OXFORD — For the first time in four years, the University Sporting Goods Crosstown Classic trophy made it’s way on the east side of MS HWY 6.

The Lafayette Commodores ended a four game losing skid to their crosstown rival, defeating the Oxford Chargers 23-3 at Bobby Holcomb Field. The win gave Lafayette their first win of the season.

“We just didn’t execute very well on either side of the ball, thats the bottom line,” said OHS head coach Chris Cutcliffe.  “I don’t think we had the same football team that we had at Madison Central last week show up tonight.  Hats off to Lafayette, they played a great football game, they were hungry, they had their backs against the wall a little bit and they played like it and our guys didn’t respond to it.”

While the Chargers were able to score on a field goal from Gray Jenkins, they failed to score a touchdown for the first time since 2004, when the Chargers lost 53-2 to Clarksdale.

John Reece McClure finished the game completing 13 of his 32 passes for 172 passing yards.

Hiram Wadlington cracked the 100 yard rushing mark for the first time since the season opener against Southaven. Wadlington carried the ball 25 times for 125 yards.

On the receiving end, Preston Perkins led the Chargers with six catches for 66 yards. DeDe Pegues finished with three catches and 61 yards.

Defensively, the Chargers forced three turnovers, but allowed big runs by Lafayette running back JaMarcus Quarles.  Quarles finished the game with 269 yards and two touchdowns, including a 72 yard touchdown late in the third quarter.

D.Q Thomas led the Chargers with 13 tackles, two of which were for loss. Quentin Wiffawn finished with 10 tackles to make his total of tackles reach 62 on the year.

C.J Terrell came up with an end zone interception early in the third quarter. Jamar James and Cameron Bailey were able to recover fumbles, both occurred in the first half of play.

Extra Points

Turning Point:

Gray Jenkins got the Chargers on the scoreboard first with a 38 yard field goal with 7:50 to go until halftime. The Commodores drove down the field into Oxford territory attempting to take the lead. Quarles fumbled the ball near the goal line and the Chargers recovered it at their own two yard line. Wadlington was tackled in his own end zone on the very next play for a safety with 5:24 left in the first half. The score was then 3-2 Oxford with the lead. The Chargers had to kick off to the Commodores because of the safety. Quarles found a hole and raced 35 yards for a Lafayette touchdown with almost two minutes left in the half to make the score 9-3 in Lafayette’s favor. The Commodores would not be denied from that point on, scoring two touchdowns in the second half and keeping Oxford from scoring for the rest of the game.

Playmaker:

Wadlington prior to this game has not rushed for over 100 yards since the season opener against Southaven. Wadlington almost matched his total from week one, getting 125 rushing yards and five yards a carry.

Talking Point:

“Obviously a lot of emotion goes into a rivalry game. I think it comes down to who executes and who plays better and the bottom line is that they played better than we did,” Cutcliffe said.

Notes:

• This is the first Crosstown Classic match up featuring two first-year head coaches at Oxford and at Lafayette
• The Commodores now lead the Crosstown Classic series 24-19 over Oxford
• The Chargers have a bye week this week, next week they travel to West Point to take on the Green Wave