By John Goolsby, Prep Sports Editor
OXFORD, Ala. – Moody may be the nation’s best 0-2 team. The Blue Devils went on the road to face 6A #5 Oxford and lost 24-21 in a game that went down to the wire.
After an Oxford three-and-out to start the game, the Blue Devils found themselves facing fourth and two. That snap would not come until more than an hour later due to a weather delay.
When the snap finally happened, Caleb Goff took it, picked his way through the pile, and raced down the sideline for a 39-yard gain to the Oxford 34-yard line.
Moody would punch it in the endzone four plays later on a Charlie Johnston to Josiah Dozier 20-yard pass with 6:52 on the clock. The Calvin Overton PAT gave Moody a 7-0 lead.
Oxford moved down the field but came up inches short on a fourth-down conversion attempt at the Moody ten-yard line. The Blue Devils could not pick up a first down and punted the ball back to Oxford.
Oxford returned the punt to the Moody 32-yard line. Seven plays later, the Yellow Jackets got on the board with a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3 with 9:30 remaining in the half.
Johnston moved the Blue Devils past the midfield line with a completion to Dozier, but the drive stalled over the next two plays. Johnston was sacked for a six-yard loss and then lost almost twenty yards when his pass attempt was ruled a fumble. Moody lined up for a punt, and Goff was unable to punt the ball away due to a high snap and was forced to run.
Oxford took over at the Moody 44-yard line with 6:37 remaining in the half.
A 24-yard completion from Mason Mims to Jacob Taylor moved the ball to the Blue Devil 20-yard line.
Four plays later, Oxford took the lead on a Caleb Wynn one-yard run with 3:13 remaining in the half. The PAT gave Oxford a 10-7 lead.
Moody was forced to punt the ball away on their next possession, and Oxford ran the clock out. Both teams headed to the break, with Oxford holding a 10-7 lead.
Moody took the opening kickoff of the half but went three and out and turned the ball over to the Yellow Jackets.
Aided by a Moody facemask penalty, Oxford started at the Blue Devil 46-yard line and put together a seven-play drive that culminated with another Wynn one-yard score. The PAT pushed the Oxford lead to 17-7 at the 5:52 mark.
Moody could not sustain the drive on their next possession and punted the ball away to Oxford with 3:20 remaining in the third stanza.
Oxford started their drive at their 20-yard line, moved the ball past midfield, but turned it over on downs with one minute left in the period.
The Blue Devils took over at their 46-yard line. A Johnston to Steven Sigler 38-yard completion moved the ball to the Oxford 15-yard line. Le’Kamren Meadows scored to cut the lead to 17-14 with 11:01 remaining in the game.
Moody got the ball back after Oxford muffed the Blue Devil sky kick, and Bravis Cave, Jr. recovered the ball at the Oxford 25-yard line.
However, disaster struck the Blue Devils. On the first down snap, the ball sailed past Johnston, who then kicked it out of bounds at the Blue Devil 41-yard line. Two plays later, Johnston’s pass was intercepted by D.K. Wilson in Moody’s end zone with 9:38 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets orchestrated an 80-yard drive, culminating in a nine-yard touchdown pass from Mims to his cousin Beau Mims with 5:21 left in the game. The extra point made the score 24-14.
Moody moved the ball down the field and Cave, Jr. scored on a five yard run with 3:25 to pull within three points.
Oxford converted a huge third down conversion to keep the ball with a little more than two minutes remaining.
The Moody defense forced a fourth down with seven seconds left. On fourth down Oxford took the snap and ran the clock out. However, the Yellow Jackets were penalized for holding. Oxford was forced to run one untimed down and took a knee to end the game.
“I am proud of our guy’s fight,” said Jake Ganus. “Ultimately we made too many mistakes.”
“In these games, you can look at so many individual players,” Ganus said. “They either made them or they didn’t.”
“I feel that we didn’t make enough individual plays.”
Ganus was frustrated with his offense’s inability to sustain drives to give his defense rest. The Blue Devil secondary gave up 247 yards and allowed Oxford to convert a critical fourth and 24.
“They are a phenomenal team, but as head coach and a coaching staff, you have to evaluate whether you are putting your players in a position to be successful,” he said.
Moody hosts Jacksonville Friday night in the first region contest.
