WEST POINT — Thirty-one years is a long time between drinks, and Oak Hill Academy’s football players, cheerleaders, fans and parents savored every drop Friday night.
Senior quarterback Cameron Dill rushed for a touchdown and threw for another, and the Raiders played physical, turnover-free football Friday night to defeat Marshall Academy 20-14.
The final horn ignited a celebration on the field, as the win moved the Raiders into a first-place tie with the Patriots at 3-1 in MAIS Class 4A, District 1, and, obviously, earned the head-to-head tiebreaker. The crowd and players lingered on the field for a long time, relishing the school’s first football title since 1990.
“It’s like I’ve said all along, when we run the ball and don’t have turnovers we’re not a bad football team,” said Oak Hill coach Bill Rosenthal, who said his team has committed 17 turnovers in its four on-field losses. “We protected the ball tonight,and we were able to run the ball, and that’s a tribute to coach (Dennis) Grubbs and coach (Buddy) Dill.”
His quarterback agreed.
“We have a good offensive coordinator, Dennis Grubbs, and Buddy Dill helps him,” Cameron Dill said. “They scheme things up pretty well.”
That became especially obvious during the second half, when the Raiders seemed to push all the right buttons after five of six first-half possessions ended in punts.
With the game tied 6-6, the Raiders put on their best drive of the night, marching 81 yards on 11 plays, converting two third downs and a fourth down.
The highlights were two Dill-to-Nathan Harrington completions: the first when Dill faked a handoff on third-and-2 and found a wide-open Harrington over the middle for 20 yards and the second on a screen on third-and-20 that Harrington took for 18 yards to the Marshall 21.
Dill took care of it from there, finding a hole on the right side and scampering to the end zone for a 13-6 Raiders lead.
On their next drive, with the Patriots defense focused on stopping Dill, the Raiders caught them off guard, with John Ross Craven taking a pitch on third-and-6 at the Marshall 24 and bouncing off would-be tacklers for 16 yards.
“They’re expecting Cameron, and I’m trying to run up through there and get some yards,” Craven said. “I’m just trying to make plays out of nothing.”
The next play proved easier, as Craven hit a hole and scored from 8 yards out with 5:02 left to give Oak Hill a 20-6 lead.
It could have been over there, but Marshall’s Hayes Henry took a kickoff return that didn’t seem to be going anywhere, found a hole, eluded a couple of tacklers and then won a footrace to the end zone for an 86-yard touchdown.
Landon Houston — who had a brutal night passing for the Patriots — took it himself for the 2-point conversion, pulling the visitors within 20-14 with 4:41 still to play, leaving it to Oak Hill to try to run out the clock.
That’s when another great play call paid off for the Raiders. With the Patriots expecting a clock-killing run on third-and-9, the Raiders crossed them up with the ideal play, as Dill found a wide-open Conner Freeman for 19 yards to the Marshall 36.
“That was a big play,” Cameron Dill said. “We ran it about four or five times during the game, and we had success. They left the guy I hadn’t thrown it to yet open.”
The next three running plays netted 3 yards, and the Raiders let the clock run down to 1:17 before calling a timeout. Again, they called the right play, as Dill rolled right and hit Jake Glusenkamp on fourth down for a 21-yard gain to the 11. Game over.
“We put in two new packages this week,” Dill said. “We started out running our normal offense, and we were moving the ball. Then at the end of the game we went to those two packages.”
The Raiders held the ball for the final 4:36, and while the offense kept making the big plays when they were needed, the defense frustrated the Patriots all night.
The Raiders forced Jimmy Morales into an intentional grounding penalty when Marshall had a first down at the Raiders’ 22 just before halftime, they forced a field goal try after giving up 44 yards on four rushing plays to start a drive in the third quarter, and they sacked Houston on fourth down with 7:20 left leading by seven.
“I can’t say enough about those guys,” Rosenthal said of the defense. “We’ve been kind of not very good on defense, but a lot of it is we’ve been turning it over 17 times, and that puts you in positions you just can’t overcome.
“You’ve got to get them behind the chains. You can’t get them second-and-5, third-and-2; they’re going to get that. You gotta get third-and-8 or better.”
They did that enough times to win that elusive district title and give themselves a week off before starting postseason play.
Oak Hill Academy 20, Marshall Academy 14
Marshall Academy (7-2, 3-1 4A-1) 0 0 6 8 — 14
Oak Hill Academy (5-5, 3-1 4A-1) 6 0 0 14 — 20
First quarter
OHA — Nathan Harrington 18 pass from Cameron Dill (kick failed), 7:57
Third quarter
MA — Hayes Henry 14 pass from Landon Houston (kick failed), 9:14
Fourth quarter
OHA — Cameron Dill 21 run (Jack Easterling kick), 11:45
OHA — John Ross Craven 7 run (Easterling kick), 5:02
MA — Henry 86 kickoff return (Houston run), 4:41
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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