Oak Hall Outlasts P.K. Yonge

In their first-regular season meeting since 1985, Oak Hall forced three turnovers and returned a punt for a touchdown to defeat P. K. Yonge 20-8 Friday.

Early Mistakes

The teams stumbled repeatedly out of the gates, as the first four drives of the game ended with a turnover. Oak Hall quarterback Dakota Brower fumbled on both of its possessions in the first quarter, but also recovered a Lawrence Wright Jr. fumble while playing defense.

On P. K. Yonge’s second drive, a pass interference call that gave it a first down following a third-and-long, but Eagle junior Briggs Copeland caught an interception at the 2-yard line to take back possession. But the Blue Wave defense stood tall and forced a three-and-out.

Devin Johnson gave P. K. Yonge (3-4) excellent field position after returning the punt to the Oak Hall 20. The Blue Wave only needed three plays to score the first touchdown of the night, a 2-yard run by Wright Jr. followed by a successful two-point conversion.

Oak Hall (7-0) then showed its first sign of life, using chunk plays from Brower, Copeland and Abram Jerkins to move from its 23 to their opponent’s 7, but the drive would ended in an incompletion on fourth-and-2.

The half ended with the Blue Wave holding an 8-0 lead, the first time Oak Hall has trailed at intermission this season.

Oak Hall Wakes Up

After their sloppy first half, the Eagles wasted no time getting on the board to open the second half. After forcing a three-and-out on P.K. Yonge’s opening possession, Brower returned the punt 48 yards for the first Eagle touchdown. A failed two-point conversion attempt left the Blue Wave still leading, 8-6.

That lead, however, would not last long. P.K. Yonge didn’t go anywhere on the next possession.

Two flags for unnecessary roughness and grabbing the facemask gave the Eagles 30 yards to start the drive, and another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called later on. Jerkins finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 12-8 lead.

Neither team could get anything going on their next possession, leading to P.K. Yonge having another chance to take back the lead on its own 20. However, disaster struck when an errant pass was ruled a backward lateral and recovered by Brower, his second fumble recovery of the game.

From there, Oak Hall balanced gaining yards and running down the clock, with Jerkins scoring on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and Brower converting the two-pointer to put the game away.

Next Week

P. K. Yonge plays at Newberry (5-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, while Oak Hall looks to complete its perfect season at The Master’s Academy (5-2) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.