By Fred Kroner
Oakwood’s short-handed team gave up 41 first-half points on Saturday and ended the high school football season with a 41-0 loss at home to playoff-bound Salt Fork.
The Comets end the season with a 3-6 overall record, an improvement of one win from the 2021 season.
Oakwood senior Dalton Hobick ended with 59 yards passing and 29 yards rushing against the Storm.
Oakwood began the season with a roster of 38 athletes, but had fewer than two dozen in uniform and available for the finale.
“We knew it would be a challenge,” Oakwood coach Cameron Lee said, “because Salt Fork is good and the sheer number of injuries we had and guys out of position.
“We thought if we played our best, we could make it competitive. We played hard.”
Lee, the first-year head coach, considers the season a success.
“Overall, despite the record, we had a winning season in terms of progress,” Lee said. “To a man, I see our players significantly better than they were three or four months ago.”
There’s more work ahead to keep the improvement continuing into the future.
“We have to get more kids out and we have to do a better job (as coaches) preparing people to play multiple positions,” Lee said. “We dealt with a ton of adversity this year, but we learned a lot and got better.”
The program will graduate eight seniors – “eight strong seniors,” Lee said – but has a good nucleus returning.
“We have a lot of guys coming back who got a lot of experience and that’s a good thing moving forward,” Lee said. “Our JV team was 3-3 and they were in every game. I’m encouraged by the way they played.
“I’m encouraged by the trajectory of the program.”
Lee will encourage his players not to wait until next August to start getting ready for the 2023 season.
“The preparation starts long before August,” he said. “The weight room will be a greater emphasis. It’s a big thing that we will emphasize.
“We’re excited to get another year with these kids.”
