Friday certainly didn't go as planned for the Northmen, but after taking some time to think about it, there were some very positive takeaways in the 15-38 loss against Platte County at Pirate Stadium that all Oak Park fans need to take into consideration.

Oak Park in its first game of the season came out looking very strong. The Northmen only trailed by 10 at the end of the first half.  It should have been a 3 point deficit, however the Northmen were stranded on the 1 yard line with no time on the clock, after what appeared to be some home clock errors in the final few plays of the 1st half.  It was clear that coaches were not happy heading into the locker room at Half-time. The Northmen came back out at half with a chip on their shoulder, but it wouldn't be enough as the Platte County Offense capitalized on some short field position in the 2nd half. 

The Pirate offense was led by RB Trey Pahn who rushed for 70 yards on 10 carries with 2 touchdowns. QB Christopher Ruhnke, in his first varsity start, had a nice line passing for 197 yards and 1 touchdown 

Oak Parks Phil Corbin had a good night on both sides of the ball he finished with 5 total tackles 3 TFL and 50 total yards of offense. Colton Tisthammer had 53 receiving yards and 6 total tackles with one being a TFL.  Chaughn Mumma was on the receiving end of a 17 yard pass from Blake Bland in the 1Q, and the Northmen would once again find the end zone in the 3Q on a 51 yard shot from Bland to Logan Willmann.  Phil Corbin punched in the 2pt attempt for Oak Park.

Here are the 3 main takeaways:

1. The offense needs to find consistency. Blake Bland and his offense had a difficult time finding a rhythm early in the game, and the truth is, they never really found it, switching to catch up mode and resorting to a heavy pass attack in the 2nd half.  Bland finished with 2 touchdowns 3 interceptions and 199 yards after completing only 10 of his 22 attempts, while the run game was tough to establish this week.  You better believe that the Northmen will get that cleaned up quickly in a Ken Clemens offense. This offense was fun to watch, and seems to have all the right pieces to be special, it could be very exciting if they start clicking.

2. Saw overall improvement on both sides of the ball. Despite what the score might suggest Oak Park looked like the better team and moved the ball rather easily compared to the 2018 game against the Pirates.  In fact, the stats show Oak Park finished with 311 yards of total offense compared to Platte County's 287 yards.  However, turnovers were once again this year's deciding factor.  On a positive note, the Northmen's 3 turnovers this year against Platte County is vastly improved compared to the 7 last year, and for this sports writer, I'll chalk that up as is a huge step in the right direction.

On defense, we saw a much better job at defending the run compared to last year when the Northmen gave up 133 rushing yards on 24 attempts this year they only gave up 94 on 27 attempts.   

3. Players must stay healthy and young players need to be ready step up. Last year injuries were a huge problem with several key players going down during the season and this week was not much different with the Northmen missing a string of players on the defense, relying on some inexperienced players to fill those shoes.  It's going to be a long road if Oak Park wants to be successful, and the veteran players need to take care of their bodies and the new guys need to be ready to jump in and make plays.

Oak Park is back in action this week in a home conference game vs. #3 Raytown on Friday, September 6 @ 7p at the DAC.