North Farmington knocks off Oxford
North Farmington’s defense was able to keep Oxford out of the end zone to lead the Raiders to a 14-3 win Friday night at Oxford.
“We’re real proud of the defense,” North Farmington head coach Jon Herstein said. “They hustled, they understood the game plan andwere able tomake some adjustments. I’m real happy with the effort the kids played with.
“I thought it was good team defense. The secondary did a nice job against the pass and I thought the front seven held their own against Oxford’s offensive line so that was exciting for us to see.”
North Farmington scored on its first drive of the game when quarterback John Bousamra found Justin Bryant for a 48-yard touchdownwith 9:51 left in the first quarter.
“It was a corner post and I saw in the corner of my eye when I ran the post that he was going to bite, and I cut back in as far across as I could,” Bryant said. “ThenI just ranunder it and they didn’t wrap up. I bounced off, that’s what I do, and I took it to the house.”
It proved to be all the offense the Raiders (3-2) would need. Bousamra finished 14-for-22 passing for 231 yards and a touchdown.
“I thought he did a great job,” Herstein said of Bousamra. “He’s definitely the leader of our offense and makes the thing go. I was happy with the way he played. I was happy with the way a lot of guys played. I wish we could have moved the ball a little bit more consistently, I thought we had a few breakdowns. But overall we got the job done.”
Herstein felt it was a team effort on offense and was pleased his team was able to come up with enough big plays to get the win.
“Aaron Rice did a nice job at receiver and had a couple of big catches,” Herstein said. “Jasper Beeler and Justin Bryant also did a nice job. Obviously, Justin Whitehorn at tailback, got some tough yards when we needed it.”
Whitehorn had a 8-yard touchdown run with 1:09 left in the third quarter to put the Raiders up 14-3.
Oxford threatened to make it a one-score game midway through the fourth quarter, but the Raiders came up with a key stop on fourth down at their own 20-yard line with 7:29 left to go.
“We’re finding a way to win,” said Herstein, whose team will host Birmingham Seaholm in the regular season finale. “Guys are starting to figure it out and learnhow to play some football.
“With the stop and start, and short summer, and all that stuff, there’s been a learning curve. We talked about peaking and playing good football at the right time, which is the end of the season.”
Oxford falls to 2-3 with the loss.
“I thought 99% of the guys gave a great effort and were on with their execution,” Oxford coach Zach Line said. “We just can’t have chinks in the armor, and that’s on me as a coach to address and take care of.”
Oxford’s Jay Cady hit a 36-yard field goal with 5:07 left in the second quarter for the Wildcats only points of the game.
Oxford will finish out the regular season by hosting SouthfieldA&T onOct. 23.