EASTON — The Oliver Ames High football team’s defense is off to a flying start.
The Tigers allowed a one-play touchdown drive in the fourth quarter but otherwise clamped down on Archbishop Williams to post a 14-6 season-opening win on Thursday, Sept. 10.
“We got the defense together,” said senior cornerback/running back Desahn Walker. “We kept on putting our foot on the (gas) pedal and got it done.”
Walker got it done on both sides of the ball as he ripped off a 60-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to extend the Tigers’ lead to 14-0 with 5:59 remaining.
That score gave OA the cushion it needed to withstand its one defensive wobble. On the ensuing play from scrimmage, Archbishop Williams quarterback Thomas Prifti went up top and hit Michael Boyle with a 66-yard TD bomb down the left sideline just 19 seconds after Walker’s TD.
The 2-point conversion pass was broken up, leaving the score 14-6.
Archies got the ball one last time, but Aiden Ayoub’s fourth-down sack of Prifti effectively closed the door with 1:48 left.
Oliver Ames struck first as Ryan Loring caught a 5-yard TD pass from QB Jack Giovanello midway through the first quarter. That score was set up by Loring pouncing on a fumbled Archies center/QB exchange that gave the Tigers a first down at the Bishops’ 26. The extra-point attempt was partially blocked, leaving the score 6-0.
OA tacked on a safety in the third quarter (for an 8-0 lead) when an Archies punt snap sailed out of the end zone.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Oliver Ames football cranks up defense to beat Archbishop Williams
