LocalSportsJournal.com

The Oakridge football team failed to dig itself out of an early hole on Saturday in its Division 5 regional championship game.

The Eagles trailed 28-0 at halftime and fell short in a comeback attempt, falling 48-14 on the road against Saginaw Swan Valley.

Oakridge, which finished its season with a 9-3 record, trailed 14-0 after the first quarter, 28-0 at half and 41-14 heading into the final stanza.

“Obviously we are disappointed to not come out on the winning end,” said Oakridge coach Cary Harger. “The bounces didn’t go our way today. We got behind early and had to fight to get back into the game.

“I’m proud of how this team handled things this year and played like winners when people wrote us off early on.”

The Eagles were led offensively by Leroy Quinn with 207 rushing yards on 17 carries and one touchdown while quarterback Koleman Wall threw for 43 yards on 8-for-19 passing.

Brandon Wilde paced Oakridge defensively with 11 tackles while Cole Harger added eight.

Saginaw Swan Valley scored two first quarter touchdowns on passes from Alex Fries to Payton Pietz and Brock Leinberger, from three and 27 yards out, respectively.

The Vikings increased their lead to 28-0 at halftime on a 49-yard touchdown run by Fries and a five-yard scamper from Chase Mendoza in the second quarter.

The Eagles cut their deficit to 28-7 with 10:09 left in the third quarter on a 46-yard scoring run by Quinn.

Saginaw Swan Valley quickly responded with 67-yard touchdown run by Mendoza with 9:18 remaining in the third.

Oakridge scored its last touchdown of the season on a fumble recovery in the end zone by Mikael Wheeler.

The Vikings closed out the scoring with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Fries to Mendoza in the third quarter and a 26-yard run in the fourth by Deondric Sanders.