Tigers pick up first win of season in dramatic fashion

A touchdown with :08 left and then a two-point conversion lifted Red Oak to its dramatic first win of the season in a 22-21 victory over West Central Valley in Stuart Friday.
Ethan Fouts’ touchdown and then his two-point conversion capped the Tigers’ fourth quarter comeback.
“The boys never quit,” said Red Oak coach Allen Gray.
Trailing 21-14 in the fourth, Gray used all three of his timeouts on the Wildcats’ final offensive drive to save time on the clock. The gambit worked, and the Tigers took over at their own 25-yard line.
Gray immediately went to his two-minute offense – dubbed the “NASCAR” set – and quarterback Masen Fisher went to work, with Fouts and Jackson Perdue picking up big chunks to move the ball into Wildcat territory and then the redzone. Fisher’s four-yard pass on fourth-and-one to Cale Hall set up the game-winning score at the 1-yard line.
Gray trusted his team, and in particular senior offensive lineman Jacob Patterson on the Fouts’ touchdown run.
“They (West Central Valley) had called a timeout, so we were talking about it, and we called another play, and he (Patterson) told me, ‘Run it behind me, coach we’ll get it in.’ He’s a senior and I trusted him, and we called it for Ethan and then we went right back to him for the two-point conversion.”
The win was big momentum-wise for a team Gray said was pushed around the week before by AHSTW in a 54-13 loss.
“I told them in the locker room this game and how we were able to fight and come back, it could turn our season around,” he said. “1-2 is a lot different 0-3. We’re getting ready to go into district play with Missouri Valley Friday so we’re going to take it one game at a time. We’re going to enjoy this one but come Monday morning we’ll get right back to work and prepare just like we did last week.”
Red Oak hosts Missouri Valley Friday at 7 p.m. at Russ Benda Field.