Whenever the Oakville Tigers needed to make a play against the Parkway South High School Patriots Friday night, they made one in their 33-21 win.
The win came at a perfect time, and it came through the offense, defense and special teams.
It was their second-straight victory over Parkway South (2-1).
“We made some strides. Our passing game was a little better. Our kicking game was a lot better,” Oakville head coach Ar-lee Connors said. “The defense has been playing solid all along.
“Last week (against Marquette), they were on the field too much, and they were on a short field. Even though the score said they put up 59 points, it was a lot of bad situations they were put in.”
The Tigers defense gave up its fewest points of the season, and ended the first half with a 100-yard interception return by junior Javon Henderson when Parkway South was threatening to steal the lead for the second time in the game.
Senior kicker Andrew Messmer drilled field goals of 25 and 42 yards.
The 42-yarder came with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter with Oakville leading 17-14.
After Oakville’s defense shut down the Patriots, Javon Henderson completed a scoring drive with a 22-yard run to open the Tigers’ lead to 27-14 after Messmer’s extra point.
The Patriots fought back with a two-yard touchdown with 2:20 to play, but Henderson ended the drama with a nine-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Anthony Herrera with 1:15 left.
“The big thing tonight was that we got the ball out of (Javon’s) hand, and he hit some receivers,” Connors said.
Henderson completed eight of 16 passes for 86 yards, 60 of which came on two passes to brother Jaron Henderson. Javon also rushed 13 times for 124 yards
The Tigers trailed for four minutes in the game.
A four-yard touchdown pass from Henderson to Herrera with 14 seconds left in the half gave Oakville the lead for the rest of the game.
“We felt our offense had some players that could step it up for us, and could make us explosive at times. Tonight we opened it up a little bit and got some other guys involved,” Connors said.
Herrera’s two touchdowns were the first for the sophomore this season. He caught four passes for 21 yards.
Senior Darrion Moore didn’t find the end zone, but pounded for 115 yards on 24 carries.
The Tigers need to win five of their final seven regular-season games to record back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2006 and 2007.
“We’re taking little baby steps, doing positive things, and, hopefully, we’ll seize the momentum when we have it,” Connors said.
