Oxford playoff hopes extinguished

OXFORD – Any slim chance Oxford had at making the playoffs was erased by a Deposit club that dominated Oxford for all but a brief sequence of the first half
Scoring 20 unanswered points over the final two quarters, the Lumberjacks improved to 4-1 on the season winning 20-7 Friday on Oxford’s homecoming weekend.
“Their athleticism really paid dividends for them in the second half,” said Oxford coach Mike Chrystie.
Deposit struggled to get on track with its passing game in the first half, and the running game was equally ineffective against a stingy Oxford defense.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, did few things right for a quarter and half of the second quarter. In fact, Oxford’s first seven plays from scrimmage included two turnovers and two penalties. After each turnover, Oxford averted any damage forcing a punt after the first one, then stopping a deep Deposit progression at its own 12.
Oxford’s only glimmer of sustained offense in the game came midway through the second quarter. Lumbjerjacks quarterback Brett Hauber made an ill-advised pass into swarming Oxford coverage, and John Witchella picked off the pigskin. Situated at Deposit’s 41, five straight runs led to a 10-yard TD dash up the middle from Scott Shackelton. After that, Oxford would not gain a first down until its next-to-last drive of the game.
Deposit made an halftime adjustment in its blocking scheme to seal Oxford’s outside safety, and that opened up the running game. Meanwhile, the passing game led by Hauber began to find holes in the Blackhawks’ defense. Following a botched handoff by Oxford that was recovered by Deposit’s Luke Krembs, Hauber, operating out of the shotgun, hit Jacob Gesford on a 27-yard TD pass, the first of two to Gesford in the second half.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Hauber rolled to his right and hit Gesford from nine yards out for the go-ahead score. An improved running game found more holes, with fullback Corey Andresen rumbling 32 yards for a first down in the fourth quarter in which he broke several Oxford tackles. Andresen dashed to the outside for the capping score hitting paydirt from six yards out. He finished with 97 yards to lead the Lumberjacks attack.
“We knew going in that it all starts up front (on the line), and their offensive and defensive lines were more physical than us,” Chrystie said. “They seemed to have more fire than us tonight.”
Oxford finished with four turnovers, just five first downs for the game, and 134 yards of total offense. One turnover led to a Deposit TD, and the other miscue stopped a fourth-quarter drive deep in the Lumberjacks’ end that would have closed the deficit to one touchdown. “Any time you have that many turnovers, it’s tough to win games,” Chrystie said. “We lost containment a couple times on defense and they hurt us with that, and when we made a mistake, they made a big play off of it.”
Oxford (2-3) hosts Delhi (3-2) Friday.
Score by quarters
Dep. 0 0 6 14–20
Oxf. 0 7 0 0–7
Scoring Summary
O: Shackelton 10 run (Christophersen kick)
D: Hauber 27 pass to Gesford (run failed)
D: Hauber 9 pass to Gesford (pass failed)
D: Andresen 6 run (Andresen pass to Hathaway)
Football Summary
D O
First downs 12 5
Rushes-yds 38-129 36-77
Passing yds 134 57
Comp-att-int 10-20-1 3-9-2
Punts-avg 4-37.5 4-36.5
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1
Penalties-yds 5-41.5 5-40
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (D) Andresen, 14-97, Hauber, 14-14; Darin Wignall, 6-10, Derek Wignall, 3-8; Zack Matthews, 1-0. (Ox) Travis Frank, 6-29, Shackelton, 14-21, John Witchella, 8-19, D. Christophersen, 8-9.
Passing: (D) Hauber, 9-18-1, 131 yds, TD; Darin Wignall, 1-1-0, 5 yds; Andresen, 0-1-0, 0 yds. (O) John Witchella, 3-9-2, 57 yds.
Receiving: (D) Gesford, 4-66, Hathaway, 2-25, Krembs, 1-11, Derek Wignall, 1-8, Andresen, 1-19, Hauber, 1-5. (O) Jeremy Nelson, 2-40, Robert Amor, 1-17.


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