Easy win in 1,000

Oxford thwarts Springville’s game plan scoring on its first seven possessions, plays for region title at Fort Payne Friday

By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today

OXFORD – Top-ranked Oxford won its seventh straight game with ease Friday night, romping past Springville 63-6 at Lamar Field.

It was the 1,000th football game in the Yellow Jackets’ history.

With the win, the Yellow Jackets pushed their record to 7-1, 5-0 in the region, and moved into position to win the region championship next week. Springville falls to 4-4, 1-4.

The Jackets haven’t lost since falling to top-ranked 7A Thompson in a shootout in their season opener.

The Tigers came in with a plan to slow the game down and limit the number of possessions that Oxford had in order to keep the No. 1 scoring offense in Class 6A from scoring a ton of points and then hope their offense, which was averaging more than 30 points a game, could put a few points on the board and keep it close enough to have a shot at the end.

They would run the play clock down to the last second before getting off their play. However, the overall plan fell apart early as the Jackets scored all seven times they had the ball on just 23 plays in the first half and the Tigers’ offense was held to just 41 first-half yards.

“Teams have been trying that strategy on this, but it can backfire when we score on offense, especially when we score quickly,” Oxford coach Keith Etheredge said. “They are back out there on the field and are getting three-and-outs and giving us the ball back and losing their focus.”

Oxford was balanced on offense in the first half as they piled up 181 yards rushing and 172 yards passing in taking a 49-0 halftime lead.

Trey Higgins was 10 of 13 passing for 172 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 85 yards on three carries and two more touchdowns in the first half.

Higgins hooked up with Roc Taylor on two of the touchdown passes and Bakari Dailey for the other. Taylor caught four passes for 85 yards with a dislocated finger. Keeshon Siosi scored a pair of touchdowns in the half on runs of 26 and 11 yards. Siosi rushed five times for 88 yards in the game.

“Siosi is huge for us when he is running the ball for us like that,” Higgins said.

Higgins showed his leadership earlier in the game after Dailey dropped a wide-open touchdown pass. Higgins met his receiver coming back to the huddle and told him, “Hey, man, it is OK; that is gonna happen. I still believe in you and gonna come back to you, so don’t get down. We all make mistakes.”

Higgins hit Dailey on a 14-yard pass for a touchdown pass later in the game.

A running clock sped things along in the second half as the Oxford reserves picked up a pair of touchdowns in three possessions. Quarterback Sam Robertson connected with Cody Bonner on a 16-yard scoring pass on the first possession of the second half and Jayden Thomas scored from nine yards out on the last play of the game to wrap up the scoring. 

Quarterback Pason Baldwin hit John Wolf on a 42-yard touchdown pass in between the two Oxford scores for Springville’s only points of the night.

Oxford will be at Fort Payne next week playing for the Class 6A Region 7 championship. The Jackets are 5-2-3 against Fort Payne all-time, winning the last three. Springville will be hosting Arab next week with a possible playoff spot on the line.

“I’m excited,” Etheredge said. “It’s the region championship next week, one of the best 7A teams in the state the next week (Central-Phenix City) and the playoffs after that. It is time to go.”

Oxford 63, Springville 6
Springville            0    0    6   0    –    6
Oxford                   21 28  7   7    –    63
O – Trey Higgins 27 run (Nicolas Gutierrez kick), 7:34 1Q
O – Keeshon Siosi 26 run (Warren Britt run), 4:34 1Q
O – Roc Taylor 37 pass from Trey Higgins (kick failed), 3:07 1Q
O – Trey Higgins 62 run (Nicolas Gutierrez kick), 10:29 2Q
O – Roc Taylor 22 pass from Trey Higgins (Nicolas Guiterrez kick), 7:48 2Q
O – Bakari Dailey 14 pass from Trey Higgins (Nicolas Guiterrez kick), 5:33 2Q
O – Keeshon Siosi 11 run (Nicolas Guiterrez kick), 2:29 2Q
O – Coby Bonner 16 pass from Sam Robertson (Nicolas Guiterrez kick), 5:41 3Q
S – John Wolf 42 pass from Pason Baldwin (kick failed), 1:28 3Q
O – Jayden Thomas 9 run (Joell Garcia kick), 1:33 4Q

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