When the Oakville Senior High football team walked away from a 40-22 victory over Northwest Friday night, the Tigers left with more than a win over the Lions in District No. 1 play.
The Tigers (4-4, 2-4 Suburban West) also moved back to the .500 mark after suffering a two-game losing streak, including the previous week’s 14-0 loss at Kirkwood.
“I think we had some guys step up and make some plays,” Oakville head coach Ar-lee Conners said. “The bottom line is that the guys executed and that’s all that matters.”
Oakville fell behind 7-0 in the first quarter after a one-yard touchdown run by North-west’s Nick Fisher, but immediately re-sponded with a 79-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Sam Kriegel to Dwayne Pickens. Pickens, who leads the Tigers with 155 receiving yards, finished the evening with the one touchdown reception.
Kriegel was stellar for the Tigers as he threw five completed passes on eight attempts for 256 yards and three touchdowns. The senior quarterback has a QB rating of 83.898.
Northwest extended its lead to 13-6 on a one-yard touchdown run by Fisher, but the Tigers responded with a 23-yard touchdown run by junior Fred Walton, who finished the night with 10 carries for 56 yards and two touchdowns.
“Fred’s another guy that continues to get better and better,” Conners said. “He’s been working hard and is beginning to reap the benefits from it.”
The Tigers took their first lead of the game in the second quarter when junior James Jones scored on a four-yard touchdown run with 5:29 left in the first half.
The Tigers’ fullback carried the ball eight times for 32 yards and one touchdown.
“James is the hammer for our offense be-cause when he hits guys, they know they’ve been hit,” Conners said. “He’s a very solid player for us.”
Oakville took a 28-13 lead with 2:59 left in the first half when senior middle linebacker Mike Kawelaske returned a 44-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
“That was actually a blitz play and it turned into a bad snap,” Conners said. “He was in the right place at the right time.”
The Tigers extended their lead to 34-13 in the third quarter when junior running back Chris Dillard scored on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Kriegel.
Oakville hammered away another touchdown in the fourth quarter as Walton caught an 81-yard touchdown pass from Kriegel.
The Tigers are back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when they travel to Mehlville for a District No. 1 meeting with the Panthers.
The game possibly could be the most im-portant game of the season for the Tigers.
Mehlville (1-7, 0-5 Suburban West) grab-bed its first win of the season last week, handing Fox a 43-6 spanking.
“I think that this game is more important for our players and our program as a whole,” Conners said. “People have written Mehl-ville off, but we’re not going to buy that. They’re a very explosive football team and we’re not going to look past that.”
