District play continued for the high school football team last Friday night, as the team welcomed Jeff County North to town for their homecoming festivities. The team entered the night 2-2 on the season but tied atop the District #3 standings at 1-0, while the Chargers came in undefeated at 4-0.
The first quarter saw JCN get off to a quick start that would prove to be too much for the Buffaloes. Senior quarterback Will Elias ran three times for 38 yards on the opening drive, the last of which was a 23-yarder to put them on the board with a 6-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
The Onaga offense wasn’t able to answer, going three-and-out on the ensuing drive before the Chargers offense got rolling on another scoring drive. This time it came in the form of a 12-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard touchdown pass that gave JCN a 12-0 lead with 3:37 left in the first quarter.
The second quarter was again controlled by the Chargers. Their first drive of the quarter went 54 yards in 13 plays, again capped off by a touchdown pass. After the successful two-point conversion, the Chargers had a 20-0 lead with 5:11 left in the first half. After the two teams then punted back-and-forth to each other, they went into halftime.
As frustrating as the first half was for the boys in black, the one thing that has been evident with this team is that they don’t quit. They continue to fight, even when behind, and they did just that in the second half. The Buffaloes put the ball in the hands of senior fullback Gavin Kolterman and senior Josh Daniels, while sprinkling in a few carries by freshman quarterback Ryder Kolterman to drive 68 yards 15 plays on the opening drive of the third quarter. The possession ended with a 2-yard plunge into the endzone from the elder Kolterman, then it was the younger Kolterman that would tack on the PAT to cut the JCN lead to 20-8.
With a fire now lit, the Buffaloes forced the Chargers into a turnover-on-downs on their next possession. That gave Onaga the ball back near midfield as they wrapped up the third quarter and headed to the final frame.
Unfortunately, though the Buffalo offense continued to move the ball, some miscues prevented them from scoring again in the contest. Some questionable spots ended Onaga drives and continued Charger drives at times, and JCN was able to add another touchdown in the final period to make it a 26-6 final score.
The score was certainly not indicative of the separation between the two teams, but some costly miscues didn’t help Onaga’s cause. The loss drops Onaga to 3rd in the district standings at 1-1, and life doesn’t get any easier this week. The team is on the road Friday, as they head to Jackson Heights. Although the two teams are deadlocked in the all-time series at 17 wins a piece, the Cobras have won the last four. They enter this matchup with a 5-0 overall record, and sit atop not only Onaga’s District #3 standings, but also the state’s 1A rankings. The two teams will kickoff at 7:00pm.
For a look at the stats from any game, highlights, season totals, and everything else Onaga football related, head over to the district website (usd322.org) and go to the team’s page under the “Athletics” tab.