Commerce weathers scare from Okla. Union
By Monty Franks
From The Miami News-Record

LENAPAH -- Despite a lackluster offensive performance, the second-ranked Commerce Tigers avoided an upset, Friday night, with a 14-13 victory in the District A-5 opener against the Oklahoma Union Cougars.

With the victory coach Rick Trimble's Tigers remain undefeated with a 4-0 record while Oklahoma Union slips to 3-1 on the season. The Tigers return home Friday for a 7:30 p.m. district matchup with the Wyandotte Bears.

"Oklahoma Union has a really good football team and they had a lot to do with the outcome of this game," Trimble said. "It was a combination of the fact that they are such a good football team and we were a little spent after having played such a tough game at Pawnee last week."

The Tigers began this two-game road trip with a come-from-behind 33-28 win over Pawnee last Friday.

"During the first half we were just going through the motions and not playing with any emotion," Trimble said. "The slow, deliberate pace that Oklahoma Union uses on each play had a lot to do with how we reacted. We played at their pace rather than our quick, up-tempo style."

Quarterback Jacob Richardson gave Oklahoma Union a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run. Jared Dotson added the extra point with 5:56 left in the first quarter.

"After trailing 7-0 at halftime, we were able to come out in the third quarter and play at our pace," Trimble said. "It wasn't that the kids weren't playing hard in the first half, it was just that Oklahoma Union controlled the tempo. But, we regained it."

On their first possession of the second half, the Tigers received a 19-yard touchdown run by Klint Reading to create a 7-6 deficit. Logan Cawyer missed the extra point with 8:55 left in the third quarter.

After an exchange of punts, the Tigers grabbed the lead on a 2-yard touchdown run by fullback James Sullivan with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter. Reading found Micah Littlejohn open on the two-point conversion pass to give Commerce a 14-7 margin.

With 6:56 left in the game the Cougars received a 1-yard touchdown run by Lance Birch to cut the deficit to 14-13. Dotson's game-tying extra point sailed wide left.

Jared Dopp paced the Commerce ground game with 62 yards on nine carries as the Tigers generated 115 yards on 29 attempts.

Reading completed 3 of 6 passes for Commerce for 41 yards. Cawyer caught all three pass attempts.

Oklahoma Union accumulated 271 yards in total offense including 251 yards on the ground.

Dopp and Cawyer both recorded 14 total tackles to lead the Commerce defensive effort. Littlejohn, Cory Snowden and Sullivan contributed 11 total tackles each.