Oak Ridge had their share of winning this season heading into the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs against Napa Friday night.

The winning tradition continued as the Trojans came together and defeated the Indians 31-7 to advance to the second round of the playoffs where they will play host to a familiar opponent, the Granite Bay Grizzlies. Granite Bay defeated the Trojans in the Division I section title game a year ago.

The nine-win Oak Ridge squad was slow out of the gate defensively, allowing 23 plays from Napa that spanned 70 yards, the entire first quarter and then some, and three fourth-down conversions that ended in a Jack Good one-yard run to score on the second play of the second quarter.

“We came out flat,” said senior Austin Clarke on the defensive performance in the first quarter. “We needed to be tough and go after them.”

The Trojans responded quickly, but not to the result they wanted.

On second and one on their 26-yard-line, Josh Wellman rumbled 50 yards to give Oak Ridge great field position. But with a minimal run by Drew Lackowski and two incompletions by Ian Book; the Trojans had to settle for a field goal to cut the lead 7-3.

The Oak Ridge defense finally cracked Napa’s code, as they forced a three and out following a sack from Ryan Lamb.

Special teams stepped up, recovering a muffed snap by Napa to give the Trojans first and goal on the five-yard-line.

Enter Wellman. Riding their quick back, Oak Ridge punched it in from the one, giving the Trojans their first lead of the game, 10-7.

For most of the second quarter, Oak Ridge had held the Indians to five yards of offense.

But their troubles continued to stop running quarterback Good, as he picked up 21 yards in two plays for 39 yards in the first half.

But outside of the two runs by Good, the Trojans managed to keep the Indians from stealing the momentum as time expired in the half.

With the cold setting in, it looked as if it was catching up to the Trojans, as they struggled out of the gate offensively.

However, a muffled punt return by Napa gave Oak Ridge the spark to warm-up their offense, capitalizing the turnover that led to a Book to Trent Buenzli 34-yard touchdown pass to extend the Trojans a 17-7 lead with 9:21 left in the third quarter.

It wasn’t long after that Oak Ridge got their hands on another turnover and scored.

After recovering an Indians fumble, Book hooked up with Buenzli once more on a 21-yard reception to increase their lead to 24-7.

“We started to get into the groove,” said Wellman. “We had to run the ball to help open up the pass.”

After committing a big defensive pass interference in the fourth quarter, the Trojans stepped up as they ended another Napa drive on fourth down with an group sack.

Oak Ridge added one more score, as Book connected on his third touchdown pass in the half to Victor Bunce.

Score 1 2 3 4 — T

TROJANS 0 10 14 7 — 31

INDIANS 0 7 0 0 — 7

Scoring

2nd Quarter-

INDIANS- Good 2-yard run 11:17 (PAT Good)

TROJANS- Brown 25-yard-field Goal 8:15

TROJANS- Wellman 1-yard run 5:35 (PAT Good)

3rd Quarter-

TROJANS- Buenzli 34-yard catch from Book 9:21 (PAT Good)

TROJANS- Buenzli 21-yard catch from Book 2:05 (PAT Good)

4th Quarter-

TROJANS-Bunce 4-yard catch from Book 3:54 (PAT Good)

Passing

TROJANS- Book-14-17-0 166. Totals-14-17-0 166

Rushing

TROJANS- Wellman- 13-118, Douglas 2-10 Total- 15-128

Receiving

TROJANS- Buenzli-7-109, Dunnigan 3-14, Bunce 2-20, Allie 1-17, Kassis 1-6. Totals-14-166

Source: http://www.edhtelegraph.com/article/oak-ridge-defeats-napa-31-7