Oak Mountain Defeats Northridge in Season Opener

The Oak Mountain Eagles (1-0) defeated the Northridge Jaguars (0-1) 38-30 on Friday night.

"We got a lot to build on, but it's not how you start, it's how you finish. We got a long way to go, but I think you got to give credit to them and what they did tonight," said Northridge head coach Ryan Lolley. "But I am proud of our guys for not giving up. The things that we got to take care of is just being disciplined, and our job, and execution. At this point in the year, those are usually the things you usually have to work on."

Oak Mountain got on the board first, scoring on a wild possession. The Eagles defense sacked Jaguars quarterback Rowdy Christensen, who fumbled the ball while going down. An defensive player picked it up and fumbled, then the ball fell into the hands of linebacker Colton Moore as he ran into the end zone.

The Jaguars responded with a nine-play, 80-yard drive, resulting in a 17-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Reid Bankston to tie up the ballgame.

The Eagles scored 17 unanswered points to extend their lead 24-7. The first score came from a 32-yard touchdown run by quarterback William O'Dell, while the second came from a 31-yard field goal and finally, Sean Ray caught a 21-yard touchdown pass.

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Northridge scored one more time before halftime. Jaguars kicker Tucker Cornelis kicked a 57-yard field goal as time expired to cut into their deficit 24-10 heading into the break.

The Eagles capped off their scoring with two consecutive touchdowns on their second and third drives of the second half, one from a 46-touchdown run by Marty Myricks and the other from a nine-yard touchdown run by O'Dell to put Oak Mountain up 38-10.

The Jaguars attempted a comeback, scoring a hat trick of touchdowns. Wide receiver Nick Sherman recorded two of those scores, the first an 18-yard and the second a 51-yard pass, while running back Tyson Whiteside ran in a two-yard score to make it a one possession game 38-30.

Northridge's comeback fell short as the team attempted an on-side kick with 1:33 remaining and was unsuccessful. Oak Mountain recovered and ran out the clock to seal the victory.

Next week, Northridge has a BYE week and Oak Mountain travels to Pelham (1-0).

For more content on high school football from Kim Rankin, follow her on X/Twitter at @kmrankin1 and don't forget to visit Tide1009.com for daily content and access to our newsletter.

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