By Fred Kroner
Cameron Lee would like to see an offensive attack from his Oakwood High School football team that has close to a 50-50 balance.
“We want to run for 200 yards and pass for 200 yards (per game),” Lee said.
During the season’s first four games, the rushing attack had met the goal.
It took until Week 5 for the passing attack to achieve that figure and it came by design as Oakwood fell behind early in its homecoming game on Friday (Sept. 22) against Westville and dropped a 49-28 decision.
The visiting Tigers built a 21-0 lead before the game was 18 minutes old. During the remaining minutes, the Comets played Westville even, 28-28.
Westville’s focus was to stymie the running game, which featured the state’s leading rusher, Cameron Black.
“They had a great game plan,” Lee said, “and threw the kitchen sink at us. They were all over the place.”
Black generated 29 rushing yards on 12 carries and scored the team’s first touchdown with 2 minutes and 33 seconds left in the first half.
An injury shortly thereafter sidelined Black for the remainder of the game.
Quarterback Jackson Dudley reached career highs for completions (16), attempts (31) and passing yards (256). Previously, his top passing game was 118 yards.
“It was good to see that we could move the ball even in adverse circumstances,” Lee said. “It was good to find ways to make the offense work.”
Dudley’s three TD strikes went for 21 yards to Alec Harrison in the final 90 seconds of the first half, to Chase Harrison for 63 yards early in the fourth quarter and to Alec Harrison again for 10 yards with 7:05 remaining.
Jacob Pricer was 4-for-4 on conversion kicks.
Lee didn’t like the early deficit that his team faced, but he liked the way the squad responded.
“There were a lot of good things,” he said. “The exciting part is that when we had to adjust, we were able to execute it.”
While the offense enjoyed its fifth straight game of putting at least 21 points on the board, Westville became the Comets’ first opponent to tally more than 28 points.
“When you give up 49 points, you can’t expect to win,” Lee said. “We knew what they did offensively. It was not anything elaborate. They ran two or three plays, and we didn’t stop them.”
Chase Harrison was the team’s top receiver, latching onto seven passes for 124 yards. Alec Harrison turned five receptions into gains of 75 yards. Carson Dudley ended with four catches for 57 yards.
After Black’s injury, Jack Ajster stepped in and rushed for 36 yards in six carries.
“I don’t think of him as a backup,” Lee said. “I think of him as part of the rotation.”
There was no quit from either team.
“It was two 3-1 teams, in our homecoming game and you could tell there was a lot of enthusiasm and energy,” Lee said. “We’ve got to get back to playing better defense and get our running game right.
“If we play cleaner on both sides of the ball, we’ll be fine.”
In addition to Black’s injury, the Comets also lost senior lineman Keevyn Wilson, who was returning to action after missing three games with an injury.
He was hurt early in the first period and did not return to action.
Oakwood (3-2) returns to action on Friday (Sept. 29) at Hoopeston Area (2-3). The Cornjerkers snapped a three-game losing streak on Friday (Sept. 22) with a 47-7 win at home over Georgetown-Ridge Farm.
