The Huskies football’s team defensive line could be called the “Wisconsin Connection.”

Their teammates prefer to call them “cheeseheads.”

Defensive ends Cary Caliendo (Brookfield) and Scott Van Bellinger (Green Bay) and tackles Eric White (Barronett), Rob Wagner (Waukesha) and Tom Osteen (New Berlin) all hail from the Dairy State. They are a small minority within their basically Illinois-based fellow Huskies.

“Right away I became friends with them because we take a lot of crap from you guys (Illinoisians),” Wagner said. “We’ve got to stick together.”

White best explained the chain of events that took part in the assembling of this year’s defensive line.

“I played in the Shrine Bowl in high school with Scott, I met Cary on my recruiting trip and then Scott and I were Wagner’s hosts when he came down last year,” he said. “We all lived together this summer and worked out together and that helped out a lot coming into the season.”

Osteen also played against Van Bellinger and competed with Wagner in his prep days.

“Scott and I played against each other in high school,” he said. “I competed against Wags in track and heard a lot about him because he was a 6-4, 230 pound fullback. I played with him in the Shrine Bowl, too.”

Caliendo has made his mark in Huskies football by surpassing the career tackles-for-loss record of 47. He now has 12 tackles-for-loss this season bringing his career total to 52. He also leads the team in sacks with four.

Being friends makes their respective jobs easier, White said.

“You’ve got to have a lot of faith in the guy next to you,” he said. “You’ve got to know that he’s doing his job so all you have to do is yours. When you’re close friends with all the guys next to you, it’s a lot easier.”