Oakwood Panthers maul the Dallas Academy Bulldogs

The Oakwood Varsity Panthers traveled to Azle Saturday for their first official football game of the season where they met the Dallas Academy Bulldogs. At this neutral location, the Panthers found their first win of the season. It started with a lead of 25-0 in the first quarter, moved on to 38-0 in the second quarter and ended with a score of 51-6 in the third. The officials called for the 45 point mercy rule and shut it down.

Head Coach Mike Heckathorn initially had some concerns about traveling the 340 miles round trip to play a team they knew nothing about. He didn't know how that kind of travel time would affect the fourteen players. He also wondered how things would go since the set up was jamboree style. Oakwood played the middle game on Saturday. They were glad to be able to watch the game prior to their's. Heckathorn said he was impressed by the "good crowd" they had at these games. He said Oakwood had fifteen to twenty spectators that followed them all that way. He was proud of them as much as he was the team. Heckathorn also bragged a little on his younger kids. He said he was "real pleased with how well they played" and that "the older kids did a good job leading them too". Heckathorn said the kids were really excited about the trip. He thinks it was the first time many of them had every traveled through Ft. Worth.

The first touchdown of the game came from Senior Randall Dunn who ran for 60 yards for the score. Dunn also picked up another TD in the first quarter with a 19 yard run. He kept it up with a 53 yard run in the third quarter and a third TD. Also on the offensive team is newcomer, James Edwards, a junior, who ran 20 yards for his first touchdown in the first quarter and 6 yards for another TD in the third quarter. He also ran the ball in and picked up the extra point. In the first quarter, Senior Kealyne Durham ran 32 yards and picked up a touchdown off an interception return. He also picked up the extra point. Senior Eric Ballard, starting quarterback, threw a 36 yard pass to Durham for another TD in the second quarter and took one to the end zone himself. Not to be outdone, Ballard picked up that extra point too. Dallas Academy's #32, Alex Benson, scored the team's only touchdown on an incredible 75 yard kick return.

Heckathorn said the kids did really good on defense too. Dunn had 8 tackles, Durham had four, Ballard had three, and Edwards had an assist. The defense held the Bulldogs at bay for a total of -63 rushing yards. Junior Marcus Howard had three tackles and two assists, while Senior J.P. Hicks and Junior Robert Myrick each had two tackles and an assist, Sophomore Travis Eldridge and Freshman Bryson Randle each had two tackles, Senior Joel Murray had a tackle and an assist, and Junior Alias Sardaneta had a tackle as well.

Assistant Coach Tommy Tritz had a very simple, humble way of looking at this win. He said, "Our kids played good today. It was great for our guys to get the first win under their belts.".

The Varsity Panthers will be playing Greenville Phoenix in Greenville at 7:30PM on Friday.