It’s been said that defense wins championships.

If that’s the case, the Oakville Senior High School football team’s defensive unit was in championship form Friday night when the Tigers (5-0, 2-0 Suburban West) mauled Marquette in a 41-3 win over the Mustangs.

Marquette running back Albert Thomas had averaged nearly 157 yards a game before the Tigers stymied him to just 26 yards on 14 carries.

Oakville head coach Arlee Conners was not surprised with his team’s defensive effort.

“Our defense has stepped up for us all season,” the Oakville coach told the Call. “They had the attitude that they wanted to go in and stop him (Thomas).”

The Oakville offense also was busy as junior place kicker Jeff Rongey got the Tigers onto the scoreboard with a 28-yard field goal with 8:58 left in the first quarter.

“Jeff’s getting better with experience,” Conners said. “I was really happy for him to get that one because he had missed a similar one against Lindbergh.”

The Tigers then attacked from the ground as senior running back Fred Walton hammered in a 14-yard touchdown run with 5:41 left in the first quarter. Walton finished the evening with 136 yards rushing.

“Fred got a lot of work early in the game,” Conners said. “The offensive line was blocking good for him, and he’s a tough kid.”

Walton scored again in the second quarter on a three-yard touchdown run with 8:21 left in the half. His third touchdown of the evening came on an 11-yard run with 3:49 left in the first half. Jamyron Norman extended Oakville’s lead to 31-0 on a five-yard touchdown run with 19 seconds left in the first half. The senior running back has two touchdowns this season.

Oakville’s Jourdan Riley ignited the Oakville bench with a 95-yard kickoff return that resulted in a touchdown. The junior kick return specialist has two touchdowns this season.

“Jourdan’s one of those instant energy players,” Conners said. “You know that something’s going to happen when he’s got the ball.”

Oakville is back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when the Tigers play host to Lafayette (1-4, 1-3 Suburban West), which dropped a 24-0 decision to Lindbergh last Friday.

“With it being a conference game, re-cords don’t mean a lot,” Conners said. “Lafayette has some really good players, but the main thing is that we need to come out and play like we’re supposed to.”