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9/1/05-Football
Eaglets soar in dismantling of Oxford
By Dan Stickradt of The Observer and Eccentric
OXFORD--George Porritt admits he was a little concerned Friday evening.
The veteran Orchard Lake St. Mary's football coach had witnessed his team get "roughed up" by Clarkston the previous week during a preseason scrimmage and his Eaglets were opening the season on the road at perennial postseason qualifier Oxford.
Any concerns or worries were settled pretty quick, however. Displaying some dominating line play and team speed that few in the state can match, St. Mary's ran roughshod over Oxford, sending the host Wildcats to a crushing 44-3 defeat as the high school football season kicked of across the state.
The Eaglets led 31-0 at halftime and still had four touchdowns called back by penalties. At the same time, the St. Mary's defense caused four turnovers in the opening 24 minutes and sent a shock wave to the high school football community that this team is again for real.
"We're pretty fast," said Porritt, whose team reached the Division 2 state finals last year before falling to nationally ranked Muskegon, 31-7.
"I was still a bit concerned because of what happened against Clarkston in that scrimmage. They beat us up pretty good," he said. "But we got great play from our defensive ends, (Jerron) Horn and (Matt) Brimer, and our offensive line was really good."
"Really good" may have been an understatement.
After fumbling but recovering the ball on the first play from scrimmage at their own 41, St., Mary's put together an 11-play drive that ended with 6:35 left in the first on a 1-yard plunge from junior quarterback Justin Siller, a transfer from the now-defunct Detroit DePorres.
Oxford was never able to claw back into the game.
"I think we just had to get the jitters out," said Siller, who was 9-of-10 passing for 203 yards, two TD passes and one rushing score. "We knew Oxford was a good football team. They have some good players."
Despite missing a 42-yard field goal attempt, St. Mary's picked up a 31-yard touchdown run from Iowa-bound senior Anthony Bowman, another DePorres transplant, to go up 14-0 with 1:43 left in the opening quarter. Steve Andrews split the uprights from 25-yards out 8:44 before halftime to put his team up 17-0 and the Eagles left Oxford in its wake from that point after.
"It's all right. We always play teams like that," said veteran Oxford mentor Bud Rowley, who annually schedules top-10 caliber opponents for non-league games to prepare his team for league play. "We got waxed. They are a very good football team. But our kids didn't give up. They kept hitting hard and gave a good effort. The sun will come up tomorrow."
Despite having its third touchdown called back via penalty, St. Mary's kept adding on the hurt in the first half. Siller hooked up with Taurian Washington on a 42-yard pass play to put his team up 24-0. Following another Oxford turnover, Nick Koenigsknecht hauled in a 25-yard TD toss from Siller for the lopsided 31-point spread at the half.
In the second half, Dominique White (9-yard run) and Nick Sloney (35-yard run) added the final TDs for the Eaglets, who amassed 447 yards total-offense.
Diont? Allen and Alex Delisi each had interceptions and Carl Goeckel and Koenigsknecht recovered fumbles for St. Mary's. Bowman (10 carries) had 66 of his team's 244 rushing yards, while Washington had 74 yards receiving on two catches.
Oxford spoiled the shutout when junior Zach Wasylyna connected on a 27-yard field goal with 7:20 to play. The Wildcats generated only 143 yards of offense, including 120 on the ground, which mostly occurred in the second half.
Sophomore Zach Line had nine tackles for Oxford.
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