The road Oxford is taking in defense of its Flint Metro League football title got bumpy last week when the Fenton Tigers handed the Wildcats their first loss of the year, 24-14.
The loss put Oxford into a three-way tie for second place in the league with Fenton and Lapeer East all with 3-1 records. Linden sits alone in first place at 4-0.
On Friday, Oxford will host Brandon in a 7 p.m. game. The Blackhawks are 2-2.
Going into last Friday’s game, Oxford had won nine consecutive times against Fenton, the lost loss coming in 1998.
The Wildcats scored first in the game, which was set up on a 55-yard run by Geoffrey Charles on the opening kickoff. Nick Tombrella ran the final 14 yards to give Oxford a 7-0 lead with 10:01 left in the quarter.
This team was not the Fenton Tigers of the past few years, including last year when the team was 2-7.
First-year quarterback Tyler Hamilton had 243 yards in total offense for Fenton.
Following Oxford’s initial TD, Fenton struck less than 30 seconds later to tie the game. The score came on a reverse and pass option play from 53 yards.
The Tigers added a field goal with a minute left in the quarter to go ahead 10-7.
Oxford’s Tombrella scored his second TD with 6:24 left in the second quarter to put the Cat’s up 14-10 after Matt Versteeg’s second conversion. The score were the only points of the second quarter by either team.
The Wildcat’s defense did a good job of holding Fenton to only 10 points in the first half, forcing two turnovers.
But, in the third quarter, Fenton’s defense turned the tables and held the Wildcat’s to very little offense, shutting down the Cat’s running and passing games. Fenton used a solid running game to put the game away.
The Tigers went ahead for good with 4:27 left in the third quarter. QB Hamilton scored on a 31-yard run with 5:14 left in the fourth quarter to put the Tigers up by 10.
Hamilton finished with 125 yards rushing and 118 passing for Fenton.
The Wildcats has only 109 rushing yards and 43 passing.