By Fred Kroner
Junior Chase Harrison scored touchdowns in three different ways on Friday (Sept. 8) as the Oakwood football team raced to a win at Watseka, 67-27.
Harrison was on the receiving end of two TD passes from Jackson Dudley. He also scored on a 72-yard run from scrimmage 20 seconds into the game to lift the Comets into a lead they never lost. He later had a 16-yard scoring run.
Harrison’s fifth touchdown came when he returned a kickoff 77 yards to the end zone in the game’s final 4 ½ minutes. For good measure, he added two two-point conversions, giving him a 34-point game.
Cameron Black contributed two rushing touchdowns, one extra-point conversion run and an 81-yard kickoff return for a score in the final 90 seconds of the first half. Black wound up scoring 20 points in the game.
For the second week in a row, the Dudley-to-Dudley brother act teamed up for a touchdown. Jackson connected with Carsen on a 12-yard scoring pass that lifted the Comets into a 30-0 lead in the first 2 ½ minutes of the second period.
Jackson Dudley completed 4 of 8 passes for 118 yards. In his past two games, he has completed seven passes and six have gone for TDs.
Both Black (174 yards) and Harrison (125) ran past the 100-yard mark for rushing yards. Harrison had two pass receptions for 74 yards and Alec Harrison snared one pass for 32 yards. He also scored twice on two-point conversions.
Jack Ajster added one two-point conversion and placekicker Jacob Pricer hit one extra-point attempt.
“I’m encouraged by what I am seeing,” Oakwood coach Cameron Lee said. “It’s not one thing we’re doing.
“It’s different athletes in different spots. One of the fun things is you don’t know with our offense what we will be doing next. We have a lot of dynamic guys.”
Lee acknowledged “there’s an opening script (for the first possession), but you have to feel it out from there and be adaptive and flexible.”
Chase Harrison’s rushing performance came on just four carries.
“That’s a facet of our offense we haven’t used much,” Lee said. “He’s our hybrid player. He can catch passes and run out of the backfield.”
Since suffering a season-opening loss by seven points to Momence, Lee has seen his team make massive strides.
“Our defense has come a long ways since Week 1,” he said. “Zeke Smith and Harley Grimm anchor our defense and lead a young group.
“They are sound tacklers.”
Oakwood (2-1) returns to action on Friday (Sept. 15) with a game at Clifton Central (1-2).
“It will be a different style than we’ve seen the last two weeks,” Lee said. “They like to throw it around.”
