It was Robert Neyland, the legendary Tennessee head coach, who first observed that the team which makes the fewest mistakes usually wins.
Neyland also said teams need to make their breaks and pounce on opportunity.
While Elba/Byron-Bergen wasn't without its own miscues in a Saturday afternoon scrap on its home field, the inability of Oakfield-Alabama to strike from the red zone on successive drives in the second quarter turned out to be a deal breaker for the Hornets.
The Lancers won the defensive battle 7-6.
Brian Palone, O-A's head coach, gave credit to the Lancers' defense, but also said mental errors by his players and a lack of execution on the details in the red zone hurt his team's chance of notching a win.
"I also have to do a better job with play calling down here at times to give us a better opportunity," Palone said. "I'll point the finger at myself for some of the stuff we had down here in the red zone. Some of it is on them. It goes both ways, but we just didn't finish."
On one possession, with the ball inside the five, Elba/BB even gave O-A a whole new set of downs on a pass interference call, either because of a stout defense or an inability to finish, the Hornets couldn't punch it in.
The Hornets would return the favor, stopping a Lancers drive on the goal line, in the 4th quarter.
Elba/BB also had its share of turnovers and penalties to help keep points off the board.
"I'm just glad we both did have mistakes," Lancers Head Coach Mike Cintorino said. "I'm glad we're both kind of even. We've seen games and we've had games ourselves where those mistakes aren't even and it ends up being a game you give away. It very easily could have gone the other way today. We had some opportunities that we didn't capitalize on and our defense bailed us out. They came up big."
The way Cintorino sees the game is that two well-prepared defenses shut down a pair of powerful offenses.
"You get two offenses like this, one that really passes the ball well and one that really runs the ball well and you think it's going to be this high scoring game, but both teams did a really nice job preparing for the other offense and it turned out to be a great defensive game," Cintorino said.
Both coaches said they were proud of their defenses.
"It was a real grinder of a game that was just going to come down to who had the ball last," Palone said. "We're all really proud of the way our team held together."
O-A put points on the board first when Trent Stack pulled in an Alan Chatt nine-yard pass just over the goal line (top photo).
Being down 6-0 seemed to give the Lancer's offense a spark it lacked through the entire first half. The combination of Garrett Chapell to John Hochmuth seemed unbreakable as QB and tight end connected for reception after reception, including a leaping grab by Hochmuth on the sideline to secure another first down.
"Early on, John had a drop, but the best athletes I have ever coached know how to come back from adversity in a game," Cintorino said. "He had that same idea in the Holley game where he had a drop and came back with a huge touchdown for us on the next drive."
Hochmuth had 10 receptions for 142 yards on the day, but it was Chapell who finished off the winning drive.
With the ball on the three, Chapell ran a keeper wide right and found little in the way of opposition from the Hornet's defense.
An extra point kick and the Lancers had the seven points that would prove enough to move the team to 3-1 on the season.
Chatt threw a lot of passes -- 40 on the day, and completed half of them for 259 yards, with a TD toss and an interception. Sal Schwable had five catches for 86 yards and Stack had four receptions for 65 yards.
Chapell had 13 completions on 23 attempts for 154 yards. Truax carried the ball 14 times for 61 yards. He also had 16 tackles on defense and a fumble recovery.
Trent Stack holds the ball aloft after putting the Hornets on the board first in the third quarter.
John Hochmuth with a grab on the sideline to help keep the Lancer's eventual winning drive alive.
Reice Woodward found that one pass near the sideline in the second quarter was just a bit beyond his grasp.
Hornets QB Alan Chatt.
Hochmuth grabs for an O-A runner.
Steele Truax on a big gainer in the 4th quarter that would help put the Lancers on the two-yard line with a chance to extend the team's lead, but O-A stopped the drive and took over on downs.
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