Coming off a victory last week against Fox, the Oakville Senior High School football team will travel tonight to Northwest to face the Lions.
The Tigers are looking to improve to 3-2 on the season, but head coach Arlee Conners told the Call that he is taking nothing for granted.
“They are similar to Fox. They play a tough offensive formation where they just pack everybody in and they just kind of pound you, pound you, pound you and try to put you to sleep,” Conners said of the Lions. “That’s kind of what Fox does.
“It’ll be a challenge every time you go there on Friday night. So our guys will have to step up to that challenge and the offense will just have to be ready to execute and be us and not be concerned about who our opponent is.”
When Oakville and Fox meet, there is always an element of surprise in the way the game is won.
Last week, it was Oakville again with 22-13 victory over the Warriors with a deciding touchdown scored late in the game. That has been a tradition of the Tigers, sneaking out victories at the last minute against Fox.
Conners said his players missed a few opportunities in the contest, but praised them for their resilience.
“We came out pretty good at the beginning,” he said. “We had a couple turnovers. That didn’t help us, but we came out of the first half without punting the ball. So we moved the ball real well and put up points, but we missed a couple opportunities.
“So I thought that overall we kind of kept them in the game more than anything. But at the end, we found a way to win, too, so I was definitely proud of those guys for that.”
With a win in week one and a victory against Fox in week four, the Tigers improved to .500 with an overall record of 2-2, but each game has been very similar in one respect and it’s something on which the Tigers have been focusing.
“It’s crazy. Each game we’ve been in this year we’ve gone into halftime with the lead and for whatever reason come (the) second half, we just can’t sustain what we did in the first half,” Conners said. “So we just got to get guys to maintain that focus
“It would be different if guys were getting tired and not being able to do anything, but it’s just mental mistakes. So it’s just keeping guys focused and that’s what we’re working on We did a lot better at that last night (Sept. 11).”
