O'HARA 21 OAK GROVE 28

O’HARA LOSES A CLOSE GAME TO OAK GROVE Jumping ahead of the Oak Grove Panthers 14-0 in the first quarter, the O’Hara Celtics were eventually edged out by a 28-21 score by the end of the hard fought football contest on Friday. In just three plays, O’Hara took the early lead. After Danny Hernandez returned the opening kick to the 34 yard line, TJ White completed a 14 yard pass to Joe Pepple, and two plays later completed a touchdown throw to Danny Hernandez covering 54 yards. Oak Grove was unable to get beyond midfield with their possession, and the Celtics mounted another scoring drive. This one took eleven plays. Starting from their own 21 yard line, the Celtics moved downfield, aided by a pass-interference penalty and two pass plays to Danny Hernandez and Joe Pepple to set up the touchdown pass. TJ White hit Joe Pepple with a 37 yard strike to build up the O’Hara lead. Oak Grove scored their first TD at the beginning of the second quarter. Somehow the team was given five downs along the way to the eventual score. From the 13 yard line, the Panthers gained two yards on a short pass, was held for no yards on a running play, picked up seven yards on another running play, was again halted for no gain, and on the fifth play in the series, broke for a 7 yard gain and maintained possession. The TD came a bit later from a 3 yard run by Trey Rigby. With under three minutes before the half, on a fouth down play, Caleb Barnhill was able to get a long TD pass to Landon Grego covering 25 yards and tying up the game at 14-14. With time running out for the first half, the Panthers were able to slip in yet another score with Trey Rigby carrying the ball unto the endzone with just 30 seconds remaining, and Oak Grove had the lead for the first time 21-14. Oak Grove decided to go for a first down on fourth down midway through the third period but the O’Hara defense stopped them. The Celtics then tied up the game with just three spectacular plays. It began with a 38 yard completion from TJ White to Joe Pepple. This was followed by an hook-and-ladder play: TJ White completed a short pass to Joe Pepple who quickly made a lateral pass to James Tillman. It resulted in getting the ball to the 17 yard line. On the very next play, James Tillman weaved through the Oak Grove defense for the tying score. Except for the deciding touchdown play, both teams matched sputtering offenses and strong defenses for the rest of the third quarter and throughout the fourth quarter. Bryce Scovill kicked O’Hara’s three extra points bringing his career all-time school record to a 106 total since he began providing this service to the team. TJ White completed ten passes in the game, two for touchdowns. Four of these were to Joe Pepple who took over first place in the career all-time school record for receiving passes. He now has 44 receptions, one higher than the previous record holder Tokie Aromona. On defense O’Hara’s leading tacklers in this game were Louis Golden, Chuck Preston, James Tillman, and Joe Pepple. Chuck Preston and DJ Jackson recovered fumbles. O’Hara hosts Warrensburg on Friday before going on the road. This is a West Central Conference opponent.