By: Kaytlyn Tucker, Larkin Daniels, Cole Caraway, Charity Covington
Roughneck quarterback, Will Young, completed 8 of 14 passes for a 125 yards and rushed for 50 to help lead White Oak to a win over the Wildcats last Thursday night in Rains.
Other offensive standouts include, Dee Williams who rushed for 115 yards, one touchdown, and two, two point conversions. Trent Pepper had 75 yards receiving and one touchdown.
“The first half started out a little rough and we were struggling,” Young said. “But second half we started playing together as a team and managed to get the victory. Offensively we had to start passing more and fortunately Trent made the receptions.”
Defensively Ryan Owens had one sack, two tackles for a loss, and recovered a fumble. Brock Reddic had four sacks, six tackles for a loss, one blocked punt and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. Masen Riley contributed two sacks, four tackles for a loss, and forced a fumble, and Matthew Warrens had one sack and two tackles for a loss.
“I had good blocking on defense,” Owens said. “After the second half of the game coach gave a speech and it motivated us to go out second half and work as a team. The whole second half we communicated well and that’s why we pulled out with the win.
Early in the third quarter Tristen Casey kicked his first onside kick against the Wildcats and it proved to be just what the ‘Necks needed as they recovered the ball.
“It was an interesting game but in the second half we started to work more as a team and that’s when we started to get better,” Casey said. “Whenever I was going to kick, the coach told me to kick an onside, which I have never done before because I am right-footed. I just told myself I could do it in my head right before I did it and I ended up with a good kick and we recovered it.”
Coach Paul Bucher and Coach Tim Vandergriff were both very proud of the teams and happy for another win.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys tonight,” Bucher said. “We didn’t have a great first half. The score was 8-8 at halftime and our boys were down on themselves. We responded and played a great second half and the team got the job done.”
The ‘Necks will host the Tatum Eagles tonight at 5:30 p.m.
