Despite Loss to Attleboro, OA Football is Confident Traveling to Foxborough This Week

Theoffense put together some impressive drives early on only to get shot in the foot with turnovers in the first half Friday night.

The Tigers certainly had their chances to put points on the board, but , again.

"We left some points on the board in the first half and that was tough," said OA coach Jim Artz. "Those were points that we needed and then we were just a play or two away."

When Attleboro running back JJ Jolaoso broke a 40-yard run at the beginning of the fourth quarter to give the Blue Bombardiers a 22-3 lead, the game was seemingly out of reach.

OA, however, would make a game of it as Mitchell Johnson threw two touchdown passes to receivers Connor Timulty and Jordan Harris in a span of 1:42 to pull the Tigers within five at 22-17.

Johnson's passes gave the Tigers new life as the hard work at practice this week seemed to have paid off.

"This was the best week of practice we've had this year," Artz noted. "This leads us into the three most important games of the season. We had to play well to set ourselves up for next week against Foxborough and I think we did that."

After Johnson's touchdown passes, the defense held strong and gave the OA offense great field possession where perhaps the Tigers could have stolen the game.

However, the offense couldn't capitalize as Johnson threw an interception on a fourth and long and thus the comeback bid fell short.

"We had a short field at the end of the game and I thought we were going to be able to steal one," Artz said. "We just didn't make enough plays."

While the Tigers have to be disappointed with the result, they should be pleased with the effort they put in on Friday night.

"These kids have a lot of heart," Artz said. "They go through a lot of stuff here and they have to deal with a lot, but they don't quit. I can't be more proud of what they did here today."

The Tigers can still win their first Davenport Division title when they travel to Foxborough Friday to take on the Warriors at 7 p.m.

Foxborough will come into the game having won two straight games against Franklin and Canton by a combined total of 61-7.

"They played some very good teams early on," Artz said about the Tigers' opposition next week. "They started off a little rough but they got it going now. They had a great win against Franklin and we're going to have our work cut out for us because they're pretty good."