After a close loss to rival Lindbergh High School in Week 1, the Oakville Tigers ended up on the right side of the scoreboard in Week 2, defeating Parkway South 39-20 on Sept. 6.
The win improved Oakville to 1-1 on the season, while Parkway South dropped to 1-1.
The Tigers racked up nearly 500 yards of offense in the victory, something that head coach Michael Genge was happy to see.
“I was really impressed with our offense Friday night,” Genge said. “Our staff has worked tirelessly this off-season to make us more balanced, and Friday really showed the work they have put in. We need to continue that balance to be successful as we come up against top competition on our schedule.”
Quarterback Max Bradley finished 19-for-28 for 269 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. Bradley connected with six different receivers in the game, something that Genge said was due to his understanding of where he needs to put the ball.
“Getting in a rhythm,” Genge said. “Our coaches have done a great job of teaching our kids where guys will be open in certain sets which makes pre-snap reads much easier. Max is really starting to understand where the ball needs to go pre-snap, which makes decisions much cleaner.”
Receiver Josh Williams, who had a three-touchdown performance in Week 1, continued to catch anything thrown his way in Week 2. Williams finished with eight catches for 130 yards, including a pair of touchdown catches. Williams’ first touchdown came on a 50-yard pass from Bradley. Williams was in a footrace with Parkway South defenders down the sideline all the way to the endzone. His second touchdown came on a 13-yard pass to extend Oakville’s lead to 24-7 going into halftime.
“Josh has definitely become a dude for us, but like you said we had six different guys catch the ball,” Genge said. “Good teams can’t rely on one guy to always make plays and our guys know that at any given moment their number can and will be called. It was fun watching the success they all had moving down the field.”
Genge said the Tigers’ ability to score before halftime was a huge momentum boost, considering Parkway South had just cut the game to 17-7 on their previous possession.
“Anytime you can take momentum into halftime it is a big plus,” he said. “I feel that in the past couple of years, we have let games get away from us by making mistakes before half and giving away the momentum. We knew if we could score before half it would be big because we were getting the ball back to start the second half. Again, I commend my offensive staff in calling a great game and managing the clock perfectly.”
Other players scoring in the game for Oakville were field goal kicker Nathan Wilson adding a pair of field goals from 28 and 25 yards, along with Jacob Banes, Edin Mulalic, and Colby Bangert each adding touchdown runs.
The Tigers also ran the ball quite well, adding 30 carries for 225 yards, for an average of over 7 yards per carry.
Oakville traveled the following week to Rockwood Summit for a Friday the 13th matchup, losing in a tight game 28-25.