The standing-room-only crowd at Oxford’s homecoming football game Friday night was treated to a different Wildcat approach in its 31-14 victory over Brandon.
Instead of Oxford’s typical punishing ground attack, the Wildcats flew over the Blackhawks, with quarterback Kyle Rowley tossing a career-best four touchdown passes and Eddie Summers booting a school-record 50-yard field goal.
“We passed the ball very well tonight,” Coach Bud Rowley said after the game. “It was homecoming and everyone had a great time.”
Kyle Rowley threw for 153 yards on 11-for-20 accuracy. He has touchdown passes of eight, 10, 12 and 14 yards, as well as several other pass completions that helped sustain Wildcat drives.
The opening drive of the game was typical of Oxford’s solid passing attack throughout the contest. The Cats began the drive on their 16 yard line.
On the biggest gain of the drive, Rowley hit Steven Flores with a 27-yard pass that Flores wrestled away from a Blackhawk defender who appeared to have intercepted the pass. Rowley also hit David Reile on a 26-yard gain, which put the ball down to the eight. Flores then caught the first of two touchdown grabs.
Oxford didn’t score again until 7:44 left before halftime. Oxford began that drive when Rowley returned a punt 17 yards to Brandon’s 39. After the drive stalled, Coach Rowley sent Summers to attempt the field goal.
The record-setting kick was good from 50 yards. It prompted some Oxford officials to compare Summers with former Wildcat Dave Rayner, who is now kicking field goals for Michigan State University. School officials agree that while Rayner may have had a stronger leg while at Oxford, that Summers’ accuracy has been better and he is deserving of a scholarship.
Summers said following the game that he was not aware that the field goal was the longest in school history and said he is hopeful that colleges become aware of his abilities and perhaps look at him for a scholarship.
“Eddie has done a nice job,” Coach Rowley said.
The Cats next touchdown came on a Brandon turnover. Brian Eldridge pounced on a fumble on a punt at the Blackhawk 25.
Andrew Darin picked up 11 yards on a carry down to the 14 and two plays later Rowley hit Matt Shipman with a 10-yard touchdown pass. The score, coupled with a conversion kick by Summers, gave Oxford a 17-0 halftime lead.
Darin was Oxford’s leading rusher with 100 yards on 14 carries.
Oxford’s next touchdown also followed a Blackhawk turnover. Kris Wright intercepted a pass and the Cat’s got the ball on Brandon’s 39.
The drive concluded with a 12-yard pass from Rowley to Reile with 7:22 left in the third quarter. The conversion gave the Wildcats a 24-0 advantage.
Brandon then came right back after taking the ball on their 20 yard line. On an option from quarterback Andy Burch, Derek Foyt took a pitch and ran 80 yards for a score. Mike Cybulski then kicked the first of his two conversions.
The Wildcats’ final score came with 3:03 left on a 14 yard touchdown pass from Rowley to Flores. The score and conversion gave Oxford a 31-7 lead with 3:03 left in the third quarter.
The Blackhawks, who did a good job of keeping Oxford’s running game below its typical efficiency, then made a strong goal line stand. The Wildcats drove the ball down to the one-yard line and failed on three consecutive attempts to score on running plays.
The Wildcat defense then stopped Brandon but fumbled a punt return, giving the Blackhawks the ball back on their own 30.
Burch then hit Joe Tursack for a 70 yard touchdown to finish the scoring at 31-14.
The win improved Oxford’s record to 3-1 and dropped Brandon’s record to 0-4. The victory was the Cats first of the season in the Flint Metro League.
Oxford travels to Lapeer West on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. game. West won last week, beating Ann Arbor Huron, 23-22, to improve to 2-2.