OXFORD – Oxford dominated possession time against Candor, but failed on nearly every golden opportunity save its last. At that point, however, it was too late.
The Indians returned a blocked punt for a score, and had two short TD drives after Oxford turnovers to defeat the Blackhawks, 27-8, Friday night on homecoming weekend.
“It came down to, at least in the first half, that they made more plays than we did,” said Oxford coach Mike Chrystie.
Candor’s defense yielded ground right at the start. Travis Frank ran for a pair of first downs, and John Wonka connected with Jeremy Nelson on a 39-yard pass inside the Candor 10. Four running plays, though, left Oxford two yards short of the goal line.
Two plays later, Candor had the momentum squarely in its favor. Quarterback Gino Martone ran 15 yards for a first down, and fullback Cody Rose did the rest. Getting through the initial line of scrimmage untouched, Rose showed good speed for a 235-pounder racing down the left sideline for an 83-yard score. Along the way, Rose shrugged off a pair of tacklers to keep the run alive.
The Blackhawks gave themselves plenty of opportunities to turn the tide. Candor had the ball stripped or poked loose three times, and on each occasion, Oxford recorded fumble recoveries. Five dropped passes hampered the Oxford effort as well as less-than-expected execution in the running game at crucial times.
The two clubs traded turnovers within a two-minute span late in the second quarter. Rose had the ball pulled out of his hands by Wonka inside the Oxford 10-yard line to thwart a scoring drive.
Three plays into its next drive, a botched handoff led to a fumble recovery by Candor’s Nick White at the Oxford seven. Rose scored on a six-yard run up the middle, and the lead grew to 14-0.
“We weren’t able to capitalize on the turnovers we created, whether it was dropped passes, missed blocks... . Whatever it was, we didn’t get the job done. Give credit to Candor, they were able to execute,” Chrystie said.
Candor’s special teams enabled it to pad the lead. In the first half, the Indians blocked a punt, but failed to cash in with a score. Midway through the third quarter, Oxford punter Ethan Kenyon had his punt partially blocked. Martone, who was running downfield as a blocker on punt coverage, stopped at the 20, caught the flailing ball, and had a clear path to an easy touchdown return.
Candor completed its scoring after Brendan Shaw’s 27-yard interception return to the Oxford 46. Rose had a 22-yard first-down run to extend the drive, and Jordan Sears’ eight-yard TD jaunt upped the lead to 27-0 with 7:38 to play.
The Blackhawks compiled one of their best and most sustained drives of the season to nearly run out the clock. On the 17th play of a 68-yard excursion, Frank’s one-yard burst that required heavy duty second effort, put the Blackhawks on the board with 16 seconds left.
“The last drive showed character and it’s something we’re going to build on,” Chrystie said.
Frank finished with 149 yards rushing on 39 carries. Oxford finished with nearly 10 minutes more of possession time and totaled 242 yards of offense.
Score by quarters
Can. 8 6 6 7–27
Oxf. 0 0 0 8–8
Scoring Summary
