De Smet quarterback Connor Harrison and his Spartans teammates were frustrated for most of the night. But thankfully for Harrison and De Smet, their defense and big contribution from stars such as Durron Neal and Latif Adams gave them just enough juice to survive.
Harrison threw for a touchdown and ran for one and Adams scored punched in a pair of rushing touchdowns. The Spartans defense then did their part as De Smet survived a gritty, physical Oakville Tiger squad for a 35-21 win Friday night.
"Our offense struggled all night long and it was really frustrating," Harrison said. "Give Oakville credit because they really came after us but thankfully our defense stepped up when we needed it."
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De Smet (5-1) jumped on top midway through the first quarter when Harrison fired a 44-yard touchdown strike to Neal to score first for the Spartans. That lead grew to 14-0 in the second quarter as Harrison scored on an 8-yard run.
On its next series, Oakville (3-3) responded as Moe LaGrand broke off right tackle and raced 75 yards for a touchdown.
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Three minutes later, De Smet was back in the red zone again. This time, Lucas Nikolaisen finished off the Spartans' drive with a 2-yard scoring run.
But just two series later, Oakville was still scratching at the Spartans as the Tigers defense came up with a big play of its own when Isaac Dozier scooped up and bolted 40 yards for a touchdown off a botched lateral, making it 21-14 at the break.
"We told the kids coming in that we were going to have to make big plays and fight to have a chance and we did that early," Oakville coach Arlee Conners said. "Our guys came out playing hard and were not intimidated."
Conners was ejected early in the fourth quarter for questioning an official's call made on the Oakville bench.
Adams scored his first touchdown of the game on the opening drive of the third quarter on a 4-yard run for a 27-14 cushion. Oakville responded five minutes later when LaGrand scored his second TD of the night on a 4-yard run, cutting the gap to 27-21.
An early fourth quarter 4-yard score by Adams (his second of the night) restored De Smet's 14-point lead with 10:53 left.
"The offensive line did a great job of giving us room to run and then Latif did a great job of finishing up the drive," Harrison said.
Then it was the Spartans' defense that had to step up. The Tigers drove deep into De Smet territory with just over five minutes left. On fourth and seven, the heart of De Smet’s defensive line stuffed Oakville quarterback Andy Oliver and Oakville's last chance to come back was gone.
Oakville did not finish the night with the success they wanted, but the Tigers left feeling like they have some unfinished business that will get looked at later in the season.
"Our kids played hard and we just didn't make enough big plays tonight," Conners said. "But we feel good about the direction we're heading and we think we’ll see a team like this in the playoffs so we're hanging our hat on that."
