Defense, rushing attack carry Oxford past Great Valley
OXFORD—Coming into Friday night’s Ches-Mont American clash, Oxford and Great Valley sported identical 3-3 records, but the Patriots were coming off a big win over Penn Wood, while the Hornets were still stinging from an ugly defeat at the hands of Coatesville.
It was about as close as one might expect, with the outcome still in doubt in the game’s final minutes. But behind a stout defense that came up with the big stop just about every time they were called upon, and a punishing ground game that ate up the clock, the Hornets (4-3, 3-1) celebrated their Homecoming Night with a 21-14 victory over the Patriots (3-4, 1-2).
“All these guys knew how embarrassed I was after last week,” said Oxford coach Mike Means. “It’s Coatesville, so it wasn’t so much the loss as the way we lost. They responded with a great week of practice, and came out here and played the way we know we can play. I am very proud of the way they responded, and it’s always nice to give the community a win on Homecoming.”
Oxford could have had the first big break of the game, recovering a fumble on the opening kick-off, to take over with great field position. But, plagued by a string of penalties—the Hornets were flagged 11 times for 95 yards on the night—the Hornets turned it over on downs.
“You take a look at our losses, and they are all within a touchdown,” said Patriots’ head coach Jeff Martin. “We just can’t seem to get over that hump, and more often than not, it’s coming because of mistakes on special teams.”
The Patriots took advantage of the defensive stop, needing only five plays to cover the 84 yards in the other direction, a drive capped by a 59-yard pass from Andy Tallone (10-14, 151 yard, TD) to Dylan Cave.
The Hornets responded with a long, clock eating drive that ran out the rest of the first period, marching 80-yards on 13 plays. Oxford converted third down and long four times on the drives, capped when quarterback Dustin Long ran it in on a keeper from six yards out. The elusive Long led all rushers with103 yards on 21 carries.
“Our rushing game was working tonight,” said Long. “The line was opening up holes, and Dom (Pantalone) and I were both breaking tackles for extra yards. “We just need to keep it going and get into the District playoffs. That would just be great for the school and the program.”
With the defense keeping the Patriots in check, the Hornet special teams got in on the action. Great Valley, pinned deep in their own territory, got off a pretty solid punt past midfield. Dak Jones fielded it, hit the open field, and took off on a 63-yard return for the touchdown. And a 14-7 lead headed into the break.
“As soon as I saw all of that open field, I knew it was going to the house,” said Jones. “That was a big score for us.”
After Great Valley tied it at 14 on a four-yard run from Tallone—a play made possible by a fourth-down, pass interference call in the end zone against the Hornets—Oxford put the game away with another long drive. This time, Oxford marched off 89 yards on 8 plays, before Long connected with Jones on a 16 yard pass.
“I don’t want to take away anything from Oxford—they played a good, tough game and made the plays they needed to make,” said Martin. “But we can’t make those mistakes like giving up long punt returns for touchdowns. We still have a shot to make playoffs. We’ve got seniors that have been starting for three and four years. They know they want it, and we just have to find the way to win.”
The Oxford front line won the battle of the line of scrimmage, almost all night, opening up hug holes for Long, and Dom Pantalone, who chipped in with 83 yards on 19 carries.
“This was a hard, physical game,” said Means. “Some games, we open it up more and throw more than we did tonight. But tonight we decided put it on the o-lines shoulders and played a grind it out game and let our runners go to work. And the runners did a great job going north and south and grinding out those extra yards.”
Oxford 21- Great Valley 14
Great Valley 7 0 7 0 –14
Oxford 7 7 7 0 –21
First Quarter
GV—Cave 59-pass from Tallone (Turner kick) 7-0
OX—Long 6-run (Smith kick) 7-7
Second Quarter
OX—Jones 63-punt return (Smith kick)14-7
Third Quarter
GV—Tallone 4-run (Turner kick) 14-14
OX—Jones 16-pass from Long (Smith kick) 21-14
Team Statistics
GV—OX
First downs 10 15
Rushes-yards 26-75 45-201
Passing 10-14 9-17
Passing yards 151 106
Total yards 226 307
Punts 4-28.75 2-26.5
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 4-30 9-95
Individual statistics
Rushing—GV Tallone 18-52, TD, Coffey 7-2, Pellicotta 1-0 OX Long 21-103, TD Pantalone 19-83 Jones 4-8, Hunsicker 1-7
Passing — GV Tallone 10-14-151, TD OX—Long 9-17-106, TD, INT
Receiving —GV Cave 3-63, TD, Poggi 1-9, Magargal 3-44 McDaniel 2-19, Callahan 1-11 OX—Jones 5-64, Hunsicker4-42
INT—GV Pellicotta
Sack—Brannon (OX)
