Owen J. Roberts avenges 2018 finale, routs Daniel Boone, 42-0

BUCKTOWN >> The Owen J. Roberts football team was not at all happy about the way last season ended, that being a loss to Daniel Boone in the Eastern Conference championship game. And Owen J. Roberts took it out on the Blazers Friday night, dominating the rematch from beginning to end in a 42-0 non-league win at Wildcat Stadium.

OJR senior quarterback Cooper Chamberlain threw for 187 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 94 yards and two scores. Dante Denardo caught four of those tosses for 97 yards and a pair of TDs, including a 73-yarder. Roberts (2-0) racked up 395 total yards while holding Boone (1-1) to 96.

“We had a pretty good week of practice,” said Wildcat coach Rich Kolka, who explained how his team was motivated by its 28-20 home loss to Daniel Boone in last season’s finale. “They kept the score on the scoreboard and they took a picture under our scoreboard, posing. We had that picture in the locker room this week. It was motivation.”

“We practiced. We grinded this week,” said Chamberlain. “We came in hungry and wanted to win. We not only wanted to win, we wanted to crush them.”

Owen J. Roberts began its first drive at the Daniel Boone 43-yard line after a long return of the opening kickoff by Joshua Jackson and scored seven plays later on a 10-yard pass from Chamberlain to Denardo. Then the Wildcats got the ball back on a punt and scored on one play – a short pass to the left flank on which Denardo shot past the defense and sped 73 yards for the score.

A Blazer fumble and an OJR interception by Jonathan Hannevig set up two 31-yard TD drives in the second quarter with Chamberlain running into the end zone from one and 31 yards for a 27-0 advantage at the half.

“They were definitely ready,” Boone coach Rob Flowers said concerning the Wildcats. “We did not help ourselves tonight at all. We didn’t play physical enough. We didn’t play smart enough. We didn’t take care of the football.”

The hosts put together a 46-yard drive on their first possession of the third quarter, with Chamberlain throwing a 33-yard TD pass over the middle into the end zone to Christian Grossi, who ran for a 2-point conversion and a 35-0 lead that started the running clock with 7:39 left in the quarter. Then Jackson ran 25 yards for a TD shortly after another Boone fumble to wrap up the scoring.

The Wildcats averaged better than five yards per carry, gaining 208 on 41 attempts and Chamberlain connected on 10 of 15 passing tries.

“I think offensively, we were much better this week,” Kolka said in comparing the game to last week’s 28-0 win over Conestoga. “We ran the ball better. We were much more physical up front.”

“Our linemen stepped it up tonight,” Chamberlain added. “They’re learning their assignments very well and it showed on the field tonight.”

On defense, the Wildcats held the visitors to 35 yards on 17 carries in the first half and 96 yards on 35 tries in the game with no passing yards.

“We were doing a lot of things well,” said Kolka. “The linebackers were excellent. We were very disciplined. Our goal was to hold them to under three yards per run and finish the piles. We wanted to finish the piles backwards, don’t let the pile go forward.”

Flowers said his team learned some things as it heads into a week of preparation for a game at Bishop Shanahan.

“We’ve taken a lot out of this already,” he said. “We’ve got some character to build. We have a lot of questions to answer.”

OJR will hit the road for the first time with a trip to Avon Grove.

“We have the momentum, but we can’t let it get to our heads,” said Chamberlain. “Next week we have an away game. We have to grind even harder.”