OXFORD – Oxford experienced the highest of highs after a goal line stand before surrendering to the shallowest of low feelings a mere moment later.
Moravia’s Cody Langtry recovered an Oxford fumble in the endzone with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter to give the Blue Devils the lead for the first time, and the visiting team tacked on an insurance score after yet another Blackhawks fumble to pick up a season-closing 30-14 win on Thursday night.
The Blackhawks (4-5) failed in their bid to record the school’s first winning season in four years, much of that due to mistake-laden football in which they accumulated five turnovers, 10 penalties, and at least six dropped passes.
“The mistakes hurt us, no question,” said Oxford coach Mike Chrystie. “On their drives, we gave them a short field, and they took advantage. You have to take care of ball, and you need to be physical up front.”
And on offense, Moravia made Oxford a one-dimensional offensive team holding the host club to minus-eight yards rushing in the second half and only 20 yards rushing on 26 carries. Other than a one-point loss to Delhi three weeks ago, Oxford had rushed for at least 100 yards in each of its other seven games.
“We needed to establish the run, and we were unable to do that,” Chrystie said. “There were plays to be made at times, and we didn’t make them.”
Early on, things appeared to swing in Oxford’s favor. On the second possession of the game, quarterback John Wonka found Jeremy Nelson on a 40-yard scoring pass. Nelson ran down the long toss catching it with his fingertips. Nelson then improvised on the conversion attempt. After a bad snap, he scrambled to his right, and passed to a diving Brandon Shaw for the 8-0 lead.
Unable to get on track in the first quarter, Moravia went to the passing game after Langtry made the first of his three fumble recoveries at the Oxford 30. Dillon Langtry connected with Lee Wakefield on a 24-yard pass, then Dillon Langtry, while in the grasp of Oxford defender Paul Wonka, hurled a six-yard scoring pass to Wakefield. The successful two-point pass tied the game.
Oxford moved 52 yards for the go-ahead score after a failed onside kick by the Blue Devils.
John Wonka completed passes of 10 yards to Nelson and 35 yards to Jamie Smolcnop to set up Paul Wonka’s three-yard scoring run.
Before halftime, Dillon Langtry hit Greg Pasho in stride on a 31-yard scoring pass with just 1:08 left before halftime as the score was tied again at 14-14.
Moravia dominated time of possession in the second half, and was aided by six Oxford penalties to help extend possessions. Late in the third quarter, a 15-yard face mask penalty on Oxford moved Moravia to the 23, and a 20-yard completion to Pasho set up a first-and-goal to start the fourth period.
After going nowhere on three plays, a fourth-and-goal from the two was stopped for a three-yard loss when Oxford’s Smolnop shuttled Moravia back Jeremy Stewart out of bounds at the five.
Two plays later, Oxford signal-caller John Wonka dropped back for a pass, and had the ball poked loose leading to Langtry’s winning fumble recovery.
John Wonka finished with eight pass completions and totaled 170 yards passing, 109 of those yards to Nelson.
“We did a good job stopping their running game,” Chrystie said in closing. “We just gave up a couple of big plays in the passing game.”
Moravia finishes with a 6-3 record.
Score by quarters
Mor. 0 14 0 16–30
Oxf. 8 6 0 0–14
