Oakland-Craig advanced to the Class C-2 State Quarterfinals by knocking off Doniphan-Trumbull 26-7 at home in the first round of the playoffs Friday night.
Hoss Smith had 92 yards rushing on 19 carries, including two touchdowns for the Knights (9-1). Evan Reinert was 9-14 passing for 109 yards with a touchdown..
Garrett Seagren hauled in 5 passes for 80 yards.
Oakland-Craig had 313 yards of total offense, including 176 on the ground.
Doniphan-Trumbull totaled 274 yards of total offense, including 171 rushing.
Josh Dixon made 9 tackles while Smith and Ben Ward registered 7 each.
Head Coach Joe Anderson says he's proud of the way his kids played physical football against a great offensive team.
"They just run up and down the field on people. I think they average 430 yards a game, and put up a lot of points. They light up the scoreboard. So our guys really executed well. I thought our DB's played really well. We talked big about not giving up the big play. We've played really well on defense. At times we've kind of been a bend but don't break. And so our defense did a great job of not giving up the big play. And our guys up front did a nice job of stopping the run. But like I said there's just 11 guys flying around playing good team defense, and at the end of the day that's what got it done for us."
The Braves knocked off Sutton 35-0 at home in the first round last week.
Anderson says while making the semis would be nice, his team isn't overlooking Battle Creek one bit.
"To be in the semis for the third year would pretty neat for our program, but we know that it's not going to be an easy challenge. We know if we would find a way to win we would be guaranteed a home game next round, but like I said it's just something you need to play for, it's just a little bit more incentive. But this is probably what I feel like is one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the state in Class C-2 so we know that it's going to be a battle going up there."
The Braves beat the Knights 21-12 in Oakland on September 2nd.
I think Oakland-Craig has a legit shot to knock off Battle Creek this time around though.
The Knights beat the Braves in the playoffs last year after losing to them in the regular season, and I think history can repeat itself.
It's not going to be a cakewalk for Oakland-Craig by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel Battle Creek is beatable.
The whole key to the game is stopping the Braves' run game, in my opinion.
The Knights have to be physical at the line of scrimmage and knock Battle Creek off the ball.
Oakland-Craig has to play with pure desire, determination, toughness, grit, fire, and tenacity.
The Knights have to want it more than the Braves.
I think Oakland-Craig has a fairly good shot to make the state championship again if they can pull this one out against Battle Creek.
Crofton or Valentine await the winner in the semifinals, but the Knights have already beaten the Warriors, and the Badgers are certainly beatable, especially since Oakland-Craig would get them in Oakland.
The higher the stakes, the better it seems like the Knights play, and I look for Oakland-Craig to play well Friday night, particularly on defense.
I think Reinert is going to need to make some plays with his arm and feet, and Smith is going to need to have a big game running the ball as well.
Friday's game is scheduled to kickoff at 7:00 p.m. on the Bull with pregame starting at 6:40.
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