Statistically, the Oxford and Troy Athens game on Friday night was a close one.
Oxford had 228 yards of offense while the Red Hawks had 223. The Wildcats ran 66 plays and had 16 first downs to Athens? 38 plays and 10 first downs. The Wildcats? ground game also ate up time with Oxford having more than 30 minutes of possession, compared to a little over 17 minutes for Athens.
But, statistics often don’t mean much.
The only relevant statistic was the 28-0 whitewash administered by Athens.
A strong goal line stand in the second quarter by the Wildcats stopped what would have been another Red Hawks score.
The Red Hawks scored touchdowns in each quarter. The big play of the game was a 72 yard touchdown pass at 2:48 of the third quarter. The only other pass completed on the night by Athens was a 13-yard TD toss in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats committed two turnovers in the first half and both led to Red Hawks touchdowns.
Oxford Coach Bud Rowley acknowledged that Athens made some big plays that Oxford did not.
‘Athens did a nice job tonight,? Rowley said. ‘We need to work on some things. We are getting great effort in practice but we are not making plays when we need to. All of us need to get to work.?
The loss dropped Oxford to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the OAA Red Division. The Wildcats travel to Lake Orion on Friday for the annual battle of the rivals. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
Rowley said senior running back Wyatt Harden had a pretty good night, rushing for 102 yards on 30 attempts. Oxford quarterbacks Brenden Lewis and Garrett Tyrrell combined for 9-of-18 passing for 68 yards.
Garrett Stuk caught three passes for 32 yards and Louis Urban snagged two for 23 yards.
On defense, Jermaine Etchen, Devon Davenport and Ryan Motala led the Wildcats.