Road Show: Owen J. Roberts continues unbeaten road start with win over Daniel Boone
BIRDSBORO >> When Owen J. Roberts head football coach Rich Kolka first laid eyes on the 2018 regular season schedule, he hardly batted an eye at the challenges that awaited within the first three weeks.
“Oh, we didn’t care about that,” said Kolka, noting that the Wildcats open up the season with three straight road games. “We’ll gladly take this show on the road. That’s kind of been our saying so far.”
Two weeks in, and the Wildcats have plenty to show for their road trip.
Owen J. Roberts improved to 2-0 on the season with a 28-7 win over Daniel Boone on Friday night in a non-conference matchup at Al Brazinsky Stadium.
Senior tailback Marcus Martin gashed the Blazers’ defense for 208 total yards and three touchdowns while senior defensive end Aidan Hayward was a force in the trenches throughout the game.
On a night that featured a steady downpour of rain during the opening half, it was Martin that came out looking the slickest.
The speedster broke the game open with a 51-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, then pulled in a pass from quarterback Cooper Chamberlain and weaved his way to the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown reception late in the second.
“He’s our guy,” said Kolka. “He’s a guy we can really lean on, especially a game like today.”
Defensively, the Wildcats never let Daniel Boone quarterback Tommy Buchert get comfortable in the pocket. Hayward finished the game with three sacks while Arnaldo Montagano also came away with a sack while Buchert completed just one of eight passes on the night.
“They were trying to run the options a lot,” said Hayward. “We just followed what we were taught in practice — stay on our assignments. Once we did that, they weren’t getting too much going on us.”
After being held to just 65 total yards of offense in the first half, Daniel Boone came back out in the second half and quickly shifted the tides.
The Blazers opened up the second half with a 76-yard drive, aided by Tanner Vanderslice’s 45-yard carry and capped by Chase Lacey’s four-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7. Lacey finished the game 107 yards rushing while Vanderslice racked up 104 yards on 16 carries.
“We came out in the second half with a lot of energy,” said Boone head coach Rob Flowers. “It was good to see them bounce back and get us right back in the game.”
Only the Blazers couldn’t put together another scoring possession, the offense’s next three drives resulting in a pair of punts and a fumble.
“We had a couple opportunities to go in and score again, but we got hit with an untimely penalty then fumbled on our next possession,” said Flowers. “We made too many of those untimely little mistakes.”
Martin gave the Blazers no time to dwell on the fumble, carrying it 62 yards for his third touchdown on the first play of ensuing possession to effectively ice the game with just under eight games remaining.
The Wildcats then marched it down the field one final time, the drive ending with Hayward falling on a loose fumble in the end zone to give OJR a 28-7 lead with 1:32 left in regulation.
“I was blocking my guy and I had him in the end zone,” recalled Hayward of his first offensive touchdown since eighth grade with a smile. “I turned around to see the ball was coming to me so I just picked it up.”
UP NEXT>> With a win, Owen J. Roberts improves to 2-0 to start the year for the second straight season. The Wildcats travel to Oxford for a 7 p.m. game next Friday night before finally opening up the gates at Henry J. Bernat Stadium for their home opener against Upper Merion on Sept. 14.
With the loss, Daniel Boone drops to 1-1 on the season, a week removed from their first season-opening win since 2015. The Blazers will look to get back on track next week when they host Bishop Shanahan on Friday night at 7 p.m.
“I told the guys, two things are gonna happen from this game today,” said Flowers. “Number one, we’re gonna get better. Number two, we’re going to stick together. Those are the two things that are the focus for us.”
