LISBON — Oak Hill spent nearly the entire first 48 minutes of Saturday’s Class D South quarterfinal backed up in its own end.
The seventh-seeded Raiders needed overtime to finally make No. 2 Lisbon’s defense protect its goal line. But that was all they needed.
Sophomore QB Gavin Rawstron wasted little time breaking a scoreless game when he rushed for a 10-yard touchdown on the first play of OT. Oak Hill’s defense stiffened again on Lisbon’s possession, this time with the help of a penalty, and secured a 6-0 upset win in the Thompson Field mud bowl.
Oak Hill (4-5) advanced to the semifinals, where it will face No. 6 Madison (5-4). Lisbon finished 7-2.
“We wanted this. This senior group hadn’t beaten Lisbon since their third- and fourth-grade year,” said Rawstron, who ran for 73 yards on 20 carries. “They wanted it here. They knew this was it, this is how you’re going to get remembered for your senior season.”
Lisbon won the toss for overtime and elected to defend first. Each team starts 10 yards from the goal line and gets four downs to score, alternating possessions until there is a winner.
Rawstron took the snap on the Raiders’ first play and followed his blockers around the right side before diving for the pylon and the lead.
“As soon as our outside tackle (AJ Redmun) down-blocked on their end and our running backs (Reid Cote and Quentin Pelkey) got to the outside (linebackers), we had the edge set and I knew all I had to do was beat the corner,” Rawstron said. “We did it as a team right there.”
Lisbon took its turn from the 10 and started with a 1-yard run by Lucas Francis. On second down, Pelkey and Caleb Treadwell led a blitz that stopped Francis for an 8-yard loss.
On third down, Francis dropped back to pass from the 17 and connected over the middle to Robbie Dick, who made a leaping catch with two Oak Hill defenders on him at the 2.
Lisbon thought it had tied the game when Francis ran it in from the 2 on fourth down. But the play was negated by a penalty on the Greyhounds for not having enough players on the line of scrimmage.
“Not enough guys on the line of scrimmage, apparently,” Lisbon coach Chris Kates said. “Too big of a game for the referee.”
Pushed back to the 7, the Greyhounds had a miscommunication on their shotgun snap, which Francis didn’t appear to be expecting at that moment. Oak Hill smothered him as he tried to retrieve it at the 25, clinching the upset and setting off a procession of white jerseys diving into the mud in celebration.
“We just had to do our job,” Oak Hill senior linebacker Gabe Bergeron said. “We knew they were throwing everything at us, but we were able to just buckle down.”
“We said, ‘no long plays.’ That was our challenge (to the defense), no big plays,” Oak Hill coach Stacen Doucette said. “We were going to corral and challenge them on a wet, muddy field to go the whole length of the field.”
The game was a stark contrast to the previous week’s rivalry game in much better conditions in Wales, where Lisbon used a pair of interception returns for touchdowns late to pull away, 47-27.
Pouring rain before the game slowed a bit for most of the action, which turned Thompson Field into a steadily-deteriorating quagmire. Not surprisingly, both teams stuck to the running game, combining for seven passes that ended up in more interceptions (two) than completions.
Lisbon forced a punt on the opening series of the game, then drove to Oak Hill’s 29, but turned the ball back over on downs when Francis’ fourth-down jump pass fell incomplete.
Oak Hill crossed midfield on its second possession but had to punt from Lisbon’s 46. Francis (25 carries, 74 yards) and Isaiah Thompson (12 carries, 67 yards) drove the Greyhounds back into Raider territory, to the 18, early in the second quarter. But back-to-back holding and false start flags on Lisbon ultimately crushed the threat when Thompson was stopped for a 3-yard gain to the 13 on 4th-and-5.
The Raiders punted again, this time from deep in their own territory, and Daytona McIver’s 23-yard return set up the Greyhounds at Oak Hill’s 15. However, the Raiders held them to 1 yard on three downs, and Lisbon sent out the field goal unit. Justin Le’s 34-yard attempt was short and left.
The teams then exchanged interceptions, by Rawstron and Lisbon’s Isaac Burnell, to end the half.
Lisbon continued to control field position to start the second half, when its first two possessions started at Oak Hill’s 45 and 37. But the Raider defense continued to buckle down and forced a punt both times.
“As the game went on, I thought, defensively, we got stronger, besides a couple of times,” Doucette said. “The kids played very well. I thought it was a very good, old fashioned football game.”
“I think we just shot ourselves in the foot (with) penalties and bad snaps and just, overall, not executing,” Kates said.
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