TROY >> Oak Park was going to be in for a long night if it couldn’t stop Troy Athens from repeatedly grinding out first downs with the ground attack like it did for a good portion of the first quarter of Friday’s game.

The Red Hawks marched all the way down to the 2-yard line and looked sure to cash in for their efforts. Oak Park, though, stiffened up, and on fourth down blocked a field goal to leave the home side empty-handed despite owning possession for over eight minutes to start.

Despite putting up points first, the drives for Athens’ wing-T offense weren’t quite so prolific after that, and Oak Park responded with all its points unanswered to collect a 24-16 road win over the Red Hawks.

Knights head coach Greg Carter didn’t hesitate when asked how often his team sees that style.

“Once a year,” Carter said. “They’re dominant and play extremely hard, so we knew that we had to be as physical as possible to match their physicality on every play, because they’re relentless. They come at you in waves. You know, I’ve been around so long that I remember we used to run it back in the day when I was at de Porres. It’s a tough offense to contain.”

Athens (1-2, 0-2 OAA Blue) didn’t piece together another series as cohesive as that until its final one, which came with the Red Hawks trailing by 16 and without the fortune of being able to deliberately drain clock. Senior Tom Gjelaj broke a tackle and got help from his lineman on fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line to cross the pylon, then junior quarterback Andrew Dunlap took in the conversion to make it 24-16 with 2:02 remaining.

The Red Hawks were flagged for illegal touching on the onsides kick attempt, but despite using their timeouts to force a fourth-and-3 with just under a minute to go, sophomore running back Ivaan Burrow chunked out an 11-yard gain to move the chains and allow the Knights to kneel it out.

Even after failing to capitalize on the extended opening drive, Athens posted points before Oak Park thanks to a fumble recovery on fourth down following a botched punt attempt that gave the Red Hawks extremely favorable field position. Just 48 seconds into the second quarter, the Athens QB took it in himself from just a few feet out, and Anthony Dunlap ran in the conversion to put the home team ahead 8-0.

When the ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Red Hawks, they really appeared to be in the driver’s seat, but Oak Park responded with a big special teams play of its own when Rondre Austion returned Athens’ punt over 90 yards along the right sideline for a score. Officials initially threw a flag against the Knights that would have negated it, but eventually picked it up before Mike Jones ran in the 2-point try to tie it 8-8 with 8:31 left in the half.

“I was really indecisive whether I was going to get (the ball on the return) or not, but something told me I needed to go pick it up and go take it to the crib for my team,” Austion said. “I had to change the pace of the game for my team, that’s all it was.”

Able to stymie Athens’ offense again after that, Oak Park got the ball back and moved into striking distance on a 32-yard run by Marshawn Johnson to the Red Hawks’ 5-yard line, and Jones (13 carries, 98 yards) took it in the next play, then bounced it outside for the conversion that made it 16-8 with 3:24 on the clock.

Burrow picked off a pass to give Oak Park a chance to score yet again before heading into the lockers, but despite a 20-yard run the following snap by Knights quarterback Muhammad El-Mubarak, Athens’ pass defense forced several incompletions from the sophomore QB to keep it a one-score game at the half.

A fumble recovery by Athens’ Vadym Hladiy was one of the few notable plays in the third quarter as both teams’ offenses stalled, but Oak Park eventually compiled its own elongated drive that spanned into the fourth. It nearly sputtered on fourth-and-12 at the Red Hawks’ 24-yard line, but El-Mabarak found junior Nehemiah Black for a 16-yard completion that moved the sticks, and two plays later Dorian Bethel scored from five yards out when he was part of a push into the end zone that seemingly involved every player from both teams.

Jones rushed in the conversion for Oak Park’s final points with 7:32 to go.

Regarding the adjustments Oak Park’s defense made to tighten up following Athens’ early success, Carter said, “We tried to put a little more pressure on them, sent our linebackers a little bit more, because (before that) we were sitting there waiting on them. We just tried to be a little bit more active, that’s all. We didn’t really change the way we were doing it, but I think we did it a little bit better.”

The Knights, who defeated Athens 30-24 in overtime last season, improve to 2-1 on the season, including 1-1 in the OAA Blue. They’ll next return home to face undefeated Seaholm.

Athens must return to the drawing board with a visit to Farmington on deck.

“We just need to be able to maintain drives,” Athens head coach Tom Cook said. “We have tough kids that are willing to do the basic things right, and we need to make sure we can sustain drives and finish them to score points … We’ve got to keep grinding. Tomorrow, everybody like, let’s show up and let’s turn this thing around for next week.”