BrooksWeekly

OXFORD, Mississippi – “It’s a good saying that it’s hard to speed up, but you can always slow down”

Offensive Coordinator and quarterbacks coach Stan Hill brought these words to life in his play calling Friday.

His quick strike offense was in full effect scoring on their opening possession within the first two minutes of the game.

The 6-foot-5-inch senior quarterback Parker Adamson stood tall in the pocket as he delivered a dart to wideout Tyrell McGee for the touchdown.

“We are calling plays to attack the defense and putting our kids in the best position to move the football,” Hill said. “We have to get our best athletes into open space.”

After their first score, the defense forced the Charleston Tigers to turn the ball over on downs. The Chargers steamrolled down the field, scoring swiftly on a nifty run by junior tailback Jarius “Juice” Barnes.

Just like that, they held a 14 point advantage with 5:16 left in the first quarter.

As Charleston shook loose of the opening jitters, they began to settle down and apply pressure early and often on the offense. After a jolting start to the game, the Charger’s offense faltered in the second quarter.

“Athletically, Charleston is one of the best teams we will play all year,” Hill said. “They are a very well-coached team. We will try to wear them down as much as possible. Charleston is more speed than size, we have to keep that in mind.”

The momentum changed in favor of the Tigers as they stalled drives on back-to-back occasions, but failed to score. After another punt by Oxford, Charleston finally reached the end zone late in the second by a beautifully called play-action pass to the tight end.

Their two-point conversion attempt failed.

The score was 14-6 at halftime.

Oxford woes continued into the second half when Adamson threw a pick-6 on a tipped pass.

“They are very orthodox, they blitzed on almost every down, it kind of threw us off-guard,” Adamson said.”

But in true Oxford fashion, they fired right back with a one-play drive on a quick slant to beat the blitz with wide receiver Nick Brown on the receiving in.

The game was far from over, Charleston too responded by deploying a power running game all the way to another score.

Charleston again failed on a two-point attempt.

With a 21-18 lead in the fourth quarter, the Chargers unleashed their thunder and lightning combo with Barnes and versatile weapon Glenn Gordon.

The two ate up much of the clock leaving the Tigers with one last desperation heave to the end zone that was intercepted by defensive back Mark Pegues.

“Win ball games, can’t worry about stats and stuff like that, we just want to win,” Hill said.

OXFORD, Mississippi – How easy was it to forget that those were only high school freshmen scoring at will in last Thursday’s home opener against Tupelo High.

The Oxford High Chargers prides itself in their slogan, “First Class.”

X-Men: First Class?

En route to tossing four touchdowns, quarterback Jack Abraham was a “beast” on the field. His first touchdown was a well-placed bomb to the corner of the end zone with an even better catch by wide receiver and defensive back Kyrie White. Athletic Director and Head Coach Johnny Hill spoke of his offense before the game.

“We will score some points,” Hill said.

“We will throw the football, all our wide receivers can go.”

His quarterback threw, and the wide receivers went, and well, they went some more. The damage was already done in the first quarter when the Chargers bolted out the gate with an early 20-0 lead in the first quarter and 14-0 within the first five minutes.

Abraham’s second touchdown was a runaway, one-hand grab by fullback Dee Fair. His third TD was shot out of a cannon deep down the sideline to wideout Dekaylin Metcalf. He also laid jarring hits playing safety on defense.

After a rushing touchdown by running back Kenzie Phillips the Chargers led 27 to zilch midway through the second quarter. The Chargers again went to the air, but an ill-advised pass by Abraham led to an interception and a touchdown five plays later by Tupelo.

“I don’t know what I was doing on that out-route, it was a busted play,” Abraham said.

“The defense really wasn’t doing anything to confuse me, they were just going man, (coverage) and when we lined up in trips, they brought their safety down,” Abraham said.

Perhaps his biggest throw of the night came right after Tupelo’s touchdown, a quick slant for 80 plus yards to White reeling in his second score of the game.

With a boastful chuckle Abraham added, “I had to rebound.”

Oxford pounded the game away in the fourth quarter with Phillips and fellow tailback Tias Hilliard who breached the end zone as well.

The Chargers cruised to an easy 41 to 6 victory.