Oakland-Craig downs Ponca

The Oakland-Craig Knights topped Ponca 29-7 at home Friday night.

Hoss Smith had 163 yards rushing on 24 carries, including a touchdown, while Ben Smith rushed for 156 yards on 12 attempts, and scored twice.

Marcos Quintero and Josh Dixon totaled 11 tackles apiece while Hoss Smith registered 7.

Oakland-Craig had 355 yards of total offense, all on the ground.

I thought the Knights played a real good game against the Indians. Oakland-Craig ran the ball real well, and had two ball carriers over 150 yards, which made the biggest difference, in my opinion.

The Knights (3-1) are at Bancroft-Rosalie-Lyons-Decatur (1-3) Friday night.

The Wolverines topped Omaha Brownell-Talbot 40-7 last time out.

BRLD is getting better each week as each of their first three losses were by closer margins from game to game.

The Wolverines are still probably trying to learn the ropes of playing 11 man football, but BRLD has no doubt figured some things out by now.

Oakland-Craig needs to be ready to play just like they were against Ponca.

The Wolverines lost to the Indians 43-36 so the Knights should beat BRLD based on that score, but you can never count out the Wolverines.

Montana Riecken is as solid as they come and Oakland-Craig has to do everything in their power to slow him down.

Both Hoss and Ben Smith have to get things going in the run game for the Knights, and Oakland-Craig has to get their pass game going with Evan Reinert.

Reinert was 0-6 passing with two interceptions last week so that needs to change for the Knights if they are to be successful down the line.

The good news for Oakland-Craig is when either the run or passing game has been off, the other has been on.

That's a sign of a good football team seeing as the Knights are capable of winning in multiple ways.

I think Oakland-Craig needs to really challenge BRLD up front, and be committed to running the football.

I believe this game will be won on the legs of Hoss and Ben Smith, just like last week's game was.

Reinert needs to have a solid game throwing too, but the run game is the Knights' bread and butter. Running the ball has to be a big priority for Oakland-Craig.

The Knights figure to have a really good shot at taking home another district title. The quest to do so begins Friday night against the Wolverines.