Oakville Earns Playoff Berth with Win over Northwest

Almost one year ago to the day, the Northwest Lions upset Oakville 14-13 to crush the Tigers’ dream of making it to the Class 6 state playoffs for a third consecutive year.

But this time around, things would be much different for the Tigers. Oakville avenged that Oct. 22, 2010 loss by beating Northwest 42-7 Friday night at Oakville. The Tigers’ blowout win – coupled with Eureka’s victory over Fox – means that Oakville will be moving on to the state playoffs for the third time in four years.

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“We fell short last year, and we got to the state semifinals the year before,” Oakville coach Arlee Conners said. “We’re definitely excited to get there and not just show up, but get there and make something happen.”

Tiger junior RB Moe LaGrand, who carried the ball 17 times for 126 yards and 1 touchdown, said Oakville would be prepared for the state tournament, which begins on Nov. 4 for all teams.

“When we play good teams, you’ve got to come prepared,” LaGrand said. “You’ve got to be ready for it. You can’t be intimidated, that’s the only key.”

Oakville (5-4 overall, 4-3 in the Suburban West Conference) scored 28 first-quarter points against Northwest (0-9 overall, 0-7 in the SWC) to take control of the game. LaGrand opened the Tigers’ scoring with a 4-yard TD run up the middle with 8:04 left in the first quarter.

Senior WR , as he caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from sophomore QB Andy Oliver two and a half minutes later. Oliver finished the game 11 of 15 for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Oakville junior Derrick Brown recovered the ensuing kickoff at the Northwest 25-yard line after the Lions let the ball bounce around in their territory. Brown punched the ball into the end zone from 3 yards out on a fourth-and-one play to put Oakville up 21-0.

After a Northwest three-and-out, Henderson set up the Tigers in great field position once again, as he returned the punt to the Northwest 16.

Junior Ben Howard capped the short drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. With nine seconds left in the opening quarter, Oakville had built a 28-0 lead. Despite this, Conners said his offense could have done a little better against a Northwest defense that has given up 42.1 points per game.

“They were OK,” Conners said. “We didn’t try to do a whole lot – we didn’t really open our offense up. But for the plays we did run, it was OK. I expected better execution out of some of the other plays.

“That’s the thing, when you get this late in the season, you’re trying to perfect everything you do out there. That’s what I’m preaching to these guys. I know perfection is hard to get, but it’s something to strive for, and that’s what we want to do.”

Northwest scored their fifth touchdown of the season with 3:03 left in the second quarter, which cut Oakville’s lead to 28-7. QB Adnan Al-Amani threw a bullet over the middle to Matthew Fisher, who outran the Oakville defense for a 59-yard score.

“Other than the big pass play – we missed a tackle and bad coverage – I thought the defense was solid all night,” Conners said. “We were talking about covering our responsibilities, and I thought they did that today.”

On Oakville’s next possession, senior wide receiver Jaron Henderson caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Oliver. Henderson had 4 catches on the night for 91 yards and that score.

The Lions tried to make something happen on their final drive of the first half, which proved costly. On the final play of the half, Al-Amani’s last-gasp pass attempt was picked by Jaron. Jaron proceeded to weave through several Northwest tacklers for a 60-yard TD, which was the game’s final score.

The Tigers will host Eureka in the regular-season finale on Friday, Oct. 28. Eureka dominated Fox 35-7 in the other District 1 matchup. Both Eureka and Oakville are 2-0 in district action.

The winner of the Oakville-Eureka game will claim the District 1 championship and will play the District 2 runner-up at state, while the loser will face the District 2 champion. The District 2 teams that have a shot at qualifying for the postseason are SLUH, De Smet and Lindbergh.

Even though the Tigers have already secured a playoff spot, Conners said he will not be taking Eureka (7-2 overall) lightly. Last year, Eureka pummeled Oakville 47-0, with 19 of those points being scored in the second half.

“They literally ran the score up on us,” Conners said. “You can be nice about how you want to be nice about it, but they ran the score up against us, and we don’t forget that. Our guys will be ready to go for them next week, trust me.”