Oakdale Dream Season Ends with 60-16 Loss to Cloudland

By Terry Futrell

Oakdale’s dream season that saw the Eagles finish in second place in Region 2A and claim the first playoff victory in school history came to an abrupt end with a 60-16 loss to a tough Cloudland team Friday evening.

Facing Cloudland in the Class 1A playoffs on their own field is a formidable challenge for any team as the Oakdale Eagles discovered. Big, strong, and playing smash-mouth, old-style football, the Highlanders brought the full impact of their very successful 10-1 season to bear on Oakdale. With a style that dominates time of possession, Cloudland executed 51 plays compared to only 37 plays for Oakdale.

Oakdale’s offense was only able to rack up 194 total yards against the tough Highlander defense – 54 yards rushing on 19 carries and 140 yards passing. Defensively, Oakdale simply could not stop the tough Cloudland running attack, which accounted for 355 yards on 46 carries and seven touchdowns. Cloudland attempted only five passes, completing three for 48 yards and one touchdown. Oakdale intercepted the other two Cloudland passes.

The toughness of Cloudland’s defense is exemplified by how they limited Oakdale’s primary ball carriers. Timmy Holder rushed three times for five yards and Eloy Vera added 12 yards on two carries. Aaron Dunlap added 21 yards on three carries, and Ja’Vian Gipson sprinted for 45 yards and a touchdown on his only rushing attempt.

Oakdale’s normally productive passing attack was stymied by the Cloudland defense, completing only five passes out of 20 attempts for 140 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. Quarterback Elisha Davis completed two big-play passes to Nehemiah Cooney for 82 yards and a touchdown. Davis also connected with Eloy Vera on two passes for 29 yards.  Aaron Dunlap connected with Cooney for 29 yards. Cooney finished the game with three receptions for 111 yards. Davis and Dunlap each threw one interception.

Offensively, Cloudland was led by Seth Birchfield who carried the ball 22 times for 233 yards and six touchdowns.

Defensively, the Eagles were led by Eloy Vera with 15 tackles, Timmy Holder with seven tackles, and Roy Huskey with six tackles. Hunter Boyer, Joseph Summers, and Alex Osborne had five tackles each.

While Oakdale’s advance in the playoffs came to an end, the 2021 Eagles advanced farther than any Oakdale team in history, signaling one more forward step in reestablishing a strong football program at the school.