Sports

OA Tigers Triumphant Over Stoughton Black Knights Football

Now, the Oliver Ames football team has a target on their backs. Their 35-6 win at rival Stoughton Friday afternoon, put Tigers in the lead in the Davenport Division and keep them on top in the Division 3 Southwest playoff ratings. 

OA is in the driver's seat for the league title and a playoff spot, but they can't look that far ahead.

"More responsibility comes with that," said OA head coach Jim Artz. "We weren't talked about. We're kind of 3-0 and that was nice and that's great.

"Now, we are going to look real silly by not putting forth the same effort next week and making this a wasted game." 

With five Davenport games, everyone is importance in winning the title and moving on to the playoffs.

"We wanted to control the Davenport Division from the start to finish," said Artz. "There are five games we are going to have to be up and ready for. Right now, we have only played two games, so we have a long way to go."

Stoughton also has three game left in the league and now they are chasing the Tigers in the league and in the playoff ratings.

"We didn't play well," said Stoughton High head coach Greg Burke. "They're a good team. We had to play well to win and I'm not going to take anything away from them. They did a great job and threw the ball well." 

OA scored in the first quarter as quarterback Nick Cidado kept the ball on a keeper for a 22-yard score and a 6-0 first quarter lead.

Things went down hill for the Black Knights in the second quarter. OA recovered a fumble on their 15-yard, stopping a Black Knight drive, which was highlighted by an 18-yard-run by Malachi Baugh.

"I had nightmares about him all week long," said Artz of Malachi Baugh. "If we didn't set the edge and have him come back inside, we were going to get into a track meet and we weren't going to win "Malachi's one better backs I've watched come through here. He has great lean, great hips, and if he gets open space, he is gone."

The Tigers upped the lead to 14-0 as Matt Berksza ran for a four-yard touchdown. Berksza, who is built low to the ground, was hard for the Knights to tackle. OA went for the two-point conversation as Cidadi threw a pass to Franklin Holgate.

Stoughton looked like they were going to get back into the game, picked up three first downs, but the furthest they could get was the OA 39-yard line."We bent, but we didn't break," said Artz.

Before the half ended, Stoughton got called for a pass interference play, giving the ball on the Knight 4-yard line. From there, Cidado found Reid Starr open for the touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

Any hope the Black Knights had of getting back into the game, ended when Tigers got the ball for third time in the third quarter. Berksza ran for the 2-yard score. Nick Sanborn kicked the extra-point for a 28-0 lead.Stoughton put the only points on the board as Lennox Green ripped the ball away from an OA defender for a 21-yard touchdown pass Stanley Sajous. The kick was blocked, leaving the score at 28-6.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers added a touchdown run by Doug MacDonald to account for the final margin.

"We have to go back to the drawing board," said Burke. "I have to find out what happened.""We didn't do what we had been doing. Hats off to them and hopefully we'll improve."

Stoughton will be hosting Thanskgiving Day rival Canton Friday, while OA will be at home against Sharon. Under the new playoff format, some teams are playing their Thanksgiving Day rivals twice in the season.

UPDATED DAVENPORT DIVISION STANDINGS

Oliver Ames 4-0 2-0
Stoughton 3-1 1-1
Foxborough 2-2 1-1
Sharon 2-2 1-1
Milford 1-3 1-1
Canton 0-2 0-4

FRIDAY SCOREBOARD-
Oliver Ames 35, Stoughton 7; Foxborough 37, Sharon 0; Milford 38, Canton 35


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