October 31, 2021
By East Alabama Sports Today
HUNTSVILLE – When Oxford declared to field a flag football team this fall the Yellow Jackets committed to approaching it with the same zeal and expectations of any of their more established programs.
After one of the longest and most demanding days of their season, the Jackets are one of eight teams still standing, three wins away from a state title.
Oxford went 2-1 in the North Regionals Saturday against teams with three different styles to make the quarterfinals of the inaugural state tournament.
They shut out Southeastern (18-0) and Sparkman (25-0) in their first two games to qualify for the Elite Eight, then, after changing into a fresh jerseys after two games in wet conditions, lost in the regional finals to Hewitt-Trussville 14-6 after holding a 6-0 halftime lead.
So even with the loss they live to play another day against an opponent and a date to be determined. All the Jackets know is as regional runner-up they’ll be playing the West Region winner Greensboro on the road. Hewitt draws runner-up Tuscaloosa County.
“Any time I’ve been a head coach, any year, you kind of have an expectation, a mission, of how the season’s going to go,” Jackets coach Wes Brooks said. “Nothing makes a coach happier than when his team kind of exceeds those expectations.
“I told them you exceeded those expectations from the community, from the coaches, from the school, even from the players. But we also raised our ceiling a lititle higher than hoping to field a field and go .500 and have some fun. Now our season has been raised a little bit.”
The Jackets (7-4) have gone 4-1 this week to earn it is present position. They scored eight touchdowns on a day that began at 4:50 a.m. and allowed only two, but both came in the final seven minutes of the region championship game.
They beat Southeastern for a fourth time in their regional opener and then, armed with a little advanced intelligence, “it just clicked” against Sparkman and they gave the Senators more than they could handle.
They scored first in the region championship game when Ashlyn Burns caught a touchdown pass from Gabby Lindsey 40 seconds before halftime. Hewitt took the lead with seven minutes to play and after Oxford had a couple drives stall scored again with 1:40 left .
It was the second time this season Hewitt beat the Jackets 14-6.
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