After fighting further into the district tournament than any other South County football team — including those from Mehlville, Lindbergh and Affton high schools — the Oakville Tigers fell in the second round of districts with a 7-49 loss.
The loss was taken to Jackson High School. Heading into the game, which took place in Jackson, Missouri, on Nov. 7, head coach Mike Genge and his athletes knew it would be a tough match-up.
“(Jackson is) one of the top teams in the state for a reason,” Genge said. “To me, they’re the standard for where we want to be. I told the kids and the coaches, when you get to this point in the season, there’s not a bad team. Every team has the capabilities to continue. To win a district title is tough.”
Genge says his team went in with determination and played hard even when things looked grim for the Oakville Tigers. The Tigers were down 0-7 after the first quarter,
and the Jackson Indians made it 0-42 by halftime. Genge says that, at that point, his team was “shell-shocked” considering how well they played throughout the year.
After encouragement from coaches at halftime, Oakville scored a touchdown with only a minute and a half left in the game. Genge says, though the score may not show it, the offense did well at moving the ball throughout the game, though they struggled to get the necessary first downs to keep drives going.
“I was proud of our kids for how they continued to fight, continued to play, whereas in the past — if we get down by 42 — our kids are checked out,” Genge said. “I didn’t feel like our kids were checked out at all. They kept going, and they kept playing.”
Although Oakville won’t advance in the district tournament, the Tigers ended their season with an 8-3 winning record. This season is Oakville’s first 8-win season since 2009.
“Other than a couple of close losses, I could not ask for a better season from this group of young men,” Genge said. “It’s a tremendous accomplishment for us, and it’s a huge building block moving forward.”
Now, Genge and his team turn their eyes toward the offseason and the next fall season to come. Oakville has around 145 players on the team roster, but 23 of those will graduate and leave the school behind. Genge says the team will have to find a quarterback, much of the backfield and a “huge chunk” of the defense.
On Nov. 10, Genge and his team held their “final practice” — a tradition he says he took from a former coach at Jackson. The team met after school and did warm-ups together; every senior got to catch a touchdown pass thrown by someone of their choosing, with a coach of their choosing guarding them. Then the captains handed their numbers down to younger teammates who they think “have the opportunity to earn that jersey.”
“These guys are graduating. Who’s going to work to step up and fill those shoes?” Genge said. “But we have kids that are there. They got their reps in JV. They’re going to work hard, step in and hopefully replace what’s walking out the door.”
