CHADRON, Neb. - The Chadron State College football season officially will be 13 weeks old on Saturday when the Eagles host Northwest Missouri State in the NCAA Division II playoff game.

It's only been about half that long for right guard Mike Aimone, who missed the first six weeks with a broken left fibula.

Because every player hates to be short-changed by an injury, it's not surprising that he wants the Eagles to keep winning.

"Since I didn't get to play the first half of the season, I'm really hoping we can keep playing. Then, it'll feel more like I played a full season," the 5-foot-11, 285-pound senior from Kemmerer, Wyo., said. "It was hard on me to miss those early games after I'd won a starting job. I feel like I've come back pretty well and hope we can play three more games."

Three more games would take Aimone (pronounced I-moanee) and his teammates to the national championship game in Florence, Ala., on Saturday, Dec. 15. That's been the Eagles' goal all along and one that drew much closer after they pulled out their rousing 76-73 victory over Abilene Christian in triple overtime last Saturday.

Now, the Eagles have another major hurdle to clear with the Northwest Missouri Bearcats coming to Chadron.

"I've seen a quite a bit of film on them," Aimone said. "Their defensive tackles (the players he'll be blocking) are big and good. I'm sure they have the best defensive line we've seen all year, but we're doing our best to get ready."

Aimone is a second-generation Chadron State football player. His father, Joe, was a stellar linebacker for the Eagles in the mid-1970s. Unfortunately, Joe never got to see his son play for the Eagles.

He died of cancer in the fall of 2005, shortly after Mike transferred to CSC from Weber State.

Chadron State tried to lure Mike to the Western Nebraska campus after he had had a great career at Kemmerer High. He was a two-time all-state football selection, was the Class 3A heavyweight champion at the state wrestling tournament and won the shot put and was second in the discus at the state track meet. To top it all off, he was the recipient of the Milward Simpson Award that goes to Wyoming's outstanding high school male athlete.

With those credentials, it's natural that Aimone was heavily recruited by other schools. He eventually selected Division I-AA Weber State of Ogden, Utah, which is only about 1 ½ hours from Kemmerer compared to nearly eight to Chadron. He spent two years with the Weber State football team, the first as a redshirt and the next on the scout team, before making the switch.

"I should have come here in the first place," he said. "But things have still turned out all right."

Aimone played defensive tackle his first year at CSC, but he "weighed more than he should have (at least 300)," in his words, and his father's illness and death interrupted the season, limiting his playing time.

In the spring of 2006, Aimone switched to the offensive line, but with four returning starters, all of whom remained healthy, he again didn't see much action. However, since three of them were seniors last fall, Aimone saw his chance to finally get on the field.

Last spring, while also competing in the throws for the track and field team, Aimone concentrated on losing weight to increase his agility and endurance. He was among more than two dozen Eagles who stayed in Chadron during the summer so they could work out almost daily in an effort to make the most out of the 2007 season.

There were numerous contenders for the open spots in the Eagles' offensive front when fall camp opened, but head coach Bill O'Boyle, who also coaches the line, recalls that Aimone claimed the right guard slot fairly soon after practice began.

"He was in great shape because he worked so hard all summer and he already knew the offense really well because he's so smart," O'Boyle said. "I was sure we had filled one of the holes in the line with a player who would do a great job."

Then, disaster struck. Just a week before the Eagles were to open the season at Washburn, Aimone suffered the broken bone in his lower left leg. It happened during contact when he was inadvertantly kicked while making a cut block.

Doctors initially estimated Aimone would be out about four weeks, but it was nearly six before he could run without pain and move horizontally. He finally got his first action in the seventh game on Oct. 13 against Fort Lewis. Although he had been swimming and jogging prior to getting the green light to play, he admits that it took several weeks before he was even close to being in what might be called "game shape."

"Mike had earned the starting job during the preseason, so as soon as he was ready, we put him in the lineup. It's my rule that a player never loses his job because of an injury," O'Boyle explained.

To help him get back in top condition, O'Boyle kept Aimone on the field nearly full-time in a couple of late-season blowouts while most of the other starting linemen were replaced by alternates. Then came last Saturday's playoff game in which he again went the route, all four hours of it. He was on the field a total of 138 plays. Broken down, they were 62 pass plays, 54 running plays, 11 conversion attempts and one field goal try.

"I was exhausted both physically and mentally afterwards, but I guess I must be in pretty good shape because I made it through the whole game," he said this week.

Aimone, who is majoring in physical education, so he can follow in his father's footsteps as a teacher and coach, is one of the Eagles' many outstanding scholar-athletes. He has a 3.76 cumulative grade-point average and last spring was among the 25 upperclassmen selected by the faculty for inclusion in Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.

But he's not satisfied. He wants to be one of the reasons why the Eagles have gone farther than ever before in the football playoffs - all the way to Alabama. That would make his season and career complete.