EGELSTON TWP. — Another talented Oakridge football team saw its season come to an end in a regional championship game on Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles fell to undefeated Gladwin 26-8 at Russell A. Erickson Stadium. This is the third straight year that Oakridge has been eliminated in the regional round.
Oakridge held an 8-6 lead after a sloppy first half but couldn’t get going after the break.
“Ugly first half with some turnovers and the ball going back and forth, but we felt good at halftime,” said Oakridge coach Cary Harger. “Then their first play from scrimmage is a long touchdown run. You try to blow it off as, ‘OK, they read something they wanted to take advantage of right away, let’s regroup.’ But it just didn’t seem like we were able to do that in the second half.”
[1]The Eagles had three turnovers and several costly penalties that either kept Gladwin drives alive or stalled their own. Harger said those mistakes can be tough to overcome this deep in the playoffs.
Oakridge quarterback Matt Danicek hands the ball to Trever Jones in the Eagles’ game against Gladwin. Photo/Mitchell Boatman“That’s very stressful,” he said. “That’s a team that’s got a lot of confidence and executes very well. They’re going to be hard to stop when you give them that type of momentum. This time of year you’ve got to be on-point and we weren’t able to do that.”
The loss ends another great season for Oakridge, which included 10 wins for the first time since 2019 and a third straight district championship.
Harger credited the senior class for continuing the program’s tradition of hard work and commitment.
“They upheld that tradition,” Harger said. “They put numbers on the board. They kept our name in a lot of mouths around the state. These guys have tremendous ownership of the program. It’s great to see that work ethic.”
[2]Yet Harger admitted that the Eagles would like to have more success in the playoffs.
Oakridge quarterback Matt Danicek looks for an open receiver against Gladwin. Photo/Mitchell Boatman“We don’t want to just get to the playoffs, we want to make a run in the playoffs,” the coach said. “That’s the challenge around here anymore. We’re still fighting to get back to that state championship-caliber game.”
Both offenses started slow, with each of the first three drives ending in turnovers — two by Oakridge and one by Gladwin. The score was 0-0 at the end of one quarter.
The Flying G’s scored the game’s first points on the first play of the second quarter. A Gladwin runner fumbled the ball near the goal line, but Isaac Hale snatched it out of the air and walked in for a touchdown to make it 6-0.
[3]Oakridge responded on its next drive when Trever Jones scored from three yards out. A two-point run by Matt Danicek put the Eagles up 8-6 with 4:29 left in the half.
That score held until the break, but the Flying G’s took over in the second half, starting on the first play from scrimmage when Earl Esiline broke free for a 62-yard TD run.
The Oakridge defense lines up before a play against Gladwin. Photo/Mitchell BoatmanOakridge drove to the Gladwin 10 on its next drive but turned the ball over on downs after a costly penalty negated a 13-yard touchdown run.
Gladwin scored on a 13-yard run by Esiline with three seconds left in the third quarter to go up 20-8.
[4]The Flying G’s added a score in the fourth quarter on a three-yard run by Nick Wheeler to bring the final score to 26-8.
Jones led the Oakridge offense with 162 yards rushing. Danicek was 6-for-10 passing for 36 yards and totaled 24 rushing yards. Chris Knapp had three catches for 13 yards.
Julian Primmer led the Eagle defense with 10 tackles, followed by Bryson Stephenson with nine and Brody Jennings with eight. Wyatt Douglas had a sack and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Riley Bean. Lorenzo Garcia added an interception for Oakridge.
[5]