WEST POINT — Any thoughts the Oak Hill Academy football team might have had about exploiting the team it beat last year disappeared in the first 10 minutes of Friday night.
The Indianola Academy Colonels used a blocked punt by Dalton Deloach in the Raiders” end zone as a spark and went on to a 28-6 victory.
An Indianola player fell on Deloach”s blocked punt in the end zone in the first five minutes to give the Colonels a 6-0 lead.
“It was downhill after that,” said Oak Hill Academy coach Leroy Gregg, whose team slipped to 0-3
A three-and-out series by Oak Hill Academy set Indianola up on its 36 before senior running back Blake Rowland (six carries, 128 yards) rolled down the middle for a 64-yard touchdown.
Down 14-0 with six minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Raiders used their ground game and went 45 yards to the Colonels” 19 before quarterback Davis Clayton fumbled and Indianola (2-1) recovered.
The Colonels threatened to score again in the first quarter, reaching Oak Hill Academy”s 15, but two 15-yard personal foul penalties sabotaged the drive.
Indianola got the ball back quickly in the second quarter and mounted another long drive that ended with junior quarterback Caleb Dodson finding Deloach for a 20-yard touchdown.
The Colonels cost themselves a wealth of yardage thanks to 11 penalties, including five personal fouls.
One of those personal fouls, a chop block, cost them a touchdown pass late in the second quarter.
Despite committing two more penalties on the drive, the Colonels still marched to Oak Hill Academy”s 6 before Dodson punched it in to help make it 28-0 at halftime.
Oak Hill Academy dominated the second half on the legs of senior running back Jake Orman, who gained 108 of his 135 yards in the second half.
But those yards translated to just one touchdown — a 12-yard score with three minutes left in the game.
Gregg said Orman”s big night was largely a one-man show.
“We have offensive linemen who don”t know who to block,” Gregg said. “Sometimes they bumped into the right people, but most of the time they didn”t. A lot of Jake”s yards were on his own, not because of a block. We”re looking for five new OLs right now.”
Oak Hill Academy”s defense also struggled to bring down Indianola”s rushers.
“Outside the box we didn”t tackle very well,” Gregg said. “We had people up around shoulders and things like that.”
Senior defensive end Will Lummus was the Raiders” defensive exception, sacking Dodson three times. David Pryor also earned a sack at linebacker.
Clayton was 7-for-14 for 58 yards and one interception. He hit Pryor twice for 18 yards.
Orman gained 135 of Oak Hill Academy”s 145 rushing yards.
The Colonels, who avenged a 35-0 loss to the Raiders last season, rushed for 246 yards and three touchdowns.
Dodson was 5-for-7 passing for 77 of Indianola”s 91 passing yards and one touchdown.
Oak Hill (0-3) will play host to Leake Academy next week.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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