Evening Sun Report
Oxford
BINGHAMTON - After beating Seton Catholic 42-0 on Saturday, October 10, the Oxford varsity football team is now in the playoffs for the first time in over ten years.
Playing well on both sides of the ball this weekend the Oxford Blackhawks look as ready as ever for the playoffs this season. This week, Friday, October 16, Oxford travels to Tioga in a game that will effect who will play who in the post season.
This weekend Oxford put up some impressive numbers over their opponent, totaling 461 yards of total offense and earning their second shut out of the season.
In the first quarter Oxford’s Nick Neer opened up the flood gates and scored on a five yard run into the end zone. Just a few minutes later Garrett Sylstra would score on a 20 yard run to put the Blackhawks up 13-0 over the Saints.
The second quarter started with a Neer touchdown off of a 25 yard scamper to the end zone. Neer would finish the night with 224 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Later in the quarter, Xavier Cruz would earn his first touchdown of the night on a 54 yard break away run to pay dirt, giving the game a score of 26-0. The half would end after Oxford trapped Seton deep in their own territory to force a safety.
Coming out of the locker room Oxford was up 28-0 and would quickly score twice more. In just four plays Oxford would find the end zone twice and give the game its final score of 42-0. The first score came from a 35 yard run from Cruz and a six yard run from Sylstra, both players earned their second touchdowns of the evening.
Seton would keep Oxford out of the end zone in the fourth quarter to finish the game with a score of 42-0. “This was a great team win for us,” said Oxford coach Jeff Newton. “We haven’t made the playoffs in over ten years so this is really special for the program. Everybody played hard this weekend and I have to give a lot of credit to our offensive line. Those guys have been playing great all season.”
Oxford is now 4-2 on the season.
Scoring by Quarter:
Team 1 2 3 4 Total
Oxford 13 15 14 0 42
Individual statistics: Oxford; Rushing, Nick Neer, 12-224, 2 TDs. Xavier Cruz, 7-146, 2 TDs. Garrett Sylstra, 6-61, 2 TDs. Charlie White, 3-16. Tom Marks, 1-6. Passing, Angelo Gonzalez, 1-4, 4 yds, 1 INT. Receiving, Nick Neer, 1-4.
Sherburne-Earlville
SHERBURNE - On Friday, October 9, the Sherburne-Earlville football team hosted Bishop-Ludden on a senior night that saw arguably the best football that S-E has played all season, winning 44-0.
On offense the Marauders would put up over 500 yards of total offense over the course of the game. Junior Matt Hull lead the team on offense with 233 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Hull also earned 85 yards passing and one touchdown in the air throughout the night.
S-E’s first score came in the first quarter when Hull would break away for a 71 yard run to pay dirt. Now up 6-0, the Marauder defense would stop any and all attempts that Bishop-Ludden would have over the course of the game. Just a few minutes later Hull would do it again for S-E, this time from 15 yards out, giving his team a 13-0 lead on the visiting team.
The second half played much the same way as the first, with S-E controlling the game on both sides of the ball. Freshman Lincoln Owen, who wore his injured brother Hunter Owen’s jersey Friday night to honor his senior sibling, recorded his first varsity touchdown off of a 66 yard interception for a touchdown. Owen’s pick six gave S-E a 19 point lead over Bishop-Ludden. Not much later, Hull found Nick Oley for a 19 yard touchdown reception for seven more points after a successful point after kick.
Coming out of the locker room at half time the Marauders were up 26-0 and didn’t look back. Hull recorded his fourth score of the game in the third quarter when the found room to run and took the ball 19 yards for another score. After a missed point after kick, S-E was up 32-0.
In the fourth quarter it was Hull yet again scoring for the Marauders, breaking away from the defense and taking a 63 yard run into the end zone for six more points. S-E scored their final touchdown of the game off of an Alex Graham run from five yards out to give the game its final score of 44-0 just a few minutes later.
“We’ve made a few changes to the offense and you could see it improving each week,” said S-E coach Edward Holmquist. “Tonight our guys executed very well. Up front our guys got a great push and our backs found the seams and hit the holes hard. It was a great effort from everyone on both sides of the ball. I’m really happy for our seniors to go out like this playing in their final home game.”
