SAN JOSE—Turnovers and missed opportunities cost Live Oak Friday night at Oak Grove, falling 42-16 and dropping out of first place in the Mt. Hamilton Division.
The Acorns drop into a three-way tie for second along with Westmont and Piedmont Hills who all have two losses in league play. Right now, the Acorns are still in position to claim one of the four automatic playoff berths, but will now likely have to win out to be assured a spot.
Live Oak falls to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in Mt. Hamilton Division play.
Live Oak Coach Mike Gemo was not happy with the mistakes, but was quick to praise Oak Grove for playing well.
“We gave them a few easy ones there at the beginning, some of it was mistakes we made but give it to them. They were able to capitalize on it and win the football game,” Gemo said.
Live Oak played well defensively most of the night, limiting the damage off of turnovers to just nine points through three quarters and even holding the Eagles at bay through the first quarter despite two interceptions.
“Our defense has played hard all year,” Gemo said. “I expected nothing else, but I expected us to make more plays on offense.”
The Acorns turned the ball over three times in their first four possessions of the game before Oak Grove capitalized early in the second quarter, kicking a 21-yard field goal following a Live Oak fumble.
The Acorns had been pinned back on their own 2 yard line when a fumbled snap turned the ball over on the 3 yard line. Oak Grove couldn’t punch the ball in on three attempts and was forced to settle for a field goal while on the Live Oak 1.
Live Oak responded with a touchdown on its next possession with an 82-yard drive on nine plays, including an unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Eagles.
The game the entire night had been chippy, featuring five unsportsmanlike conduct calls between the two teams.
Live Oak capitalized on the second of such calls by helping get deep into Eagle territory where Jonathan Singleton found Cole Davis for a 17-yard touchdown with Davis diving in to the endzone for the score.
After a botched PAT attempt, Live Oak led 6-3 for its only lead of the night.
The Acorn defense stopped Oak Grove on its ensuing possession but an interception deep in Live Oak territory led to the Eagles retaking the lead for good.
Oak Grove quarterback Gabe Chavez found Myles Hemingway for the first of his two touchdowns on the night and his only passing TD.
Chavez finished with 136 yards passing on 8 of 11 passing.
After Live Oak was forced to punt following Oak Groves touchdown, Chavez gave his team a 16-6 lead when he finished off a 57-yard, two-play drive when he rushed for a three-yard score. Chavez set it up by throwing for a 54-yard completion.
The Acorns responded with an 18-yard field goal from Connor Dietz after they were kept out of the endzone on the Oak Grove 1-yardline.
Coming out of the halftime break down 16-9, the Acorns put together a strong drive, going 48 yards to push the Eagles 22.
But the drive stalled and Live Oak turned the ball over on downs and Oak Grove took advantage with a touchdown that effectively put the game away.
Runningback Elijah Dominguez went three yards for a touchdown and a 23-9 lead late in the third quarter.
Dominguez finished with a game-high 122 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns.
Live Oak went down fighting, with Singleton connecting with Jaime Martinez on a nine-yard touchdown to cap a 75-yard drive and cut the deficit down to 23-16.
And that’s when the wheels came off and the missed opportunities finally came back to hurt the Acorns.
Four minutes after Live Oak cut the deficit down to a one-score game, Dominguez scored his second TD of the night to open a 3:22 stretch where Oak Grove scored three touchdowns.
Less than a minute after seeing Oak Grove go up 29-16, Moon Ashby intercepted Singleton and went for a touchdown and a 35-16 lead.
Live Oak’s ensuing drive ended with a fumble in Oak Grove territory and four plays later, Hamza Abdullahi broke free for a 46-yard touchdown run with 2:04 left in the game.
Singleton finished the night with 199 yards passing and two touchdowns but also three four interceptions.
Runningback Cole Davis went for 91 yards rushing and 50 more receiving with a TD.
Martinez caught eight passes for 124 yards.
Oak Grove did a good job limiting Live Oak’s weapons on the night, limiting Singleton two just two main targets in the passing game and Davis was the only runningback to see success on the night.
Meanwhile, Oak Grove’s offense was dominated by Domiguez on the ground, but Chavez spread the wealth in the passing game among six receivers, none of whom caught more than two passes.
Live Oak now has pressure to avoid catching a Palma or another high seed in the playoffs needing to win its next two games.
The Acorns coming into the night were projected to earn a No. 4 seed in the Division III playoffs, but the loss combined with three of the Top 5 projected seeds winning could mire Live Oak in the middle of the bracket.
That could force Live Oak to hit the road come playoff time against the likes of a Seaside, Aptos or Palma.
Up next is a home game against Pioneer. The Mustangs are coming off a loss to Santa Teresa to fall to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in league play.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Live Oak.
