OROVILLE – After suffering their first season loss at home against the Brewster Bears, the Hornets hit the road to ring Liberty Bell’s bell 56 to six last Friday.
Coach Tam Hutchinson, who came down hard on his seniors after the game against the Bears, now the number one seed to the State Playoffs, said his senior crew “stepped up and did a good job” against the Lions.
Nicky Perez put the first points on the board for Oroville with a seven-yard rush for a touchdown with just under nine minutes left in the first quarter. Iverson made a successful Point After Touchdown kick to bring the score to seven to zero. Iverson was successful with his PATs for each of the Hornet’s eight touchdowns on the night.
The second touchdown came with 3:52 remaining of the first quarter, again by Perez, who rushed for eight yards and six points. The Hornets went to the air for their third first quarter touchdown which happened with just under two minutes remaining. Quarterback Preston Iverson passed the ball to CJ Mathews who ran it in and the score was 21 to 0 going into the second quarter.
Jose Velasco rushed for five yards for Oroville’s first points in the second with the clock at 10:19. A few seconds later, at 9:57, QB Iverson rushed for 21 yards for a TD. Iverson passed to Charlie DeMartino who ran the ball in for another touchdown at 6:00 on the clock. To finish out the first half, with 1:19 remaining, Velasco rushed for 14 yards and six points. Going into the locker rooms it was 49 to 0.
Oroville would score one more time in the game with only 1:28 remaining in the third quarter as QB Iverson rushed for six yards. The score was now 56 to 0.
Liberty Bell finally put some points of their own on the scoreboard with six minutes remaining in the game. The points came on a six-yard rush. The PAT was unsuccessful and the game ended at 56 to 6.
“It was kind of a boring game,” said Hutchinson, unlike the JV game against the Brewster Bears.
“That was exciting. It was six to six with 30 seconds left when Oroville scored on a five-yard pass to Brody Nayserski who ran 50 yards for a touchdown.”
In the North Division B League Brewster has secured the #1 seed, Oroville has secured the #2 seed and Manson has secured the #3 seed. In the South Division B League Kittitas has secured the #1 seed, Warden has secured the #2 seed and after beating Lake Roosevelt last week, White Swan secured the #3 seed. Three crossover games will be played on Friday, Nov. 5 to determine which of these teams will go on to the State playoffs and at what seed, according to Oroville Athletic Director Brett Fancher. The crossover games are:
· Kittitas at Brewster 7 p.m. (winner #1 seed to playoffs – loser #2 seed to playoffs)
· White Swan at Oroville 7 p.m. (winner #3 seed to playoffs – loser season over)
· Warden at Manson 7 p.m. (winner #4 seed to playoffs – loser season finished).
“We have to get by this one, it should be a pretty good game,” predicted Hutchinson about the Hornets upcoming crossover game against White Swan on Friday on OHS’s Ben Prince Field.
