BISMARCK — Sometimes a game can get decided on one play
For Oakwood, that play was the first one.
Senior quarterback Alex Wallace would step up and throw a 67-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Young just 10 seconds into the game. The pass set up a 19-0 first quarter and would lead to a 60-14 win over Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin on Saturday.
“We had a game plan coming in and it was something we were working on for weeks,” Wallace said. “I saw some pressure, so I climbed up and that guy made a heck of a play.”
“It’s hard to beat scoring on the first play and then getting the ball back and score on your second or third play,” Oakwood coach Cameron Lee said. “It is going to be hard to beat a chance to jump out to a lead like that.”
Even with the Comets holding on to the lead from the start, Lee said it was
“In week one, you find out a lot about your team and what they need to do and what you need to clean up,” Lee said. “Historically, we came out slow and we played closer games than we needed to. We let points on the board and made mistakes, but it was also an example of what we are capable of. To have a performance like this, we were not where we wanted to be and still scored a lot of points and won the game.”
“There was a lot of mishaps especially offensively,” Wallace said. “Offensively it was a ton of stuff, I had three interceptions all of last year and I might have thrown three tonight, so we will have to clean that up. We left a lot of points on the board but we scored a lot of points. We will take a look at it but we won the game.”
For the Blue Devils, they tried to battle back, but could not overcome that start.
“I had a bunch of sophomores out there and kids playing for the first time and we were shellshocked. I thought we did a nice job settling in after that and did better, but it is what it is,” BHRA coach Mark Dodd said. “I think it was a bunch of kids getting wide-eyed at the moment and more of our experienced guys thinking too hard and trying to do too much and that’s not a great thing.”
Braxton Schmit had two touchdown passes for the Blue Devils, but that was one of the few highlights.
“He did a great job. He has come a long way since last season, he takes it seriously and has worked hard,” Dodd said. “We just have to do a better job around him. Our running game had nothing and that puts pressure on the QB and they know that too.”
“I give a lot of credit to them,” Lee said. “In the defensive side, they made it a big emphasis to take away the run game because we leaned so heavily on that and they did not make it easy in the first half. It was important that Alex stepped up and made some tough plays and Kyler (Johnson) kept running through the heavy boxes and they made it tough for us.”
Wallace said the win could only work to help throughout the season, starting with Friday’s home opener against Momence and with Vermilion Valley Conference teams that saw or heard what happened.
“It means a lot, I think Week 1 is one of the most important games because of high spirits,” Wallace said. “Last year, we got past Momence and it really helped us going the weeks forward. Getting the first win is a step in the right direction but it keeps everyone happy to be here and happy to play.”
“That’s the thing with the VVC, it is a closed conference,” Lee said. “We see each other scores and stay on top of it. We can’t warry about what they are going to see and focus on playing a better game.”
For the Blue Devils, they just want to move on as they hit the road this week to play Clifton Central.
“We have to get this out of the way,” Dodd said. “Credit to Oakwood, they have a lot of seniors on the field and they know what they are doing. They are huge and it was a tough matchup. In 3-4 weeks down the road, it could be a different conversation, but it is what it is at this point.
“We have been here before. We just have to move on and learn from our mistakes and coach the heck out of them during the week. I can’t make them bigger and I can’t make them older. We have great kids here and they will get back to work like they always do.”