If there is one thing that Oxford football is noted for, it is a relentless and punishing ground attack.
On Friday, that attack resulted in a 28-20 Wildcat victory over Romeo.
Looking at a 14-14 halftime deadlock, Coach Bud Rowley’s Wildcats unleashed an opening drive in the third quarter that chewed up 9:52 of the 12-minute period to take a 21-14 lead that they never relinquished. The 19-play and 82-yard drive was typical Oxford football with all running plays.
Quarterback Glacier Wallington scored the touchdown to culminate the massive drive with a TD from inside the one yard line.
The score gave the Cats a 21-14 lead with 2:14 left in the third quarter.
After the game, Rowley said he was not surprised at the drive and said that is the kind of thing that his team practices every day.
‘That’s pretty much what we do, Rowley said. ‘We run the ball well. We controlled the ball and ran time off the clock. We’re going to enjoy this one and get ready for next week.?
All of the 19 plays were running plays, the last being a 1-yard touchdown run by Glacier Wallington with 2:14 left in the third quarter to give Oxford a 21-14 lead.
The teams were evenly matched and traded scores throughout the game. Oxford scored first on a one-yard run from Wallington at the 8:42 mark. Noah Grove kicked the first of his four extra points to give Oxford a 7-0 lead to start.
Romeo tied the score with 2:11 left in the quarter.
Oxford took a 14-7 lead on a 26-yard pass from Wallington to Will Horne. Romeo tied the score before halftime at 14-14.
Oxford took the 21-14 lead in the third quarter with its epic drive. Romeo again came back to score with 1023 left in the fourth quarter. On the extra point attempt, Horne broke through the center of the Bulldog line to block the extra point.
Horne said following the game that he thought he could get a good rush on the PAT attempt.
‘He wasn’t blocking that well on the prior two kicks so I timed it well and got through,? Horne said.
Later in the fourth quarter, the Oxford defense held Romeo on downs and they were forced to punt from deep inside their territory. The punt went only seven yards giving the Wildcats possession inside the 30 yard line. Scott Stubenrauch then ran 21 yards for the final score with only 4:24 left in the game.