After two hard-fought battles, Coach Bud Rowley’s Wildcats got a bit of a respite Friday night with a 48-2 victory over Walled Lake Northern in a game that allowed everyone to play and served as a good tune-up for the beginning of the Flint Metro League schedule.
Oxford opens its league schedule on Friday when it hosts Brandon at 7:30 p.m.
Coach Rowley, who has more wins than any coach in Flint Metro League history, is excited about opening the league session of the schedule and knows each game will be important in Oxford’s quest for the league title.
‘Now we go to work,? he said following the game. ‘All the messing around is over. We had three games, we’re 2-1, and we played some good people. But now we go to work. Now it’s for keeps.?
Brandon, in only its second year in the Metro League, is 0-3 and lost its opening league game, 34-6, to Linden on Friday.
Following the Brandon game, the Cats will go on the road to play Lapeer West on September 26 and then will host Lapeer East on October 3.
Oxford’s match-up against Walled Lake Northern served as a tune-up and left the team healthy entering league play for the next six weeks. Northern is a first-year varsity program and the school has been open only two years. The inexperienced Knights were no match for the Cats, who rolled to a 35-0 halftime lead, scoring on their first four possessions of the half.
By early in the second half, Coach Rowley played everyone on the varsity roster who was not injured.
Quarterback Kyle Rowley played only about one half but still put up some impressive statistics. He ran for 179 yards on only seven carries, scored two touchdowns and completed five of six passes for 79 yards and a touchdown.
The Wildcat’s opening drive was a solid 94-yard march down the field that saw Rowley run twice for a total of 27 yards and complete two passes to David Reile, of 15 and 12 yards. The score came on a perfect toss from Rowley to split end Steve Flores of 41 yards.
Flores caught the long spiral at the corner of the sideline and end-zone about one-yard out and went in easily. Eddie Summers then kicked the first of his six conversions in seven attempts.
The Cats next possession also ended with a score. The big play on the drive was a 42-yard scramble by Rowley, who was tackled on the one -yard line. Andrew Darin scored on the next play from the one.
Rowley also scored the Wildcats? third TD, on a six-yard run, with 6:47 left in the second quarter.
After the Cat’s defense once again stopped the Knights, Oxford got the ball and wasted little time scoring again. Rowley took off on a 59-yard scramble with 4:16 left before intermission. Summers? extra point gave Oxford a 28-0 lead.
Flores recovered the ensuing kickoff and the Cats took over on the Walled Lake 11 yard line. Flores then went in at quarterback and drove the team down to the two-yard line where a fourth-and-one attempt failed by about six inches, giving the Knights the ball.
The Oxford defense then pressured the Northern quarterback into a fumble in the end-zone that was recovered by Pat Streit for the Cats? fifth touchdown, with 58 seconds left in the half.
Under Michigan high school football rules, if one team is ahead of another by 35 or more points the game is played with a running clock, in which the clock is not stopped after every play. Most of the second half was played with the running clock.
The Wildcats added two more touchdowns in the second half. One was on a three-yard run by Brian Eldridge and the final tally was on a 31-yard dash by Mark Ganey.
In addition, Flores had what would have been a 94-yard touchdown run called back due to a penalty in the third quarter. Following the penalty, Walled Lake got its only points of the game on a two-point safety.
On the play, Flores was about to be tackled in the end zone and threw the ball away. The referee ruled that Flores intentionally grounded the ball and awarded the safety.