O'Hara Wins First District Game

BIG SECOND QUARTER BOOSTS O’HARA OVER LINCOLN . The O’Hara Celtics football team came up with 28 second quarter points to upend the Lincoln Prep Tigers 48-12 in last Friday night’s game played at East High. Lincoln elected to receive at the start of the game and marched the ball from their 31 yard line all the way to the O’Hara 2o yard line where they gave up the ball on downs. The Celtics used three plays to score the first of seven touchdowns. The big gainer was a 77 yard pass play from TJ White to James Tillman. Chuck Preston scored from 8 yards out. Joe Melchior intercepted Tyler Smith’s pass around midfield before the first quarter drew to a close. However as the second quarter got under way, Kyle Murray returned an O’Hara punt to the 22 yard line for the Tigers. Johnny Hall ran the ball in to the end zone from there. The Tigers missed the extra point and the score was 7-6. That did not last long. TJ White completed a pass from the 35 yard line to Danny Hernandez and he ran the remaining 65 yards for O’Hara’s second score of the game. Following another Tiger short punt, O’Hara scored in two plays. Raphael Spencer shot right up the middle for a 28 yard TD. Joe Melchior got his second interception of the game in the next series but it cost the Celtics some yardage. On Fourth down, Tyler Smith let loose on a long pass caught by Melchoir. Since it was fourth down, O’Hara got possession on the 20 yard line instead of the original line of scrimmage near mid field. Nonetheless the Celtics managed to score again in three plays. Joe Pepple was on the receiving end of a TJ White pass for a 65 yard TD reception. When the Tigers began their next series there was just a little over a minute of playing time before halftime. They went to the passing game. Aaron Mitchell intercepted and ran the ball for 35 yards and O’Hara’s 34th point of the game. Receiving the ball at the start of the third period after Lincoln Prep completed their halftime homecoming festivities, TJ White passed to Danny Hernandez for his second touchdown of the day. Even though O’Hara was unsuccessful in their extra point attempt, they had a 35 point margin 41-6, and the game went the rest of the way with a running clock. O’Hara’s last points came after Aaron Mitchell made his second interception of the contest at midfield. Joe Pepple scored the points on a 14 yard pas from TJ White. The fans got to see a number of junior varsity players compete in the fourth quarter. The only scoring for either team was a short 5 yard run by Damay Sessions for Lincoln Prep. O’Hara’s three all-time record holders improved their stats in the game. Bryce Scovill upped his extra point production to 119, Joe Pepple increased his total yards gain on pass receptions to 1089 yards and total passes caught to 60, and TJ White increased his total yards gain by passing to 2564 yards. White has 124 career completions, just two shy of the school record of 126 by Joe Holder back in 1978. Danny Hernandez with 35 pass receptions is now in 5th place; he is immediately behind the player in fourth place who is none other than O’Hara’s head football coach Jim DeMarea who had 37 career receptions back in 1972.