Varsity Football

OC vs Johnson of Gainesville – OC traveled nearly to Gainesville to take on the Knights of Johnson High School for their season opener.  The Knights, with a new head coach and a new focus, handed the Patriots their first loss of the season 36-21.

Ready to Go

OC lost the toss and kicked off to Johnson.  Griffin Giles’ kick went out of bounds which resulted in a 15 yard penalty to give Johnson good field position.  The Knights steadily moved the ball down the field and scored but missed the extra point. 

OC and Johnson would trade the ball a time or two until late in the first quarter when OC regained possession and started moving towards the goal line.  The quarter would end with OC deep in Knight territory. 

Kendrick Presley scores!

At the start of the second quarter OC found themselves in a fourth and goal situation at the four yard line.  Kendrick Presley ran wide to score OC’s first points of the game.  Giles’ PAT was good giving the Patriots a one point lead. 

The second quarter would turn out to be the busiest quarter for both teams.  Johnson would put three on the board from a short field goal.  After a 43 yard Presley punt Johnson started on their own seven yard line.  The Knight’s quarterback pitched to their running back but he fumbled the ball that OC’s Zachtavious Watkins recovered on the Knight ten yard line.  Presley, who was caught in the backfield, broke loose and through a great second effort scored for the Patriots giving OC the lead 14-6.

The Band
 

Johnson, however, would come back to score twice more in the quarter.  The first time, the Knights regained their lost PAT from the first quarter by scoring a two point conversion.  Their second touchdown was late in the quarter when Johnson engineered a drive that ate up a good bit of the clock.  But they only got six when their kicker missed his second PAT of the game.

OC took the kickoff and tried desperately to get down the field for either a touchdown or a field goal but time ran out and both teams went to the locker room with the score Johnson 23 OC 14.

D.J. Roberts and Anthony Thornton

The third quarter would be pretty dull by first half standards with neither team scoring.  The fourth quarter saw Johnson score first but the PAT was blocked by Kenny Cinesreski. OC would score once more on a Presley run and Johnson answered with another touchdown with the final score Knights 36 Patriots 21.

Good Things for OC:  Presley’s scoring; Watkins’s fumble recovery; both Casey Pacheco and Tanner Bowman’s defensive play. 

Bad Things for OC:  First quarter penalties, blocking and tackling; fumbles. 

On the night OC had 10 first downs, 40 yards in penalties, four fumbles (recovering two for a net loss of two), and Presley went 3 for 1 in passing. 

OC’s home opener will be next Friday night against Harlem (3-AA, lost 13-7 against Georgia Military Friday) at 7:30pm.  Last year Harlem went 0-10 and is hoping to break their losing streak against the Patriots. 

You can see the pictures here: http://hdgp.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8660291