Larkin loses tough one at Oswego East
According to the program, Oliver "O.J." Graham stands 5-feet-9 and weighs 170 pounds before putting on his Oswego East football uniform, which is certainly not the largest back in the area or the state this year.
But Larkin's football players will tell you what a battering ram Graham turns into when he's got on his football uniform and helmet. The Wolves senior hit the Royals time and again on Friday night and was one of the biggest keys to Oswego East's 35-34 nonconference victory.
"We had this one penciled as one we needed to get," Larkin coach Mike Scianna said.
Graham carried the ball 34 times and gained 247 yards and scored 4 touchdowns as Oswego East snapped a 13-game losing streak. And when he wasn't running the ball, he kept the Royals' attention long enough for his mate Jake Aceret to gain 98 yards on 14 carries - including what proved to be the game-winning score late in the fourth quarter.
"They're big up front and we knew they were going to be able to kind of pound at us," Scianna said. "We tried to throw some different things at them. We just don't have the backup like other programs do. The kids wore out, and that showed in the second half."
The Kyle Newquist to Trevor Whitehead combination was deadly again for Larkin and proved an interesting counterpoint to Oswego East's strong running attack. Royals quarterback Newquist was 15-for-23 and 219 yards and 2 touchdowns. Newquist ran for a further 84 yards and 2 TD's Whitehead caught 11 of those passes for 183 yards. Whitehead also caught -both Newquist TD tosses and caught a further two conversion after touchdown passes.
"That was the biggest surprise, that they didn't come out and double-team (Whitehead) right away," Scianna said. "I thought for sure they were going to do that."
Larkin led twice in the first half thanks to Newquist-to-Whitehead TD passes of 15 and 31 yards. Graham answered with TD runs of 18 and 3 yards and led 14-12 at halftime.
When Graham scored from 29 yards midway through the third quarter, the hosts were ahead by two scores. But Larkin drove the field and closed to 21-20 when Newquist went over from the 1.
What happened next seemed at the time to be a turning point when Larkin's Frankie Heywood picked up a Graham fumble and ran 39 yards to give the Royals a 28-21 lead. The teams then traded TD's. First Graham scored his fourth touchdown, then Newquist got his second.
The Wolves won the game when Aceret ran into the line, then bounced outside for a 6-yard run with 3:35 left.