Oakland-Craig suffers first loss of the season to Ponca

The Oakland-Craig Football Team lost their first game of the year Friday night, falling 28-20 at Ponca.

The Indians led 14-6 after one, and 14-12 at halftime after the Knights shutout Ponca 6-0 in the second quarter.

Oakland-Craig blanked the Indians 8-0 in the third quarter to go up 20-14 after three.

The Indians shutout the Knights 14-0 in the fourth quarter to make up the final score.

Evan Reinert was 10-22 passing for 76 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions.

Garrett Seagren had 66 yards receiving on 7 receptions.

Ian Lundquist made 9 tackles to lead the team.

Oakland-Craig registered 229 yards of offense, including 132 on the ground.

I thought the difference in the game was turnovers, and the play of Reinert, Seagren, and Benne. Those three didn't have their typical performances.

107.9 The Bull’s coverage of high school football continues on Friday, with 3-1 Oakland-Craig hosting 1-3 Bancroft-Rosalie-Lyons-Decatur in C-2 action.

The Wolverines defeated Omaha Brownell-Talbot by forfeit last week.

Head Coach Joe Anderson says the Knights will have to deal with a tough physical presence from BRLD. “I think it starts up front with them. They’re big, they’re physical. I think they do a nice job getting off the ball,” Anderson said. “They run a little different scheme than we’re used to. You’re gonna see a true zone scheme where you really have to be disciplined. So we worked hard at practice being disciplined and being gap-sound. If you’re not, they’re gonna hurt you.”

Oakland-Craig is used to big, physical teams by now having faced Battle Creek, Crofton, and Ponca.

The Knights need Reinert, Seagren, and Benne to all have bounce back and rebound performances, but Oakland-Craig also has to have someone break out in the run game.

Ben Smith has been decent this year, but no one has stepped up and been the gamebreaker that Hoss Smith was.

Reinert, Seagren, and Benne have stepped up, but when those three have tough games someone has to step up in the run game.

So the Knights just need more production from their ground game to be a complete team, in my opinion.

Oakland-Craig can't always rely on the pass...the Knights need to be stronger in the run game.

I look for the Wolverines to compete with and give Oakland-Craig a good game, but I think the Knights will be too much in the end.

It's the start of district play, and this is a game Oakland-Craig needs to avoid getting off on the wrong foot in district action.

With Logan View surging and Fremont Bergan a tough out Oakland-Craig can ill afford to drop a district game against someone else.

Pregame coverage begins at 6:40 with kickoff at 7:00 on 107.9 the Bull. The game can also be heard at www.kticradio.com or on the free KTIC Radio App.