Oxford’s quarterback Alex Smith attempts to stiff arm a Newfield defender after breaking away from another one. Smith ended them game with 259 rushing yards but the Blackhawks lost 50-20 in the 8-man season opener. (Mat White Photo)
Bobcats can’t slowdown fast-paced Tigers
OXFORD – In the season opener for the Blackhawks, the Newfield Trojans came out and took a 28-6 lead before the half and continued to cruise as the final was 50-20 over host Oxford Friday night.
“We are a very young team and that showed early on,” said first-year head coach for the Blackhawks, Steve Franklin. “We moved the ball extremely well, just untimely mistakes.”
Oxford coughed up the ball three times in the first half along with one turnover on downs for the offensive drives down the field. Those three miscues along with the four-down series led to 22 of Newfield’s 28 points in the first 24 minutes of football.
Trojans’ junior quarterback Jacob Humble aided in his team’s big first half lead as he ran for two long scoring plays – one from 42 yards out and another 24 yards from the line of scrimmage – and connected with wide receiver Kahajen Smith for two touchdowns inside Newfield’s red zone.
Humble finished the contest with 212 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns while throwing for 146 yards and three air strikes resulting in points for the Trojans.
Scoring the Blackhawks long touchdown of the first two quarters was sophomore Brady Smith as he ran the ball into the end zone from four yards away.
Having a big game for the home team was junior quarterback Alex Smith as he ran 18 times for 259 yards and two second half touchdowns. Smith carried 4 times for 58 yards throughout the ball game and his touchdown run early in the game.
“I was extremely proud of the way our guys responded after a really tough start,” said Franklin. ‘We could’ve folded and hung out heads but our kids refused to quit. We clawed back to within two touchdowns twice in the second half and actually had a chance to make it a one possession game late in the third quarter before an bad snap in the red zone.
“How we played, thought showed a lot of character for a team that is made up of 60-percent sophomores.”
Smith and Devin Meek led our defense. Smith recorded 14 tackles and Meek added another 12. Jake Smith had three tackles for a loss.
Oxford (0-1) play next Friday at Unadilla Valley at 7 p.m. UV did not play this past week as Cooperstown did not have enough players. It was noted as a forfeit as of Saturday, when the game was supposed to be played, but was indicated later on that it could be made up on a different day.
Tioga 43, Bainbridge-Guilford 0
BAINBRIDGE – Tioga scored 21 points in the opening quarter – 14 points came from pair of pick-six interceptions – as the Tigers shutout the Bobcats of Bainbridge-Guilford 43-0 Friday night.
After the first quarter scoring spree, Tioga added a touchdown in each of the remaining quarters – all but one coming from the air strike of Tigers’ quarterback Brady Worthing.
Worthing, who also converted each of the extra point kicking attempts, threw 6 completions in 14 tries for 94 yards and three touchdowns. He also took the second interception back to the house 71 yards for to make the score 13-0 early.
Leading the home Bobcats’ ground game was Jakob Heath, rushing for 90 yards on 17 carries. Teammate Garrett Ives took 18 hand-offs for a total of 25 yards in the loss.
Bainbridge-Guilford’s quarterback Ethan Beams was 2-for-5 with 17 passing yards and the two picks early in the game. Ives was on the receiving end of one the completions that resulted in a 14 yard gain.
Tioga – who was listed at No. 2 in the first New York State Class D rankings – ended the day with 329 yards total offense while the Bobcats tallied 145.
