Game of the Week:
King’s Fork (5-0) at Oscar Smith (4-1) . . . Hard to believe that the only unbeaten team in the Southeastern District at this stage of the football season is not Oscar Smith and someone else. That somebody else is King’s Fork, coached by former Tigers assistant Anthony Joffrion. Not only did Joffrion play at Ocean Lakes for current Oscar Smith Head Coach Chris Scott, but he was also on the King’s Fork staff when the Bulldogs stunned Oscar Smith – 29-13 – back in 2007 to halt a 99-game Southeastern District winning streak by the Tigers.
Even though King’s Fork got hit for 16 points by Deep Creek in last week’s 15-point triumph, consider a couple of things about how strong they’ve been on the defensive side of the ball. The week before, Deep Creek scored 73 on Lakeland. For the year, King’s Fork is giving up just 5.4 PPG and that includes holding a 6-1 Western Branch team that’s averaging four touchdowns a contest out of the end zone. A total of 11 different King’s Fork defenders have made a stop behind the line of scrimmage, none more influential than Virginia Tech commit Kyree Moyston (37 tackles, 16 TFL, 9 sacks) and Tavias Higgs (20 stops, 8 TFL, 6 sacks).
In addition to Moyston and Higgs, the Oscar Smith offensive line will have to be able to block Bravion Campbell and Jason Cole, who together have 77 total stops, 10 for loss and five sacks. If stalwart center Maarten Woudsma is not back from injury for the Tigers, it could require them going to some formation looks with an extra blocker and relying on a run game that is producing very well this year behind Kevon King (47Car. 604Yds. 13 TD’s). It wouldn’t even be a surprise to see Smith incorporate one of their shifty receivers and possibly even four-star DB Sherrod Covil, a Clemson recruit, into the game-plan to run the ball on occasion.
After a remarkable junior year where he completed nearly 73% of his passes for 1739 yards and a 25-0 TD/Int. ratio during an abbreviated campaign, Tigers QB and ODU commit Ethan Vasko has almost tailed off from his torrid pace a season ago. So far, he’s completed 47 of 88 passes for 844 yards with an 8-1 TD/Int. ratio, not locking into just one wideout and spraying it around, often finding Amonte Jones and Jamauri ‘Bam’ Knox. Of course, Vasko’s mobility is a weapon as well. Over the previous two seasons combined, he ran for 1066 yards and 16 TD’s.
To me, King’s Fork’s chances come down to a couple of things. One, can their secondary hold up when the Tigers go for that big strike off play-action and get off the field on third or even fourth down? Oscar Smith stays aggressive, and while the Bulldogs have a legit pass rush, they don’t want to get caught being over aggressive and playing into the Tigers’ hands.
On offense, the Bulldogs have to finish drives. The trio of junior QB Cameron Butler (29 of 41 for 570Yds. 7-1 TD/Int. ratio; 34Car. 345Yds. 4 TD’s), freshman RB Javon Ford (52Car. 410Yds. 3 TD’s) and junior WR Kaletri Boyd (10Rec. 260Yds. 4 TD’s) pace their attack that’s putting up 30.6 PPG. That’s still over 10 PPG fewer than a Tigers team that suffered a shutout loss to an out-of-state foe.
There’s no mistaking how purely dominant the Oscar Smith defense has been under Scott. Since his arrival in 2019, the Tigers have shut out 12 of the 20 Southeastern District opponents that they’ve faced. So while they did give up 49 points to St. John Bosco Prep of California earlier this season in a running clock loss where they were torched for 383 passing yards by three different quarterbacks, that was against a nationally-ranked foe of a different caliber. This Tigers defense knows how to deliver in big spots, and this is one where all three levels, particularly that secondary headed up by Covil and Brown, should be up for the challenge.
Matt Hatfield Says – Oscar Smith 30-13
Coach Ed Young Says – Oscar Smith 28-14
