LIVONIA ? Oxford football Coach Bud Rowley believes his team’s success will hinge on the team’s seniors on the offensive and defensive lines.
But, it was the play of two juniors in their first varsity game, coupled with strong offensive and defensive line play from those seniors, that helped propel the Wildcats to an a season-opening 21-19 victory over Livonia Franklin on Friday.
This Friday, the Wildcats will host Davison in a 7:30 p.m. matchup that will inaugurate Oxford’s new football stadium adjacent to the new high school. Festivities are expected to begin more than an hour before kickoff.
The Livonia contest was not nearly as close as the final score indicated. The Patriots scored two touchdowns in the final 1:20 of the game and narrowly missed tying the score to send it into overtime.
First time varsity starters, junior quarterback Billy Keenist and junior tailback Sergio Schlak provided some offensive firepower for the Cats.
The offensive line of Rob Clinansmith, Andy Molczyk, Kyle Oliver and Tim Murphy, provided excellent protection for Keenist in the first half, when he connected on two touchdown passes, and opened some big holes to allow Schlak to rush for 162 yards on 20 carries.
The defense front of Jason Manion, Carl Boone and Oliver, along with linebackers Pat Streit, Nick Murray and Josh Hamblin, held the Patriot offense to only 20 yards offense and one first down in the first half.
The Wildcats opened the game by displayed a passing attack. On the team’s second possession, Keenist hit senior wideout Joel Grifka with a 49-yard TD strike The PAT was added by Mike Jones to give Oxford a 7-0 lead with 6:51 remaining in the first quarter.
The Wildcats scored again on their next possession. Keenist started the drive by connecting with Grifka for a first down over the middle to move the ball to midfield. Hugo Gomez then picked up 14 yards. The Cats collected up eight more yards before Schlak got a first down on a fourth down and two to the 24.
Keenist then hit Schlak on a 24-yard touchdown pass. On the play, Keenist was running to his left and made a difficult throw a little to his right to hit Schlak for the score. Jones point-after gave the Cats a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Oxford defense continued to shine in the second quarter, allowing the Patriots their only first down in the half on a 13 yard pass play, with 1:02 left before halftime.
Keenist completed five passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and led the Cats to 262 yards offense in the two quarters. Schlak ran 11 times for 84 yards in those two quarters.
Early in the third quarter, Franklin quarterback Eric Pacifici was knocked out of the game in a solid hit by Manion. Although he returned for a few plays later, Pacifici was replaced by quarterback Matt McCullough.
Under McCullough’s leadership, the Patriots scored at the start of the fourth quarter to cut the Cats? lead to 14-6. The touchdown was set up on a 21-yard completion down to Oxford’s five yard lane that came when on McCullough was scrambling and threw a desperation pass on a broken play.
Franklin’s offense began to move again on its next possession but Streit recovered a fumble on the Wildcat’s 17 to break up the drive.
On the first play, Schlak broke loose for a 46-yard gain, down to Franklin’s 37.
Fullback Nick Rock picked up some tough yards on the drive, including converting three fourth down runs to keep the offense moving.
Rock finally scored from four yards out when the Oxford offensive line got a tremendous push and knocked the Patriot defensive front back into the endzone.
Jones kicked his third conversion to give the Cats what seemed to be an insurmountable lead of 21-6 with 1:46 left in the game.
Franklin struck quickly on its possession. McCullough completed two passes on the drive of 35 and 25, the latter pass resulting in a touchdown with 1:2o remaining. The Patriots kicked the conversion and Oxford led 21-13.
Franklin then recovered an onside kick and suddenly the Patriots seemed to have some hope. On a fourth and 10, McCullough connected on another desperation pass and the Patriots scored their third touchdown of the quarter and second in less than forty seconds to narrow the gap to 21-19 with 44 seconds left.
The Patriots went for a two-point conversion on a pass. The ball was caught in the back of the endzone but the receiver landed with one foot out of the back of the endzone.
The Patriots attempt at another quick score via an onside kick was thwarted when Gomez recovered the kick and the Wildcats ran out the clock.
Oxford finished with 397 yards in offense. Schlak had 162 yards rushing and Keenist 145 passing.
Franklin had 218 yards offense, with nearly all of it coming in the fourth quarter, when it scored three times.
Oxford’s next game is at home against Davison on Friday, Sept. 3. It’s the first home game of the year.