Oilers and Eagles still searching for elusive win

No one said Rome was built in a day. The same can be said for the 2012 Richmond Oilers and Kennedy Eagles football teams. With both squads sitting with goose eggs in the win column, they’re looking to get back on track before league play begins in two weeks.

The Oilers (0-4) host the Fairfield Flyers (0-2) Friday night at 7 p.m., while the Eagles (0-3) travel to San Francisco Saturday morning to take on the Galileo Lions (1-1-1) for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Oilers head coach Tashaka Merriwether said before Wednesday’s practice that he wants his team to put a complete game together and not just play strong second halves. “We have to start much faster,” he said about his team falling behind so quickly in the first quarter. “It seems like we play to our opponent, or who we think our opponent is. Then we come out playing to their level and they take off on us.”

The Oilers have been outscored by 114 points this season.

Merriwether said he’s still very optimistic about the second half of the season and that by no means has his team folded. “Quite frankly, this game against Fairfield is our last game of the ‘pre-season’ before we start league,” he said. “You win your league you’re in [the playoffs].”

Things aren’t any easier for Kennedy Eagles head coach Mark Carminer. After three games this season, his team is losing by an average of 36 points.

After last week’s 42-point thumping to Salesian, one player immediately decided to throw in the towel and walked off the field as his coaches addressed players and analyzed the game.

Carminer said the player that walked out on his teammates didn’t mean any disrespect, and that he’s still on the team. “I just told him not to let his emotions get the best of him to the point where he walks out on his brothers,” he said. “I told him don’t leave your brothers out in the battle.”