In a season of ups and downs, the Oakville Senior High School football team posted a 21-14 win at home over Parkway South Friday night.
The win for Oakville (3-4, 2-2 Suburban West) was a complete reversal from the previous week’s 27-0 loss at Lafayette.
“I think we did a lot of things to help our own cause,” Oakville head coach Arlee Conners told the Call. “We didn’t turn the ball over and if we can keep doing that, we can win some ball games.”
Chris Anthony got the Tigers on the scoreboard with a one-yard touchdown run with 6:15 left in the first quarter. The junior running back carried the ball 25 times for 107 yards rushing in the win.
“Chris ran the ball pretty hard all night,” Conners said. “That was our first possession of the game and it was a good job by the offensive line and Chris finding those holes.”
Parkway South evened the score at 7-7 on a 33-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Chris Hoevel to wide receiver Kevin Wallace.
But the Tigers regained the lead on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Paul Taylor to senior wide receiver Justin Schoemehl with 3:18 left in the third quarter.
Schoemehl led the Tigers with two receptions for 48 yards and one touchdown in the win over the Patriots.
“We were taking advantage of his position on the field and were able to sneak him into the open,” Conners said. “Paul was then able to find him and hit him with a pass.”
Taylor threw the ball just one time for 29 yards and one touchdown.
“Paul’s one of the young kids in our program that can make big plays for us,” Conners said. “Knowing that he’s capable, it’s not out of the picture that he could line up as a quarterback in districts.”
Oakville extended its lead to 21-7 midway through the fourth quarter as sophomore quarterback Phil Schneider scored on a five-yard touchdown run with 5:36 to play in the game. Schneider carried the ball 10 times for 39 yards and one touchdown.
“Phil played real solid Friday night,” Conners said. “He was able to scramble around and get some yardage for us. He probably played his best game as a varsity quarterback.”
Parkway South brought the score to 21-14 on a one-yard touchdown run by Chris Hoevel with 59 seconds left in the game.
The Tigers are back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when they play host to Northwest in the first of three games in the Class 6, District 1 Tournament.
Northwest (2-5, 1-4 Suburban West) is riding a two-game winning streak as the Lions defeated Marquette 52-45 Friday night. Quarterback Jake Waterkotte torched Marquette for 263 yards passing and four touchdowns. Waterkotte also carried the ball 12 times for 109 yards rushing against the Mustang defense.
“The key to this game is that it’s the beginning of districts,” Conners said. “North-west is going to present some challenges because they like to spread it out and we’ve had trouble with pass coverage.”
