ASTORIA — The Oakland Oakers nearly made a miraculous comeback in the 2A state football quarterfinals at CMH Field in Astoria Saturday night, but in the end third-ranked Knappa walked away with a 48-34 victory.
Andrew Harrington and the Oakers offense was shut down in the first half and trailed at one time 34-6.
But Oakland (6-4, 1-3) put together a drive at the end of the first half with Harrington running it in from six yards with 18 seconds left in the half to cut the Loggers lead to 20.
In the second half, Oakland made a run. Harrington punched in two scores in the third quarter and the Oakers recovered a kickoff that bounced off a Logger in the fourth quarter down 12. Harrington ran 19 yards for a score and all of a sudden it was 40-34 with 7:53 still left in the game.
Knappa (10-0, 4-0) converted on fourth and long twice in a time consuming drive and finally scored with just over a minute to douse any hopes of an Oakland comeback.
Oakland coach Ben Lane said the Oakers struggled in the first half on both sides of the ball, but regrouped at halftime
“To our kids credit on defense in the second half, we lept them wrapped tight,” said Oakers coach Ben Lane. “ I was just proud of the kids to come out and never give up right to the end, and we had a chance to win it.”
Harrington, who ran for four touchdowns, felt they just came out flat at the start.
“They were a little better than I thought, but I thought if we played our game we should have handled them,” he said.
The Loggers move on to the semifinals against Monroe.
SCORES BY QUARTER
Oakland 0; 14; 14; 6 — 34
Knappa 14; 20; 6; 8 — 48
SCORING PLAYS
1st quarter
K — Hoover 77 pass from Miller (Cruz run)
K — Miller 4 run (run failed)
2nd quarter
K — Miller 8 run (Eltagonde pass from Miller)
O — Baimbridge 22 interception return (run failed)
K — Cruz 72 pass from Miller (pass failed)
K — Hoover 5 run ( run failed)
O — Harrington 6 run (Powell run)
3rd quarter
O — Harrington 8 run (Harrington run)
K — Miller 85 run (pass failed)
O — Harrington 6 run (run failed)
4th quarter
O — Harrington 19 run (Pass failed)
K — Cruz pass from Miller (Phillip pass from Miller)
