By Dan Shriner
Football Correspondent
There may have been whispers around the Flint Metro League after two weeks of play that perennial football powerhouse Oxford may be in trouble after an 0-2 start in which the team failed to score a touchdown in eight quarters.
Coach Bud Rowley wasn’t worried, though. The Wildcats had played two very good teams in Orchard Lake St. Mary and Davison and could have beaten Davison with a break or two.
In the opening match Friday night the Wildcats faced a Holly team that was expected to be improved over previous seasons. The question about whether Oxford was in trouble was emphatically answered as the Wildcats rolled to a 47-14 win. Five of the seven touchdowns came on big plays, from 33 to 73 yards.
Quarterback Billy Keenist led the way by scoring three touchdowns, on runs of five, 57 and 54 yards and passed for another TD of 46 yards.
Keenist ran for a varsity career-high of 134 yards. He also passed for 50 yards, all in the first half, including the 46-yard TD. He nearly scored a fourth touchdown but was tripped up after an 18-yard run by the final Holly defender. The senior signal-caller didn’t attempt a pass in the second half as the Wildcats? ground game was in top form.
The Wildcats first touchdown came on the team’s second possession of the game. Chris Harper set up the score by returning a punt 52 yards down to the Holly eight yard line.
Nick Murray went the final yard for the score. Zach Wasylyna kicked the first of his five conversions.
The Wildcats began to establish a strong ground attack on their second possession, using Sergio Schlak to pick up sizeable chunks of yards. Keenist went the final five yards for the score to open a 14-0 lead with 9:22 left in the second quarter.
Holly’s Korey Chenoweth gave the Bronchos a little hope by scoring on a 41-yard run around the team’s right side. A conversion by Jamey Gavel made it a 14-7 margin with 6:59 left before halftime.
The Wildcats scored twice more before halftime. Keenist scored on a 57-yard run, the longest scamper of his varsity career, with 4:38 left.
Keenist then connected with Harper on a 46-yard pass down the left side with 1:51 left before intermission.
The Wildcats had 197 yards in offense the first half, to 95 for Holly. The team continued its solid ground attack in the third quarter, while freely substituting players. Joel Fortier scored on a 33-yard run with 9:23 left in the quarter.
Five minutes later Keenist took off on a 54-yard TD scamper to give the Wildcats a 41-7 lead with 4:25 left in the third quarter. Vinnie Ives scored the Cat’s final touchdown on the longest run of the night, 73 yards, on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Holly added a final TD and conversion to make the score 47-14. Oxford finished with 413 yards in offense, including 363 rushing. In addition to the 134 yards rushing by Keenist, Schlak ran for 75 and Ives for 78.
Rowley praised his team for continuing to work hard and not let the two previous losses affect them.
‘The kids needed this,? he said.
On Friday, Oxford will travel to Clio for a 7 p.m. match. It is the first time the teams will play against each another since the Mustangs joined the Flint Metro League this year. Clio is winless so far, having lost their first league game last week to Fenton.