Football

Harpursville 24, Oxford 21

HARPURSVILLE – Harpursville/Afton walked a tightrope in the second half, and made it to the other side.

The Hornets stopped two Oxford drives inside the 20, including a goal-line stand, and intercepted two passes in the fourth quarter in a 24-21 victory Saturday.

The win kept Harpursville-Afton’s Class D playoff hopes alive, although a determination of its playoff fate was not known at press time.

Devon Dean, who ran for one score and threw for another, intercepted Oxford quarterback Angelo Gonzalez with 5:40 remaining in the game, and again with 1:09 left in the fourth to effectively end the game.

“I think that our team is young, but it is learning to play as a team,” said Oxford coach Jeff Newton. “We’re still making some mental mistakes, and those are costing us.”

Harpursville/Afton scored with relative ease on its first two possessions. Dean scrambled to the right for 70-yard score, then Dean hit a wide-open Caleb Stulir on a 47-yard TD connection to make it 16-7 after one stanza.

From there, the Hornets were kept off the board until early in the fourth when Dillon Lindsay scored the go-ahead touchdown with 10:10 left on a six-yard run.