OXFORD – Oxford came up with a number of big stops in regulation. It needed one more in overtime to seal a key division victory.
Delhi deflated the Blackhawks’ victory hopes when Anthony Salerno found Jacob Sackett in the endzone for the two-point conversion giving the Bulldogs a 22-21 seesaw win over Oxford Friday night.
After Oxford went ahead in overtime on Andrew Golden’s 20-yard TD reception from John Wonka – and Golden tacked on the extra-point kick – Delhi responded with a score in two plays. Jack Fletcher rumbled up the middle with back-to-back 10-yard gains, the latter cutting the Oxford lead to 21-20. The Bulldogs used a fake handoff to Fletcher as Salerno dropped back and lofted a soft pass to a wide-open Sackett for the winning points.
“It was a chess match all game, and you hate to see anyone lose like that,” said Oxford coach Mike Chrystie. “They were a physical team and we were a physical team. It came down to who outlasted who, and they made the two-point conversion to beat us by one.”
Delhi had varying amounts of success throughout the game as it continually tinkered with formations to solve the Oxford defense. Fletcher ran 30 times gaining 152 yards, and the last two runs were among the few times he had any daylight against a stout Oxford defense.
“We were standing around (the coaching staff), and we were about out of ideas on offense,” said longtime Delhi coach Dave Kelly, who admitted he dug deep into the playbook a couple of times. “They did a nice job on us, and they did last year. We’ve had three games with them the last four or five years, and they’ve all been decided by a touchdown or less, and two times by one point.”
Kelly said the deciding two-point conversion was a risky call. “We made it look like something we had been doing that was run-oriented,” he said. “It could have blown up on us.”
Oxford came up with three substantial defensive stops in the game, the first one in the opening quarter when Delhi was stopped at the two-yard line after setting up with a first-and-goal from the Oxford six. Tom Retian was stuffed for no gain on fourth down.
Delhi ended up scoring anyway, although it came in an unlikely manner. After forcing Oxford to punt, Oxford kicker Andrew Golden ran into his blocker, Clayton Audette as he set to kick, and the ball came loose. Golden was tackled in the endzone for a safety.
Delhi drove to the Oxford 34 on the next possession, but a Salerno fumble on an option was recovered by the Blackhawks’ Steve Simpson.
Oxford, who failed to gain a first down in its first three possessions, punted the ball away. Delhi put together its first scoring drive when Salerno found Kevin O’Connell on a 38-yard pass over the middle, and Fletcher scored on a 30-yard run up the middle making it an 8-0 game.
Oxford responded with its first signs of sustained offense. After running for back-to-back first downs as John and Paul Wonka traded carries, John Wonka’s 42-yard pass down the right sideline to Adam Pierson put Oxford in prime-time scoring position. A five-yard Delhi roughing-the-passer penalty gave Oxford the ball at the five, and John Wonka snuck the ball in from one yard out. Pierson scampered around the right end for the two-point conversion tying the game up at 8-8.
Oxford went to the pass almost exclusively in the second half, and it paid off in Golden’s 25-yard TD catch from John Wonka. Golden outjumped defender O’Connell for the score and the 14-8 lead.
Delhi had a great opportunity to tie the game when it recovered an Oxford fumble on the Blackhawks’ next possession; however, the Bulldogs fell flat when Salerno’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete at the Oxford 27.
Delhi, normally a run-first, pass-second team, used the passing game to move for the tying score in the fourth. Retian and Sackett had first-down receptions to extend the drive, and Salerno hit O’Connell on a 10-yard scoring toss. The missed conversion left the game tied at 14.
Delhi threatened one more time in the fourth, but O’Connell was stopped one yard short of the first down on a double reverse at the Oxford 26.
Wonka finished 10-for-21 for 187 yards and the two scores. Golden caught six passes for 92 yards. Oxford had just 53 yards rushing in the game, 16 of those in the second half and overtime.
“Any time you line up and decide to throw the ball all over the place, you’ll have some inconsistency on offense,” Chrystie said. “It’s something we lived with, and we were successful a couple of times. When we didn’t move the ball, at least we didn’t hurt ourselves with field position.”
Oxford (2-1) faces Deposit-Hancock in week four, and is now in a position where it cannot afford another division loss. “We can’t let an emotional game like this beat us two games in a row,” Chrystie said. “Our focus right now is Deposit-Hancock, and we’ll see where we go from here. If we take care or our games week to week, maybe we’ll see Delhi again.”
Score by quarters OT
Del. 2 6 0 6 8–22
Oxf. 0 8 6 0 7–21
Scoring Summary
D: Safety, Oxford punter tackled in endzone.
D: Jack Fletcher 20 run (run failed)
O: John Wonka 2 run (Adam Pierson run)
O: John Wonka 25 pass to Andrew Golden (run failed)
D: Anthony Salerno 10 pass to Kevin O’Connell (run failed)
Overtime
O: Wonka 20 pass to Andrew Golden (Golden kick)
D: Fletcher 10 run (Salerno pass to Jacob Sackett)
Team Summary
Ox D
First downs 10 17
Rushes-yds 26-53 51-199
Passing yds 187 111
Comp-att-int 10-22-0 8-15-0
Punts-avg 5-32.6 2-39
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1
Penalties-yds 3-15 4-20
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (D) Jack Fletcher, 30-152, Tom Retian, 8-15, Anthony Salerno, 10-18, Collin Ellis, 2-5, Kevin O’Connell, 1-9. (Ox) John Wonka, 7-28, Paul Wonka, 13-27, Booker Davis, 4-3, Dylan Cole, 1-1, Andrew Golden, 1 –(-6).
Passing: (O) John Wonka, 10-21-0, 187 yds, 2 TDs, B. Davis, 0-1-0, 0 yds. (D) Anthony Salerno, 8-15-0, 111 yards, TD.
Receiving: (O) Andrew Golden, 6-92, Adam Pierson, 3-62, Paul Wonka, 1-33. (D) Jacob Sackett, 4-46, K. O’Connell, 2-48, Tyler Hymer, 1-10, Tom Retian, 1-7.