EGELSTON TOWNSHIP – The old rivalry between Oakridge and Ravenna has been a little one-sided in recent years.
Coming into Friday, Oakridge had won the last 10 matchups and 23 of the last 25.
Last year’s game was exciting. The Bulldogs gave Oakridge a battle before falling just short in a 43-36 shootout, which resulted in a shared league title for the Eagles.
It wasn’t nearly as close on Friday, when the Eagles cruised past the Bulldogs 48-6 at Jack Schugars Field.
[1]Oakridge improved to 7-1 and will close out the regular season next week against Montague before preparing for its 18th straight postseason appearance.
“Our motivation was to not give them any ground during the second half like we did last year,” said Oakridge coach Cary Harger. “We wanted to stay focused and keep playing hard all four quarters, and to get some of our depth chart guys in. It was important to the starters to get some of their teammates playing time too.”
The Eagles defense held Ravenna to just 10 yards rushing and three first downs the entire game.
“We have been missing putting a complete game together, but we did that tonight and we kept Hunter Hogan corralled,” Harger said.
[2]Oakridge opened the scoring on its first possession with a 22-yard touchdown run by quarterback Matt Danicek with 9:30 left in the first quarter.
The Eagles had a chance to add to their lead on their second possession but turned the ball over inside the red zone on an interception by Ravenna’s Derek Finley.
Ravenna stalled offensively and gave the ball right back to the Eagles, who added to their lead with a 38-yard touchdown run by Trevor Jones with 4:52 left in the first quarter.
The Eagles led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Oakridge extended its lead to 20-0 on the third play of the second quarter with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Danicek to Evan Miller.
[3]Oakridge had an opportunity to add to its lead three plays later following an interception by Bryson Stephenson, but the Eagles turned the ball over on downs inside the red zone.
The Eagles added a pair of late first half touchdowns on a 10-yard run by Jones with 2:15 left and a three-yard run by Danicek with 25 seconds left.
Oakridge had a commanding 34-0 lead at halftime.
The Bulldogs moved the ball on their first possession of the second half with a nice 51-yard pass from Hogan to Blake Homoly.
But the drive ended with an interception inside the red zone by Oakridge’s Lorenzo Garcia.
The Bulldogs got the ball back two plays later after Brayden Fry recovered a fumble.
[4]Ravenna finally connected on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Hogan to Drew Mabrito with 8:16 left in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 34-6.
The Eagles responded with about four minutes later with a touchdown run by Jones to take a 41-6 lead.
Oakridge closed out the scoring on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Danicek to Miller with 8:39 left in the game.
Danicek led the Eagles offense, going 10-for-16 passing for 133 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 81 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns.
Jones rushed for 125 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns while Miller caught three passes for 51 yards and two scores.
Brody Jennings led the Eagles defense with 10 tackles while Jones had five.
The Bulldogs were led by Hogan with 116 yards on 4-for-18 passing. Homoly and Mabrito each caught two passes for 65 and 62 yards, respectively.
Hogan paced the Ravenna defense with 12 tackles.
“They were really tough up front,” said Ravenna coach Justin Ego. “We were having a hard time getting movement offensively. We also had a lot of penalties that backed us up early on. But we are in playoff mode and plan on winning here on out.”
The Bulldogs are now 5-3 on the season and will look to finish the regular season strong against Hart next week.
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