Bucks defend home turf, defeat Huskies, 33-31

HOMINY -- And a barn burner it was. The Hominy Bucks held on Friday night, Sept. 17, to defeat visiting Pawhuska by a count of 33-31.

A last-ditch Pawhuska field goal attempt missed, and Hominy fans celebrated. There was even a bit of confetti.

Pawhuska fell to 1 win, 2 losses for the 2021 season. The Huskies lost their second straight close game. They lost in overtime Sept. 3 to Victory Christian by a score of 39-33. Both losses have been road games.

Hominy never trailed Sept. 17. its quarterback, Jaxson Woods, broke loose for a long touchdown run on a third-down play to put up the first points of the evening. Woods scored with 9:26 left in the opening quarter. The Bucks did not convert for additional points, and they led, 6-0.

Pawhuska replied with 6:53 to go in the quarter, evening the score at 6-6.

Jaxson Woods did not rest. He continued making nimble runs along the line of scrimmage, looking for a block that would allow him to break through and outrun Pawhuska defenders. He found another hole with a little more than three minutes left in the quarter and streaked to the end zone. Hominy converted for two additional points and led, 14-6.

Hominy led Pawhuska by a score of 14-12 at the end of the first quarter, and 27-12 at the half. The Huskies fought back in the third quarter and trailed just 27-24 by the end of that period.

Early in the fourth quarter, Hominy scored what would turn out to be the winning touchdown on a pass down the center of the field to senior tight end and receiver Tyler Edwards. That touchdown stretched Hominy's lead to 33-24, which is how matters remained until Pawhuska scored a touchdown with 1:49 left in regulation time and kicked an extra point to cut the margin to 33-31.

Pawhuska took the ball again following an onside kick and tried to move the ball downfield for a winning score. Running out of time, the Huskies attempted to kick a field goal for the win, but the kick failed.

The Huskies continued Friday to have trouble on defense. They have struggled to contain running quarterbacks, and they have given up long pass plays for touchdowns.

When he wasn't running for big yardage Friday, Jaxson Woods was throwing the ball to Carson Keene or Joe Overstreet or T.K. Sutton or Tyler Edwards; and they were out-scrapping Huskies' defenders for the ball. 

Pawhuska was also weak in the Hominy game when it came to converting for some kind of extra point or points after touchdowns. The Huskies scored five touchdowns, but converted on just one point after touchdown.