Facing a 14-0 deficit against Holly in their final game of the season on the road Oct. 23, the Oxford Freshman Football team rallied to win the game 38-30.
‘The Holly game…was definitely the closest call of the season,? said Freshman Football Head Coach Ryan Clark. ‘Holly is traditionally a very well-coached team with huge kids.?
Oxford’s win against the Broncos, which came using players who weren’t regular starters, resulted in a milestone for the team: a record of seven wins, no losses and two ties.
As a result of the Frosh Wildcats? undefeated season, they finished first in the Flint Metro League and paved the way for what could be a solid Junior Varsity team and Varsity team in the upcoming seasons.
On the season, the Frosh team outscored their opponents nearly double at 266-136. That’s an average score of 29.5 points to 15.1.
Besides recording an Oct. 2 shutout against Lapeer East 14-0, four times this season Oxford limited their opponents to less than 10 points scored. Except for the Lapeer East game and the 14-14 tie to Fenton on Sept. 18, Oxford never scored less than 20 points a game while only allowing a maximum of 30 twice.
Clark said his players? hard work was among the biggest factors for their success.
‘Our players have been working hard since the Monday that they got out of school in June,? he said. ‘The players have attended several camps and daily weightlifting and workout sessions throughout the course of the summer. I strongly believe that our team was the best conditioned team in our league.?
In football, teams can often lose games on penalties–such as a pass interference call in the waning seconds or a kicker roughed while attempting a game-winning field goal. Clark described his team as a ‘very well disciplined? one that received few penalties in the season. He also credited the several proactive players who stood up and played key roles.
‘We have a coaching staff that works great together,? the coach said, referring to Paul Dafoe, Shawn Regan, Tony Schlader and himself.
Keeping the team healthy turned out to be the Freshman Team’s biggest challenge as, at one point, they had eight injured players. ‘We were certainly bitten by the injury bug this year but were able to overcome it,? Clark said. He said the team was able to overcome this due to the football players being well-conditioned and disciplined enough to step in and contribute when needed.
Currently, Clark’s not sure what next year’s team will be like, but when he meets with them in the spring, he and the other coaches plan to stress that they will be expected to be the best conditioned, and most well-disciplined team in the FML.
‘If we can get that out of our players, everything else seems to take care of itself,? he added.