The curse was almost broken when the Oakville Senior High School football team went toe to toe with the Eureka Wildcats Friday night, but the Wildcats prevailed once again, ousting the Tigers with a come-from-behind 18-14 victory.
The 2-0 Wildcats have had Oakville’s number over the past two seasons.
But the Tigers, now 1-1 on the season, were hoping for a win against Eureka and felt good about their chances of getting one heading into the game, according to head coach Arlee Conners.
“We weren’t satisfied with the outcome. We thought going in we could play pretty good against them. We thought we could win actually. It’s disappointing that we didn’t seal the deal,” Conners told the Call.
The Tigers had a 14-3 lead heading into the half that they earned on a Kobe Allen touchdown pass to Antwan Banks.
Banks, who had more than a hundred yards receiving on the night, also returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
But Eureka answered in the second half.
“… We made some good plays early, but we missed so many plays at the end that it cost us,” the Oakville coach said. “We went backwards too many times. Bad snaps, turnovers, penalties and things like that didn’t give us a chance.”
Eureka started the second half with a 20-play drive that ended with a touchdown.
Despite losing their lead and the game in the second half, Conners said he doesn’t believe his players let up at all in the second half in terms of their intensity. It was just the mistakes, he said.
“We made it hard on them, but we didn’t do enough on defense and on offense, we didn’t continue our path like we needed to,” Conners said.
Oakville will face Hazelwood East Friday night and the Tigers will need to be ready, according to the coach.
“They are very athletic. They’ve got a lot of talent and they come after you,” Conners said. “So it’s going to be another game that’s going to present a challenge for us.
“We just have to be ready to match it.”
The Tigers will face Hazelwood East at 7 p.m. Friday night at Oakville Senior High School, 5557 Milburn Road.
