This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Oakville Spoils Francis Howell North's Homecoming with a 43-14 Victory

Junior Derrick Brown rushes for three touchdowns as the Tigers dominate the Knights.

Francis Howell North hoped to use the charged-up crowd on Homecoming night to bounce back from a 21-7 defeat last week against Fort Zumwalt South. Unfortunately for the Knights, the Tigers of Oakville were not willing to cooperate with that plan dominating the game from start to finish and beating the Knights 43-14 in a non-conference contest Friday night. The win moves Oakville over .500 for the year at 3-2 (2-2 Suburban West), while the loss drops Howell North to 1-4 (1-3 GAC South).

Oakville wasted no time opening the scoring with a 76-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Andy Oliver to senior Javon Henderson on the opening drive of the game.

Francis Howell North responded to that score with a well-designed play to answer back on the very next play from scrimmage. The Knights, knowing that the Oakville defense would be keying on their star senior running back Terron Givans, started Givans off the right side of the line. He flipped to the receiver on a reverse, who then flipped to sophomore quarterback Justin Hayden. Hayden heaved the ball to midfield, where senior wide receiver Bobby Gardner was standing all alone. Gardner did the rest, going untouched into the end zone for a 77-yard touchdown. The game was tied at 7 just three minutes into the first quarter, but that was as close as the game would be all night.

Find out what's happening in Mehlville-Oakvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

From that point on, Oakville asserted itself against an undermanned Howell North squad. The Tigers scored on three of their next four possessions. In contrast, Howell North did not score again the entire first half. At half time, the score was 36-7 in favor of Oakville. Each team added a touchdown in the second half, but the game was never in doubt after those first three minutes.

Oakville was superior in all phases of the game. On defense, they were able to key in and keep Terron Givans under wraps. While Givans did end up with 103 yards on 12 carries, 57 of those yards came on a touchdown run in the fourth quarter when the game had been decided and Oakville was not playing their first team defense.

Find out what's happening in Mehlville-Oakvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We played good run defense," said Oakville coach Arlee Conners. “That was our whole thing. Everybody had gaps. Control your gaps and when the guy gets the ball, rally to the ball.”

Offensively, Oakville was able to mix things up and keep Howell North off-balance. The Tigers were able to move the ball both on the ground and through the air. Junior running back Moe LaGrand finished with 143 yards on 20 carries, scoring on an 18-yard run in the first quarter. He was complimented nicely by junior running back Derrick Brown, who finished with 56 yards on 7 carries, including three rushing touchdowns.

“They controlled the line of scrimmage the whole game. They got the guys in the box that shut down all the running lanes. They did a great job,” said Francis Howell North coach John Brune.

Oakville also made good use of their passing game. Sophomore quarterback Andy Oliver, who is starting to emerge for the Tigers, finished the game 9 of 17 for 182 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. It was clear that Oakville had the advantage when their receivers, especially seniors Jaron and Javon Henderson, were matched up against the under-sized defensive backs from Howell North.

“They are a mismatched problem. That’s what we knew going in, that if we get those guys out there on the outside and if you are going to (single cover them), we are going to throw it to them,” Conners said. 

As if that were not enough, Oakville even mixed in the wildcat formation, lining Javon Henderson up at quarterback and letting him run out of that formation. Javon Henderson ended up with 93 yards on just 6 carries, including a 49-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

“We got some guys on this team that can do some different things. We want to spread that ball around, as many guys as we can get to touch that ball and make some plays for us,” Conners said.

Oakville out-gained Howell North in the game 503 yards to 222 yards. The Tigers rushed for 321 yards and threw for 182. Howell North could only manage 129 yards on the ground and 93 in the air.

Oakville junior Derrick Brown, after rushing for three touchdowns, said it was a good feeling to beat Howell North on Homecoming.

“It’s great. Last year we had a bad season, 2-9," he said. "Everybody scheduled us for their homecoming, so we just had to take it to them.”

Next Friday, the Oakville Tigers again go on the road for a tough non-conference contest against the De Smet Spartans. Francis Howell North will look to get back on track as they also go on the road for a GAC South tilt with Holt.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Mehlville-Oakville