Oxford, AL – Oxford once again takes a punch, counters with 34 unanswered points to roll past Hartselle in the second round of the playoffs. Fort Payne next.
Second-round scores
CLASS 6A
Oxford 34, Hartselle 14, FINAL
CLASS 5A
Central-Clay 31, Williamson 6, FINAL
CLASS 4A
Brooks 41, Alexandria 35, FINAL
Cherokee County 41, Central-Florence 14, FINAL
Anniston 43, Good Hope 14, FINAL
CLASS 3A
Piedmont 21, Lauderdale County 6, FINAL
CLASS 1A
Wadley 55, Meek 22, FINAL
Berry 6, Spring Garden 0, FINAL
Quarterfinal pairings
CLASS 6A
Fort Payne at Oxford
CLASS 5A
Central-Clay at Catholic-Montgomery
CLASS 4A
Cherokee County at Brooks
Anniston at West Morgan
CLASS 3A
Fyffe at Piedmont
CLASS 1A
Wadley at Berry
Oxford 34, Hartselle 14
By Joe Medley
Oxford has taken punches this season. The Yellow Jackets’ counter punches take the life out of their opponents.
A key stop on a fake punt and Nick Richardson’s leaping catch on a hopeful Mason Mims lob turned a 14-point deficit into a halftime lead, and Oxford went on to score 34 unanswered points in a 34-14 victory over visiting Hartselle in Friday’s second-round playoff game on Lamar Field.
The Yellow Jackets (12-0) advanced to the Class 6A quarterfinals for the first time since 2020 and will play host to Fort Payne, which beat Homewood 35-32 on Friday.
“This team don’t quit,” said Richardson, who caught two touchdown passes on the night. “We couldn’t easily gotten down. We were down 14-0. We easily could’ve quit.
“Our team don’t quit. We fight every time and come back.”
Following a pattern of several games this season, Oxford seemed to be in trouble for a quarter and a half Friday. Hartselle (9-3) mounted two long drives on its first two possessions, resulting in Jaheim Pruitt’s 2-yard touchdown run at 3:56 off the first quarter and Noah Lee’s3-yard keeper for a score at 7:52 of the second.
Oxford ran three offensive plays in the game’s first 16:08, and the Yellow Jackets’ defense struggled to stop Hartselle’s power running.
“They’re big, and they run the ball well on everybody all year long,” Oxford coach Sam Adams said. “Some of it was, early on, guys misfitting things and not being in exactly in the right gap.
“The biggest thing was, we got a couple of stops and got going on offense.”
Oxford closed to within 14-7 on Mims’ 16-yard touchdown pass to Jaylin Taylor at 6:51 of the second quarter, and the Yellow Jackets’ defense found an answer.
Facing fourth down at their 49-yard line, Hartselle lined up to run a play and tried to get Oxford to jump. No dice, so the Tigers ran off the field en masse and ran the punting team on the field.
Up man Cole Miles took a direct snap then met the left side of Oxford’s punt defense. The pile of defenders included Kainen Bozeman, D.K. Wilson, Emileo English, Marcus Lawler and Christian Draper.
Adams expected Hartselle to take a risk near midfield.
“They tried a gadget sort of deal before they ran the fake punt, where they tried to draw us offsides and run them on late,” Adams said. “I think you saw a lot of great preparation by our special teams right there, because we subbed out wholesale, got our whole punt-return team on the field and then also lined up properly and played the fake.”
Oxford took advantage with Mims’ 25-yard touchdown pass to Taylor on a deep slant to tie the game 14-14 at 4:21 of the second quarter, and that set the stage for Richardson’s highlight reel back breaker.
With time running out in the half, Mims scrambled right then launched a lob toward Richardson in the end zone. Richardson won a jump ball between two defenders to make it 21-14 at 4.4 seconds.
“Mason trusts me and threw it up before half, and stuff happens,” Richardson said. “I’ happy he threw it.
“I was trying to find an open space. There wasn’t much, because they were playing deep,”
Adams said Richardson’s touchdown had nothing to do with Xs and Os.
“That’s just players making plays,” he said. “That’s what Mason and Nick have done all year long.”
Oxford got the ball to start the third quarter, and Wilson took a quick screen, juked defenders and broke free for a 44-yard, catch-and-run touchdown at 10:11.
Mims and Richardson hooked up for a 19-yard touchdown connection at 1:11, and the rout was on.
Mims completed 21 of 25 passes for 276 of Oxford’s 356 total yards and five touchdowns. Taylor caught nine passes for 92 yards and two scores, and Richardson had five catches for 88 yards and two scores.
Hartselle gained most of its 191 total yards on its first two possessions. Keenan Britt led Oxford’s defense with 12 tackles, and Jiyez Fleming had eight. Fleming, Taylor, Wilson and Cedric Twyman each had an interception as Lee tried to pass Hartselle back into the game.
“Our main philosophy on defense at this point is, if someone’s going to score on us, they’re going to have to snap the ball a lot of times to get down there,” Adams said. “We never gave up any balls over our heads. We made them earn everything they got.
“Once our offense got going, we kind of flipped the game pretty quickly.”
