LISBON — Oak Hill slowed down Lisbon’s hurry-up offense and capitalized on a handful of key offensive and defensive plays that turned the tide in the second half.
The Raiders’ defense used several interceptions and fumbles to dominate in their second-half bonanza and slipped away with a 24-13 Class D victory over the Greyhounds on Saturday afternoon.
It was impossible to pick one big play for the Raiders, who worked hard for all three touchdowns.
“I think it is the case of a couple of evenly matched teams,” Oak Hill coach Chad Stowell said. “They were prepared for what they do and they did a really good job. We had to get a couple of big plays to make it go.”
In the beginning of the second half, with Greyhounds (0-2) leading 7-0, the Raiders defense brought Lisbon’s march toward the goal line to an abrupt stop at the 16-yard line.
Oak Hill (1-1) took it from there and moved the ball upfield, reaching the 33-yard line on quarterback Jackson Arbour’s 13-yarder to Caden Thompson. Arbour reeled off another deep past to Ramon Spearman to place the Raiders at the 3. A 5-yard penalty pushed them back to 8, but Arbour was back in the pocket and sent the ball to Spearman for Oak Hill’s first touch down.
Tiger Hopkins converted the two-point conversion to give the Raiders an 8-7 lead with 3:10 late in third quarter.
“Ramon’s touchdown was kind of the lynchpin,” Stowell said.
The Greyhounds were down but not out. With 11:57 left in the fourth quarter, Lisbon quarterback Jimmy Fitzsimmons spilled into the end zone for a 1-yard TD run to give the lead back to the Greyhounds, 13-8. The conversion failed, but there was plenty of time for the Raiders to work their magic.
Oak Hill got the ball back at 2-yard line after stopping Lisbon at the 15 — a penalty forced the Raiders back to the 2.
From there, Oak Hill pushed its way to midfield when Thompson was given the ball and shed a bunch of defenders as he made a beeline for the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown. Arbour brought across the conversion and the Raiders now led 16-13 with five minutes left in the game.
“Coach likes to hand me the ball a lot. It feels good with our line,” Thompson said. “Our front line plays very good out front. It just makes big plays like that. We started off slow, but we like to finish hot. Our outside game is getting better.”
“Caden has been our workhorse,” Stowell said. “He was pretty hard on himself after he fumbled earlier in the game. There was no doubt he was going to rip one off eventually. He is just an unbelievably hard-working kid. He just gives everything he has all the time.”
With five minutes left, the Greyhounds reached the 34 and had the goal line in their sights. But Lisbon fumbled on the next play and the ball was sent bouncing away and Oak Hill’s Hunter Drew scooped it up and ran it back from around the 40 for a TD. Arbour delivered the two-point conversion and sealed the Greyhounds’ fate.
Lisbon’s hurry-up offense worked well for most of the first half, with the Greyhound scoring with 2:09 left in the first quarter. Senior Nick Blair scored on an 11-yard rush, and Fitzsimmons’ kick split the uprights to provide the Greyhounds’ 7-0 lead.
“I think we got worn down a little and we started showing our youth at the end of the game,” Lisbon coach Chris Kates said. “I thought they fought hard all game. They executed when they needed to.”
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