OHS down, but not out

A pack of Panther defenders take down the Trojans’ ball carrier. Photo by Melissa Missildine OHS may have lost to the Trinidad Trojans Friday night but that does not mean they don't still have a chance at the district title. According to Coach Tommy Tritz, "It's too early in the district race." [to count them out]

The Trojans got things started off with the first touchdown and then the field goal to pick up the extra two points. Quarterback Eric Ballard countered with not one but two touchdowns for the Panthers. No extra points. The score at the end of the first quarter put Oakwood ahead 12-8.

The Trojans picked up the first two touchdowns of the second quarter and one field goal. Travis Eldridge passed the ball 24 yards to Kealyne Durham for a Panther touchdown. No extra point. Trinidad was up 22-18.

Back from the half, Trinidad put up the first TD and field goal. Eldridge passed 40 yards to Durham who put it in the endzone. Then Eldridge kicked the field goal for the extra two. The Trojans got another touchdown but were denied the extra point. Eldridge passed for 27 yards to Durham for another TD and then picked up the field goal. The Trojans were ahead by only two points at the end of the third quarter. The score was 36-34.

Bryson Randle weighs his options to decide which way to go. He chose up the middle to pick up some yards for the Panthers. Photo by Melissa Missildine The forth quarter saw Trinidad with two more touchdowns but no extra points. Eldridge passed the ball for 33 yards to Zach Bynum for the TD and then kicked in the field goal. Trinidad picked up the next TD but again were denied the extra point. The last touchdown of the game came from an amazing 50 yard pass by Ballard to Dur- ham. Eldridge put up the last field goal of the game.

Heavy hitters for the night included Marcus Howard with 7.5 tackles and 3 assists and Randall Dunn with 7 tackles and 4 assists. J.P. Hicks got in 5 good hits with a couple of assists. Ballard put up 3 tackles, 2 assists, and one tackle for a loss. Bynum put up 2.5 tackles and an assist while James Edwards put up a couple of tackles. Durham got 1.5 tackles and an assist. Cardarell Stubblefield put up a tackle and Joel Murray got an assisted tackle and an assist.

With about a minute left, Trinidad chose to run out the clock rather than risk a Panther comeback. With the Trinidad coaches calling out to delay the play and run out the clock, the Oakwood spectators were obviously upset, booing and calling for the refs to do something about what they felt was an obvious lack of fair play. Trinidad kept within the rules of the game... just barely. Nothing could be done. Just as time was running out and the refs were going to blow the whistle on the delay of game, they started the play and ended the game. The end score was 54 to 50.

Oakwood plays at Coolidge this week.