If members of the Oakville Senior High School football team learned anything from Friday night’s 19-13 victory at Fox, they know they can win no matter what the field conditions are.

The Tigers (7-3, 4-3 Suburban West) battled Fox (8-2, 6-0 Mississippi Area Red) on a field that ended up looking more like a mud bath than a football field as both teams battled dropped passes throughout the game.

“I thought our guys stepped up to the challenge,” Oakville head coach Arlee Conners said. “We had to do a little shuffling around on defense at halftime and we had four sophomores out there on defense during the game.”

Oakville took a 7-0 lead when quarterback Joe Plassmeyer connected with Paul Taylor on a 23-yard pass with 8:10 left in the first quarter. Plassmeyer completed 12 of 21 passes for 121 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The senior quarterback also carried the ball eight times for 27 yards.

“Joe battled all night long,” Conners said. “There were times when he had to scramble in those tough conditions and I thought he did really well.”

Fox battled back less than a minute later when Thomas Robbins grinded in a 10-yard touchdown run to tie the game.

The Warriors took a 13-7 lead when D.J. Chambers broke away from the Oakville defense on a 34-yard touchdown run with 39 seconds left in the first half.

Oakville tied the game at 13-13 when Taylor hit Mike Cyliax on a 15-yard pass with 5:31 left in the third quarter. Cyliax recorded three catches for 31 yards.

“Mike was ‘Mr. Reliable’ once again for us,” Conners said. “I think that what he did his best was blocking for us throughout the night.”

Taylor helped the Tigers regain the lead with a one-yard touchdown run with 5:22 left in the fourth quarter. Taylor carried the ball 11 times for 72 yards and one touchdown. The senior running back also had 28 yards receiving and one touchdown, plus 15 yards passing and one touchdown. On defense, Taylor recorded two interceptions and two tackles.

“Paul was all over the field and really turned it on Friday night,” Conners said. “I can’t say enough about what he brings to this team and I think he really wants to win these days.”

The Tigers return to action at 7 p.m. Friday when they play host to St. Louis University High at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Class 6 playoffs. SLUH (5-5, 1-3 Met-ro Catholic Conference) is coming off a 23-21 loss to Lindbergh last Friday night.