Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Hornets stay perfect with dramatic final drive
OXFORD » For the second week in a row, the Oxford football team found itself trailing deep in the fourth quarter, needing a long drive for victory. And for the second straight week, they pulled it off.
The Hornets fashioned a 73yard scoring drive in the game’s final three minutes to edge Twin Valley, 42-35, in a nonleague contest Friday.
“It’s crazy, if you asked me before the game whether I’d rather win on the final drive or by blowout, obviously you’d want the blow out,” said Oxford coach Mike Means. “But what this does for our kids and their confidence is immeasurable. The confidence that this builds knowing they can do what it takes to win is big.”
The drive nearly ended before it began. Trailing, 35-34, the Hornets were facing a fourthand-eight at their own 30, with a little over two minutes left. Quarterback Chandler England took the snap out of the shotgun, and after his line gave him plenty of time, found Brandon DeShields open over the middle. DeShields made a circus catch, and tumbled over midfield for
the first down.
“Brandon is probably the best wide receiver in the Ches-Mont,” said England. “I knew he was going to come down with it. I knew we could count him.”
England followed with a 14-yard completion to Julian Nadachowski down to the Raiders 31. A personal foul call tacked on 15 yards, and a pair of running plays made it first-and- goal from the five. Two plays later, England ran it in himself for the touchdown. He converted on the two-point try to make it 42-35 with 50.5 seconds to play.
Twin Valley’s last drive was squelched by DeShields, who, for the second straight week, iced the game with an interception.
“It feels great to go out there and make plays for my team,” said DeShields. “We stay sharp for four quarters, and we all knew we were going to do it when we had to. This was just a fun, crazy night.”
Oxford was without its primary running back, Brandon Holz, sitting out for a week to rest an injury. But in his place, Tim Faber was more than adequate. The sophomore piled up 104 yards on 18 carries and found the end zone twice.
“Tim is just a great, scrappy kid,” said Means. “As a sophomore, we weren’t expecting to have to use him that much, but that’s what happens with injuries and he really came through for us.”
England led the offensive attack with 318 yards on 24 of 37 passing. He threw for two touchdowns, and ran for a pair of scores. His favorite target was DeShields, who pulled in 10 balls for 159 yards and a touchdown.
“Last year, like coach Means said, we had a monkey on our back and we just couldn’t win the close ones,” said England. “After we shook that moneky off our backs last week with Henderson, we’re now in it to win it. We are all very confident in each other and it feels like nothing can stop us.”