselves,” she said. “I think that if we look back, we would be proud of our last selves. On Thursday I look forward to seeing us get better and hopefully doing the same thing we did today.”

For Joliet West, junior Mallory Crisafulli caught a 20-yard touchdown from quarterback Maya Zanzola for the Tigers’ lone score. Zanzola is one of nine seniors the Tigers will miss next season, along with electric 2,800-yard rusher Londyn Clemons.

Head coach Tisha Evans said the team’s returning players can certainly grow from Tuesday’s tough loss.

“It’s going to happen, things are going to bring you down, and you’ve got to just build yourself back up,” she said. “When it comes down to it, this is just a game. The young ones coming up, they’ll learn this lesson and hopefully we’ll be bigger and better next year.”