By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

After bouncing back from a two-game losing streak, the Oakville Senior High School football team has put together a two-game winning streak.

Friday’s 14-7 win over Marquette put the Tigers back above the .500 mark, which they had not seen since their season-opening win over North County.

“We definitely were happy to get the win,” Oakville head coach Arlee Conners told the Call. “The kids are getting a feel about what it takes to win a football game.”

The Tigers (3-2, 1-2 Suburban West) grabbed their first Suburban West Con-ference win of the season against a Mar-quette squad that has not won a game since Oct. 8, 2004.

Oakville jumped out to a 6-0 lead after senior running back Brandon Dillard scored on a five-yard run with 4:04 left in the second quarter.

Dillard finished the evening with 16 carries for 42 yards.

“Brandon’s been showing some spark here in the last couple of games,” Conners said. “All four of our running backs did a good job of running the ball.”

After Geoff Rongy’s extra-point kick, the Tigers did not score until the fourth quarter when senior quarterback Sam Kriegel scored on a two-yard run with 6:35 left to play.

“Sam did a good job at managing the game for us,” Conners said. “I think that he’s going to continue to get better.”

Rongy’s extra-point kick on the Kriegel touchdown gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead, which quickly was cut in half as Mar-quette’s Albert Thomas scored on a five-yard run with 5:29 remaining.

Oakville junior John Hopkins led the Ti-gers on the defensive side of the ball with seven tackles and two assists.

The defensive end has 17 tackles and six assists and also leads the team with two sacks this season.

“John’s another guy that has play capabilities,” Conners said. “There’s a tremendous upside to his play.”

The Tigers are back in action Friday when they play host to Parkway South in a key Suburban West Conference game for both teams.

Parkway South opened the season with a three-game losing streak before pulling off wins over Mehlville and Kirkwood.

“They (Parkway South) are a very gritty team,” Conners explained. “We need to un-derstand that we have to play as hard as we can and let the chips fall as they may.”

The Tigers’ game against Parkway South is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.