Haywood struggles at Oakland
MURFREESBORO — Haywood’s offense struggled against a dominating Oakland defense Friday night.
The result? A 49-6 rout to the second-ranked team in Class 6A at Ray Hughes Stadium.
Haywood (4-3) was held to just 64 total yards and five first downs against the Patriots, who have given up a total of 20 points in the past four weeks.
“They are tough; they made everything tough,” Haywood coach Steve Hookfin said. “They are the No. 2 team in 6A for a reason. They've got one loss to a pretty good team (Hoover, Ala.) for a reason. We knew we had our hands full coming in.”
Oakland junior Lazarius Patterson had his best game as a varsity football player with four total touchdowns. He had four touchdowns for the season entering the contest.
Patterson, a first-year starter, rushed for 89 yards.
“The line blocked great tonight, especially with the ground being so wet,” Patterson said. “It feels really good to do this, but it will feel better if I can do it against Riverdale.”
The Patriots play their cross-town rival next week in the Battle of the 'Boro. Oakland has won the past two meetings against the Warriors (5-2).
Oakland (6-1) dominated the Tomcats, who were added to the Patriots' schedule just prior to the regular season, so both could play a 10-game schedule. The game was scheduled after Oakland lost its game with Pulaski Academy (Ark.) after a miscommunication between both football programs.
The Tomcats did benefit from Oakland’s nine penalties for 98 yards.
Oakland finished the game with 400 total yards, including 291 rushing yards on 31 carries.
Patterson scored on touchdown runs of 7, 17 and 8 in the first half before catching an 8-yard TD pass from Brendan Matthews to give the Patriots a 28-0 halftime lead.
Zarius Gamble added a 16-yard TD run to open the second half and start a running clock under the TSSAA's mercy rule. The rule mandates a running clock when an opponent leads by 35 or more points.
Haywood's Markevious Williamson's 9-yard TD run cut it to 35-6 with 4:10 left in the third quarter and stopped the running clock. But that didn't last long.
Cameron Massengill reeled in a 54-yard TD pass from Matthews seven plays later to push the lead to 42-6. Chris Onwumere scored on a 1-yard run to end the scoring.
Matthews finished 5-of-6 passing for 109 yards with two touchdowns. He now has 10 touchdowns with one interception for the season.
“We wanted to see what he could do on this muddy field, in the rain and the same thing for our center (Benji Arnette),” Oakland coach Kevin Creasy said. “He made some great snaps in the rain and in terrible conditions.”
Oakland's Mark Pruitt and Jackson Cauthen each picked off passes in the first half. Pruitt's came in the end zone to stop a Tomcats scoring opportunity.
“Our coach emphasized film study this week,” Pruitt said. “We knew exactly what they were going to come out in. That was a big statement for our defense, telling the offense that they do have a little room if they do mess up.”