HANOVER — Win and they’re in. That’s the playoff entry challenge facing Hanover High’s football players and coaches on Friday night at undefeated Pelham.

Key to the Bears’ efforts will be sophomore Jaysen Oriol, 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, whose surprising emergence as a running back in recent weeks could help Hanover (4-3) reach the playoffs for a third consecutive year.

This is no simple case of hand the ball to Biggie and watch him plow between the tackles, however. Oriol is more than capable of such use, but he runs the 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds, competes in the 100-meter dash during track season and loves to swing outside and blaze up the sideline.

“I have the speed to bounce it outside, and it’s hard for linebackers and cornerbacks to tackle me,” said Oriol, who in three games has rushed for nearly 400 yards and five touchdowns, one of them covering 70 yards. “A lot of guys my size are strong but can’t move like me.”

Said Hanover coach Sam Cavallaro: “He has very good vision and sets up his blocks well and explodes off of them. By the second and third quarter, guys don’t want to tackle him anymore.”

Also an effective post player in basketball, Oriol inherited uncommon Polish-Haitian heritage from his parents, mother Kasia and father John, and began playing football in Lebanon in sixth grade because Hanover didn’t then offer the sport’s tackle version.

Moving back to Hanover’s gridiron for the next two seasons, Oriol would occasionally enter at running back but scored often enough that he’d quickly be returned to the line.

Oriol also plays defensive end and, for his first season and a half of varsity football, lined up as a tight end on offense. However, when Bears running backs Jeffrey Vidou and David Frechette were injured earlier this season, Cavallaro asked No. 88 if he’d be up for a few turns toting the rock.

Oriol now knows about 90% of the plays from a running back’s perspective. Hanover began the season 3-1 but has lost two of its last three contests.

“He ran for some long touchdowns on JV last year, so we gave him a shot,” said Cavallaro, who’s seen Oriol progress at running by using a lower stance and better securing the ball. “Having him and Jeffrey in the same backfield makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.”

Cavallaro said Oriol’s defensive experience in basketball allows him to excel at pass blocking, particularly in picking up blitzes and opponents who have broken free to threaten quarterback Roger Lucas. It’s that sort of heady, instinctive play that has most impressed the coach.

“We’re teaching him to shoulder block and lead block, and he’s picked things up much faster than the average player would,” Cavallaro said. “He’s a humble and wicked smart kid. He’s an ultra-competitive team player who wants to learn and he soaks it all up.”

Cavallaro thinks Oriol, who’s partial to math and science, can play at the college level, although at which position he’d be deployed isn’t clear. The youngster rarely comes off the field and bounces up after hard hits, so his endurance isn’t suspect.

“He’ll probably play somewhere else in college, but I cannot see him anywhere but at running back (on offense) for us the next two seasons,” Cavallaro said. “It’s so exciting to think about his potential.”

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.