Oakland-Craig edges BRLD

Oakland-The Oakland-Craig Football team bounced back from last week's loss at Ponca by beating BRLD 28-20 at home Friday night in High School Football action on 107.9 the Bull.

The Knights struck first as Senior Quarterback Evan Reinert hit Garrett Seagren with a 20-yard TD pass to put Oakland-Craig up 6-0 at about the 7:00 mark of the 1st quarter.

The Wolverines tied the game with just under a minute left in the first quarter as Sophomore Quarterback Will Gatzemeyer ran one in from a yard out to tie the game at 6.

Seagren housed a punt return with 11:05 remaining in the second quarter to give the Knights a 14-6 advantage.

Gatzemeyer then ran one in from 30 yards out with 34 seconds remaining until halftime to pull BRLD within 2 at 14-12.

Reinert scored a rushing touchdown with just 8 seconds left in the third quarter, and Oakland-Craig went up 20-12.

Senior Running Back Ben Smith then got into the scoring act for the Knights at the 8:27 mark of the fourth quarter, scoring from 12 yards out, and the Knights led 28-12.

The Wolverines scored the final touchdown of the game as Gatzemeyer scored on a 4-yard run with 24 seconds left in the game.

Reinert was 6-19 passing for 121 yards with a touchdown for Oakland-Craig (4-1). He also carried the ball 13 times for 88 yards, and scored once.

Robby Mayberry was 1-1 with 65 yards passing.

Garrett Seagren hauled in 5 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown.

Wyatt Uhing made 10 tackles while Seagren had 9. Daniel Sechler and Ian Lundquist notched 8 apiece.

The Knights totaled 321 yards of offense, including 175 passing, while the Wolverines tallied 355 yards of offense, 209 coming through the air.

Head Coach Joe Anderson says his team's preparation has to be better than it has been. "I thought we did one good day of practice, but our intensity isn't there. We can't just show up and expect to win. Just show up without putting in time in practice. And I knew this was going to be a dog fight. It's kind of a rivalry game. And I think this is the first night that they had most all their guys back. I know they've been missing some guys the first 3 or 4 games. And Coach Maresh does a great job with those guys. They're big up front. They got some big boys. And they do some really nice things to keep you busy, especially on the defensive side of the ball. But proud of our guys that they made plays. Down the second half when we needed guys to step up and make plays."

Anderson says the Wolverines' record is deceiving given the schedule they've played so far. "Oh absolutely. I knew that. And they played us tough last year, and we had a good team, it's kind of similar. But they lose to Ponca, and they moved the ball on Ponca. And they played Hartington CC who's No. 2 or 3, and I don't think Hartington CC had a first down the first quarter and-a-half. They showed flashes, they just didn't have some of the depth that some of those teams did, and maybe wore out a little bit early in the year. But like I said they're a good football team, and they're going to win a lot of football games yet. They're not going to end with one win, I know that. So like I said those guys do a great job with them over there, and I wish them the best of luck."

Oakland-Craig hosts winless Wisner-Pilger (0-5) Friday night.

The Gators lost 53-0 at home to Fremont Bergan this past Friday night, and have had a very difficult season.

Wisner-Pilger is a very young team, and the Knights need to come out and lay the smackdown early on.

Oakland-Craig has to refocus, and come out and shutdown the Gators the same way other teams have all season long.

There's no reason why Oakland-Craig can't join the likes of West Point-Beemer, Hartington Cedar Catholic, and Fremont Bergan in winning 50+ to nothing.

Oakland-Craig should roll in this game, and have a running clock by the start of the second half.

This is a game the Knights need to win big and rest starters with Logan View coming up next week.

The big thing is win big and come out of the game injury free.

This might also be a game to rest players who might be fighting nagging injuries.

When it's all said and done I look for Oakland-Craig to get a lot of players valuable varsity experience and win going away.

It should be one of the more dominant performances of the season for the Knights although I don't know if Oakland-Craig can be more dominant than they were against Crofton.

The Knights have to get back to that though. I feel Oakland-Craig took a step back against Ponca, and didn't exactly win easily last week.

The Knights need to be ready to go for Logan View if they hope to win another district title so this week has to be refocus and play well week for Oakland-Craig.

The Knights have to use this game as a game to get back on track and fine tune some things that need fine tuning.

Oakland-Craig has to cleanup any mistakes they've made the past couple of weeks, and get ready for the final regular season stretch run.

It's nearly crunch time for the Knights, and Oakland-Craig must figure themselves out completely Friday night.

The Knights have to be ready to go by the time October 6th rolls around, and I fully expect them to be.