Ammar Banire knew Friday was going to be a special night before he even put on his uniform.

It was the eve of his 16th birthday.

On top of that, the Oswego sophomore’s mom, Yewande Banire, was watching her son play high school football for the first time.

A family nurse practitioner who travels the world, she just got back from Nigeria in time for Friday’s 21st crosstown game.

“That was special. I had to ball out for her,” Banire said. “I’m ready to go see her now.”

Banire made a special night unforgettable.

He rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries in a breakout performance. He sparked Oswego, which scored the game’s final 20 points in the second half, to a 33-21 win over visiting Oswego East at Ken Pickerill Stadium.

Banire’s 13-yard touchdown around left end closed Oswego (6-2, 2-2 Southwest Prairie West) within 21-19 with 7:51 left in the third quarter.

His 12-yard TD, with 2:18 left, closed out the scoring.

“He showed tonight the potential that we knew he could do,” Oswego coach Brian Cooney said. “As a sophomore he didn’t have many carries last week at all. He showed some raw talent. I would say for a kid as young as he is, he has some definite upside.”

Banire’s been up with Oswego varsity since the summer, part of a rotation of running backs. But his No. 34 is not even listed on Oswego’s varsity roster, a detail Banire laughed off.

He means business, though, with the ball in his hands.

At 6-foot-2, with long strides, Banire hits the hole like a rocket.

His insertion in Oswego’s second drive of Friday’s game coincided with its first score. He had five carries in a drive that ended with Graham Schwab’s 9-yard TD run.

Banire had four of five carries on the scoring drive that ended with his 13-yard TD, answering Jasiah Watson’s 1-yard TD for Oswego East to start the second half.

Where did his hard-running style come from?

“That comes from hours of watching Adrian Peterson,” Banire said, referring to the former NFL All-Pro. “All types of hours, and my dad put it on me, 30 minutes of film each day, 30 minutes of work.”

Banire said he started to prove himself with two TDs against Joliet West. From there it’s a matter of progressing, not slowing down."

“Don’t ever look back,” Banire said. “I know my teammates and coaches believe in me. That confidence has always been there.”

“His vision is getting better, his confidence is getting better,” Cooney said. “The problem before was any time he got it he wanted go go outside, and he’s lanky. He has to learn to lower his shoulder.

“He will learn to take some body blows until he learns how to protect himself. It’s exciting for me to watch. His stride has to be two yards. His upside is exciting.”

Banire gave the Oswego offense a jolt it needed, coming off recent losses to Yorkville and Minooka, in which it scored a combined nine points.

Oswego took the lead for good with 2:52 left in the third quarter on Drew Kleinhans’ 94-yard TD pass to Mariano Velasco on a short catch-and-run.

Kleinhans was 8-for-13 passing for 205 yards.

“I think we turned the corner,” Cooney said.

Defending the deep ball hurt Oswego East (6-2, 2-2), which led 14-13 at halftime.

Schwab’s TD run was set up by a Teddy Manikas 43-yard catch, and Banire’s first TD run was preceded by two Wolves’ penalties on passes.

Kleinhans’ 27-yard pass to Caleb Miller on third and long led to Banire’s last score.

“Defensively, we have to do a better job when the ball is in the air,” Oswego East coach Tyson LeBlanc said. “You talk about 50/50 balls, tonight they were not 50/50. We either got penalized or they came down with it.”

Niko Villacci was 9-for-15 passing for 118 yards and a spectacular 36-yard TD pass to Donavin Eason in the final minutes of the first half for Oswego East, a play where he looked sacked, spun free, and fired a dart.

That gave the Wolves a 14-7 lead, but two Kaleb Stumpenhorst field goals in the final 7.1 seconds of the half – the second after Oswego East fumbled the kickoff – got Oswego within 14-13.

Oswego returned the favor to start the second half, fumbling the kickoff and it turned into a Watson TD run.

Watson rushed for two TDs, but Oswego East’s standout back with over 1,000 yards through six games was held to just 69 yards.

Oswego East’s last three possessions of the game ended with two three-and-outs and an interception.

“We wanted to establish the run, struggled to do that tonight. We put ourselves in third and long situations and that’s not where we want to live,” LeBlanc said. “No team can succeed in that situation. Niko played well. We haven’t had to utilize it [the passing game) as much. Tonight we did, and it was obvious that we needed to.”