Landry Ozmun had himself a football game on Friday night, throwing for three touchdowns, including two for over 60 yards, against the Southwood Knights.
Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, the Knights’ quarterback-receiver tandem of Carson Blair and Matthew Nose made plays all night against the Oak Hill defense in a 49-21 loss.
“Southwood is a pretty good football team,” head coach, Bud Ozmun, said after the loss. “They have one of the best quarterbacks in the state. He is as accurate as they come, especially at this level. He’s got a strong arm, and on top of that, he’s got a 6-6, 220 pound that’s pretty good [in his own right.] So we felt that if we could control them, we would be right there at the end, but we just weren’t able to get it done.
“We put pressure on him, but he was able to get away and find the open receiver. We didn’t have bad coverage – they were just on the money all night. Defensively, we weren’t as bad as the score indicated, but we obviously weren’t good enough.”
Ozmun has been coaching high school football for a long time – and he believes that Blair is one of the best high school quarterbacks he has gone up against.
“I’ve been doing this for a while, and Carson Blair is the best I have seen throwing the ball with accuracy and velocity,” Ozmun said. “He was really good on Friday, and I give a lot of credit to him. When you watch the film, you expect to see bad things, and really, we weren’t in bad shape, they just made the plays.”
While Blair was the star of the game, the play of Landry Ozmun can’t be understated. On a team that is known for running the football, Ozmun has shown over the last two weeks that he can be relied on as the team’s starting quarterback.
“With each game, he is really proving something to us,” Ozmun said. “We have always been a run-oriented offense first, but the last two weeks we have had to throw the ball because we were down, [and] he’s been on the money. He’s done a nice job, and he finds the open receiver. He really impressed the coaching staff in the first game against Eastern, and he really solidified that he could play the [quarterback] position.”
With a matchup with the Alexandria-Monroe Tigers on the horizon, Ozmun’s focus will be on re-establishing the run game in the hopes of avoiding a 0-3 start to the season.
“Passing will be more in the game plan, but it’s not going to change our overall philosophy, which is being a run-oriented offense primarily,” Ozmun said. “We will continue to grind and hopefully put that part of our game back on track.”
Ozmun finished the game throwing 6-for-17 for 173 yards and three touchdowns, while Wes Transier finished with three receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown. River Smith and Nate Alston also caught touchdown passes for the Golden Eagles in the loss.
