The sun was down. The lights in the stands lit up the field. The defense was on third down, one big play to solidify the game. The sweat is dripping off Davis’ face, waiting for that ball to move even an inch.
Deandre Davis (12) experienced multiple heart-racing moments while in big moments as a defensive lineman for the OHS football team. There were a lot of moments where he succeeded and failed as well. He wanted to thank multiple coaches for his successes, but one specifically for preparing the defensive line, including himself, for the hardest games he would experience this year.
“Definitely Coach Sammy got us all right, every game, every practice. Such a great coach,” Davis said.
Coach Sammy Brown is the defensive line coach for Oakville and, having played with the St. Louis Rams, the team felt he was more than qualified to assist their players. Unfortunately, there were some events during their season that created obstacles for the players. Scott Bidlack (11) went down in the home game against Eureka High School with what was later confirmed as a torn PCL, MCL and meniscus.
“We still performed well, but we had to have some players step up and fill the spot,” Davis said. “John Teal (10) had a big role in stepping up.”
But Bidlack was not the only one with an injury this season. Davis, Ethan Venable (12), Joe Romano (12) and many others went down with some injury. Davis went down for a game with a similar, yet less serious injury.
“The game against Northwest my knee got cut blocked and I ended up getting a partial tear in my ACL,” Davis said.
Despite his injury, Davis managed to get back on the field with hopes to achieve this future goals.
“I feel like I performed well,” Davis said. “There were big moments that I missed, but overall I think I did good.”
