OA Freshman Football Team Routs Stoughton 38-16

The OA Freshman football Tigers cruised to an easy win Saturday Morning as the offense put up 38 first half points and the defense shut down the Stoughton Black Knights to improve their record to 9-1.

The game started with Stoughton trying an onside kick which didn't work and OA had the ball at mid-field. The Tigers immediately went to work as Quarterback John McMillan hit Mike Ferrara with a 25 yard pass and OA was in Stoughton territory. After a face mask call on Stoughton, McMillan hit Ferrara on a crossing route and he dodged a few defenders to find the endzone for a TD and quick 6-0 lead.

Kicker Nick Sanborn was busy Saturday and did a great job finding the seams in the return coverage so the Black Knights couldn't get much return yardage. Again, the Tigers forced a punt and got the ball at the 50 yard line. Joey Tepper took the handoff but fumbled for the first time all year to give Stoughton another chance. However, they couldn't move the ball and a motivated Tepper broke through the defense and blocked the punt to regain the ball and the momentum.

With 2:35 still left in the first quarter, Ferrara ran off the right-side and scored on a 35 yard TD run to make it 12-0 OA. The 2 point conversion was good when McMillan threw to Jordan Schuster-Southern for a 14-0 lead.

Stoughton gets another chance but Sean Reynolds sacks the quarterback and forces a punt on 4th and 25 for the Black Knights to end the quarter.

OA starts the 2nd quarter with a touchdown on the first play as Tepper takes the handoff from McMillan and throws a 28 yard TD pass to Schuster-Southern as he was standing in the endzone away from the defenders and the lead goes to 20-0. Tepper also gets the call for the conversion and runs off left tackle to make it 22-0 with 9:50 still to play in the 2nd quarter.

Stoughton tries to get things going but Jameson Dixon makes a great tackle and the Knights lose 4 yards and are struggling to get a first down. Forced to punt again, OA's Tristan Flynn fields the ball and runs 40 yards to the Stoughton 25 yard line. Now back on offense, McMillan takes the snap but can't find any open receivers so he is forced to run the ball and ends up squeezing into the left side of the endzone for another touchdown and a 28-0 score. Jordan Schuster-Southern catches the 2pt conversion from McMillan and the rout is on with a 30-0 score with 7:20 left to play until halftime.

Things continued to go bad for Stoughton as Tristan Flynn intercepted a pass and OA had the ball again on the Black Knights 14 yard line. Anthony Petrillo carried the ball for a tough 4-yard gain but a bad snap forced the Tigers back and are forced to punt for the first time in the game. Stoughton gets the ball again on their 14 yard line and with no gain is forced to punt. This time Noah Ryan breaks through the line, blocks the punt and tackles the return man to give the Tigers the ball on the Black Knight 8 yard line. With 4:16 left in the half, Mike Ferrara takes the handoff and runs in for his third TD. The 2pt conversion from McMillan to Schuster-Southern is good and the half ends with a 38-0 score.

 The second half started with Stoughton fumbling the ball on their first possession and an alert Rob Hawes recovered the ball on the Knights 40 yard line. OA had runs by Petrillo and Dixon but couldn't secure the first down and turned the ball over to Stoughton. This time the Knights scored with a 30 yard TD pass and with the conversion the score was 38-8. After another OA punt, Stoughton got the ball again on their 15 yard line. The Tigers Jack Goveia made a nice tackle in the backfield for a 4 yard loss and Dan Sullivan put pressure on the QB to hold things in check. Nick Sanborn than got his first sack and Stoughton was forced to punt.

As the fourth quarter started, OA kept the ball on the ground to keep the clock moving. After another punt, the Black Knights took over with 3:41 left in the game and got on the board again with a 20 yard TD pass and the score was now 38-16.

OA ran out the clock to end the game.

The last game of the season is Thursday at 3:30 at the OA High School.