It was a packed house on homecoming night in New Oxford, PA as the New Oxford Colonials (1-5, 0-1) faced off against the Rams of Kennard-Dale (0-6, 0-1) , in a battle of two teams with only one win combined this season.
The Colonials got off to a fast start, moving swiftly down the field on the opening drive of the game, leading to a 12-yard rushing touchdown by junior quarterback, Anthony Lippy. New Oxford led 6-0 after a blocked PAT. Later in the first quarter, the Colonials found themselves driving once again before running back Wes Beans scored on a 4-yard rush. Beans failed to convert on the 2-point conversion though, so the Colonials led 12-0. The score would remain that through the rest of the first half.
At the start of the third quarter, the Rams took their first possession down-field and scored on a tough 8-yard run by Phil Herndon, cutting the Colonial lead to 12-6. The Ox responded though on the ensuing possession as senior running back, Nick Slusser ran the ball in from 10 yards out for yet another Colonial touchdown, which was set up by a nice 27-yard completion from Lippy to tight end, Marc O’Brien. The Colonials led 19-6 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, the Colonials sealed the win when Slusser had his second rushing touchdown of the night, this time from 3 yards out, giving the Colonials a 26-6 lead with 8 minutes to play. With under a minute to play, the Rams added a final touchdown on a 40-yard pass from back-up quarterback Kyle Amrhiem to Dan Hare, followed by a 2 pt. conversion to make the score 26-14, but it was too late. New Oxford would recover the onside kick attempted by Kennard-Dale, and take a knee to end the game, 26-14.
Slusser led the Colonials with 115 yards on the ground and his 2 touchdowns, while Beans added another 48 yards, and a touchdown of his own. Beans also had an interception, and a circus-like catch along the sideline towards the end of the first half. Lippy went 6-14 passing for 130 yards with no interceptions, and his rushing TD. The Colonials also played a very clean game, having no turnovers. Leading the way for the Rams was running back Mike Young who had 57 yards rushing in the losing effort.
With the win, the Colonials move to 2-5, and 1-1 in Division II play, while the Rams are still looking for their first win and are now 0-7, and 0-2 in division play. New Oxford will travel to Susquehannock next week, looking to capitalize on yet another team that has no wins, before facing the two power-house teams in their division, Dover and West York.
