By Fred Kroner
The scenario was not set up for success.
Oakwood’s football team was playing on the road on Friday (Sept. 17).
The Comets were looking for their first win of the season in Week 4, but fell behind 22-0.
The Oakwood players cast aside all of the potential negatives and rallied to score the final 30 points and pull out a late 30-22 victory.
Workhorse back Gaven Clouse carried the ball 27 times and gained 182 yards. He scored two touchdowns, including the one from 62 yards that got the Comets on the board for the first time in the second period.
Josh Young, a converted receiver who is filling in at quarterback, rushed for two TDs and gained 37 yards on the ground. Both of Young’s TDs came in the fourth period.
He completed 4 of 8 passes for 59 yards. All of the receptions were made by Griffin Trees.
Clouse, Young and Trees all had two-point conversions.
Oakwood and Dwight were tied, 22-22, when Young scored on a 3-yard run with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He then passed to Trees for the two-point conversion that created the final eight-point margin.
Comets coach Al Craig said there was no panic in his team.
“The kids have been around winning (in their careers) and they knew they could do it,” Craig said. “They just had to start making plays.”
Though Clouse was the game’s top rusher, Craig said Young was a good option for the game-winning TD.
“Gaven had such a big game and they were keying on him,” Craig said. “They were overplaying our strengths and we felt we could get something on the backside.”
Though Young was starting his first varsity game at quarterback, Craig said he maintained his poise.
“Josh is a cool, collected dude,” Craig said. “He’s not very emotional and he kept everyone on an even keel.”
In addition to the points scored by Oakwood, there were multiple defensive plays which proved instrumental in the victory.
Senior linebacker Xander Draper was involved in two of the pivotal plays.
“Xander had a huge interception (before halftime) to stop them from adding more points,” Oakwood coach Al Craig said, “and when they drove to the 2 (in the second half), he forced a fumble. Those were two big plays.”
Oakwood (1-3) returns to action on Saturday (Sept. 25) in its homecoming game against state-ranked Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin (4-0).
“Bismarck has been a good program for a long time and we look forward to the opportunity to play a state-ranked team,” Craig said. “We have been close in the standings the last three years.”
During the last two years for fall football, B-H/R-A and Oakwood finished first and second, in some order.
In 2019, B-H/R-A was 5-0 in Vermilion Valley Conference games and Oakwood was 4-1.
In 2018, each school was 4-1 in league play, but Oakwood received the automatic playoff berth on the basis of a win over the Blue Devils.
