Oxford Football Coach Bud Rowley understands that football is partly a game of overcoming adversity.
After a 47-0 drubbing by Romeo on Thursday, Rowley huddled first with his players and told them to get back to work and prepare for Friday’s 7 p.m. game at Stoney Creek.
He then huddled with his coaches and stressed a need for coaching and hard work to make the Wildcats competitive in the upcoming season.
The difficulty for the coaches and players is the Wildcats are largely inexperienced. Only one starter on defense returned this season and the offensive backfield are all first-year starters.
Many high school teams, Oxford included, rely heavily on experienced seniors.
The inexperience of the Oxford starters, according to Rowley, means hard work in practice and good coaching can give the players the confidence they need to compete.
The Wildcats began their opening drive of the season in good fashion, using Oxford’s run offense.
They ran five minutes off the clock in their best drive of the night while moving downfield. The drive stalled and the Cats punted.
After the punt, the Bulldogs marched 72 yards, ending with a two-yard TD.
The Cats punted on their next possession too and were stunned when a 56-yard punt return put them down 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Romeo continued its onslaught in the second quarter, scoring 27 points, to build a 33-0 advantage by halftime.
The scores included touchdown passes of 57, 17 and six yards. They scored on every possession in the half.
By the second half, each team was playing reserves and Romeo tacked on touchdowns in both the third and fourth quarters.
The Wildcats finished with 135 yards of offense compared to 365 for Romeo.
Oxford quarterback Brenden Lewis completed four of 10 passes for 26 yards.
Anson Rowley carried nine times for 48 yards while Ethan Williams had four carries for 38 yards.
Drake Berry and Jared Dymond each had four tackles on defense.