OXFORD—Even in their losses, the Oxford Hornets had been throwing the ball effectively for the better part of the season, and entered Friday night’s contest with Unionville as the third most productive offense in the Ches-Mont, trailing only the two Downingtown schools. The Indians, meanwhile, have struggled at times to get going. Things were pointing to an Oxford upset.
Connor Schilling breaks outside on a big run (BILL RUDICK for MediaNews Group)
But the Indians (4-3) would have none of it, holding Hornets’ QB Tom Repetz to just 126 yards and one late touchdown, with just two completions coming in the second half. Meanwhile, Connor Schilling piled up more yards on the ground (229) than the Hornets (2-5) had in total yards (226). The end result was yet another win for the Indians over the Hornets, 41-13.
“We knew they were an explosive team and that 2 (Joey Morton) and 87 (Justin Neskie) are lights out players,” said Unionville coach Pat Clark. “We put in a great week of practice in the secondary and we limited the deep balls. We wanted to make them snap the ball over and over.”
Oxford had the first big break of the game, recovering a fumble deep inside Unionville territory minutes into the game. But the Indians answered right back, with Schilling picking off a Repetz pass in the end zone on the Hornets first play after the fumble.
It was still scoreless until late in the first, when Schilling (21 carries, 229 yards, 2 TD) broke loose on a 66-yard run to the Oxford four. A couple plays later, Charlton plowed in for the score on a keeper.
“We started kind of slow last week, so we wanted to come out strong this week,”said Schilling. We really executed well and got things done this week.”
The Hornets responded with an eight-play, 70-yard scoring drive, highlighted by a45-yard completion from Repetz to Morton, and capped by a two-yard plunge by Jackson Chew.
Joey Morton makes a nice grab for Oxford (BILL RUDICK for MediaNews Group)
That would be the last sustained drive for Oxford until late in the game, whenit was mostly out of reach.
Up 20-7 to start the third quarter, Unionville came out charging hard. Behind runs from Schilling and Weston Grim, the Indians scored on their first possession of the half, marching 56 yards on eight plays, with Schilling finishing it off with a four-yard run.
Then the defense went to work, forcing a fumble to get the ball back at the Oxford 33 yard line. It took just two runs from Grim (63 yards, 8 carries, TD) to cover those 33 yards, with the score coming on an 18 yard scamper down the sideline.
Weston Grim slips past Oxford’s Joey Morton on a TD run (BILL RUDICK for MediaNews Group)
“We came out with a mentality of it being a 0-0 score,” said Indians linebacker Declan Boyd. “We just wanted to come out stronger than they did. Once we recovered the fumble and scored that second touchdown, I think we all knew we had the game won.”
The Indians piled up 297 yards on the ground, and totaled 370 yards on the night.
“We limited our mistakes tonight,” said Clark. “When we’re not playing well, we shoot ourselves in the foot a lot. But we limited out mistakes and were really physical. Good team win for us.”
