Oak Hill bounces back, rips Nokomis
By Kalle Oakes
,
Staff Writer
Sunday, September 21, 2008
WALES - Oak Hill's two-year quarterback conundrum appears solved. Its three-week, injury-riddled search for a halfback looks complete.
That dogged pursuit of a victory to get back into the Pine Tree Conference Class B playoff race? Check that off the list, too.
Adam Hathorne rushed for 185 yards and a touchdown, and Brett Turcotte completed two TD passes and a pair of two-point conversion tosses to four different receivers Saturday afternoon in the Raiders' 32-6 rout of Nokomis.
"We've been struggling a little bit, trying to find ourselves," said Oak Hill coach Bruce Nicholas. "I keep telling them I've seen the teams in our league, and we're not that bad. We're trying to find the right combinations."
With halfbacks Clyde Tibbetts and Josh Allen sidelined, that meant moving wingback Hathorne to a featured role in the Raiders' offense.
Hathorne responded with a 40-yard TD run and two additional scampers of 34 and 53 yards. Tight end Kyle Emmons, tackle Tyler Michaud and guard Caleb Fournier chauffeured by creating wide lanes for Hathorne on the left side of the Oak Hill line.
Oak Hill (1-2) scored on its first three possessions of the third quarter to fatten its 8-0 halftime lead.
"We've been working on stamina," Hathorne said. "Our line needed to open the holes, and they definitely did that, huge."
Ben Chick-Reny, Corey Stubbs and Anthony Siderio round out Oak Hill's senior-laden front six. Emmons is the lone underclassman.
Drew Jannelle also chalked up a 2-yard TD plunge for Oak Hill. Jannelle and Kamar Banton teamed up for 87 yards from the fullback slot.
"Oak Hill made a statement today," Chick-Reny said. "We lit the fire." After more than a year of rotating junior Brett Turcotte and senior Josh Sirois at quarterback, Nicholas has settled on Turcotte and shuffled Sirois to split end. It paid immediate dividends when Sirois capped Oak Hill's first drive of the day with a 9-yard TD catch on fourth-and-goal.
Turcotte was 6-for-13 through the air for 111 yards. Sirois caught three for 70.
"I finally had to make a decision," said Nicholas. "Josh is a great athlete, so why do we need two players there when we had some injuries?"
Turcotte followed Hathorne and Jannelle's scoring runs in the third with a 32-yard TD strike to Ben Rines.
Matt Averill rushed for a pair of two-point conversions as Oak Hill squeezed the maximum out of its four visits to the end zone.
Defensively, Oak Hill yielded 19 first downs and 292 total yards, but still nearly notched the shutout. Nokomis (0-2) broke the spell when quarterback Derek Amoroso barreled in from six yards out with 2:11 remaining.
Jannelle had a fumble recovery and an interception for Oak Hill. Fournier also pounced on a loose ball. The two combined for 16 tackles.
"We started not giving up but dying down," Fournier said of early-season losses to Gardiner and Leavitt. "That's what this game was about. We needed to get rolling."
Paul Ketcham rushed for 96 yards, Jordan Richards 84 and Amoroso 53 for the Warriors. |