The Oakville Senior High School football team took nothing for granted in Fri-day night’s 29-7 win at home over Northwest.
The Tigers (4-4, 3-2 Suburban West) racked up 327 yards rushing with running backs Chris Anthony and Paul Taylor both gaining more than 100 yards.
“It was good to win a game against a team that we’re supposed to beat,” Oakville head coach Arlee Conners said. “We’ve stressed to the kids that if we want to have a chance to win anything, you have to win this game and not look forward to the next game.”
Oakville jumped out to a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Anthony pounded in a one-yard touchdown run with 59 seconds left in the quarter. Anthony carried the ball 26 times for 194 yards rushing and three touchdowns. The junior running back has seven touchdowns and 685 yards rushing this season.
“Chris continues to get better each time he goes out,” Conners said. “He’s learned to practice hard and it’s now showing in games.”
The Tigers’ second touchdown came from Anthony on a 67-yard run with 5:39 left in the second quarter to give Oakville a 14-0 lead.
“Chris did a good move cutting back across the defense,” Conners said. “He got some good blocks from the receivers and he was gone.”
Anthony gave the Tigers a 20-0 lead late in the third quarter on a three-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds remaining.
“We were struggling on getting the ball in and we decided to put our big backs in,” Conners said. “He then hammered the ball in for a touchdown.”
The Tigers extended their lead to 23-0 on a 22-yard field goal by Jeff Rongey with 9:38 left in the fourth quarter. Rongey’s field goal was his third of the season.
“It’s always good to see Jeff make some field goals,” Conners said. “It was really good for his confidence.”
Northwest finally got on the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter when quarterback Jake Waterkotte tossed a five-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Korn with 5:45 left.
Oakville’s Paul Taylor scored the final touchdown of the game on a 60-yard run with 3:07 remaining. The sophomore running back carried the ball 10 times for 114 yards.
“Paul’s another sophomore that continues to get better in each game,” Conners said. “He can do a lot of good things and we’re happy with the progress that he’s making.”
The Tigers are back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when they play host to Mehlville in the second round of the Class 6, District 1 playoffs.
Mehlville (6-2, 4-1 Suburban West) beat Fox 34-7 Friday as Alexis Reedus scorched the Warrior defense for 140 yards rushing, 224 yards passing and four touchdowns.
“With Mehlville, you’re facing one of the top teams in the area,” Conners said. “They have a lot of weapons and they’ll pose a lot of problems for us. For our kids, going out there and playing with the belief that they can win is the key for us.”
