Traveling to Southfield A&T this Friday

By Dean Vaglia
Leader Staff Writer
Coming off a dramatic win over Lake Orion, the Oxford High School varsity Wildcats fell short against the undefeated (and one of the state’s top Class A teams) Clarkston Wolves on Friday, Sept. 24, 20-17.
Oxford gave the Wolves their toughest match of the season, keeping Clarkston to their lowest score to date. Clarkston, now 5-0, had defeated Davison, 29-26, Birmingham, 38-7, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, 34-13 and Southfield, 56-27.
“It’s one of those games you walk away from happy with the effort,” Oxford head coach Zach Line said. “It goes back to some of the day-one basics that we just need to clean up, so those are things that we are going over (this week) and making sure that the fundamentals aren’t things that are getting broken down late in the game when the game is on the line.”
Primary among those fundamentals to keep working is on-field communication, which has been a recurring issue for the team.
“I would just say it goes back to the simple communications,” Line said. “Anywhere on either side of the ball, if you don’t have communication things get lost in translation. Just improving the way we communicate, just getting back to a lot of the fundamentals.”
As for individual performances during the game Line praised Salvino Vackaro and Tate Myre for their performances, saying Myre played “one of his best games at linebacker.” Jay Cady was also praised for his game.
The Wildcats, 1-2 in OAA League play and 1-4 overall, travel to the banks of the Rouge River this Friday, Oct. 1 to play the Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology Warriors. So far Southfield has managed a 2-3 record, going 1-2 in OAA Red play. Last week the Warriors lost to Rochester Hills’ Stoney Creek 21-14.
“Southfield is a very athletic team, so they do what they do and they do it well,” Line said. “We’ll have a good game plan going in and be ready to roll. It’s their homecoming, so they’re gonna have a little extra juice, so we’ve just gotta make sure we bring a little bit more.”
Friday’s game starts at 7 p.m. at 24675 Lahser Rd. in Southfield. Tickets will be sold until the end of the 1st Quarter. No pre-sale tickets will be available for this event.