OxfordPress.com

In the losing effort to Eaton, Talawanda head football coach Mike Wright may have found himself his quarterback of the future. Sophomore slinger Braden Park looked the part going 14-24 for 249 yards and three touchdowns.

"I thought Braden played a phenomenal game for a sophomore quarterback making his first start, and he's just going to continue to get better and better," Wright said.

His poise in the pocket came as a welcome sign for an offense which is looking to become more balanced after a 2005 season which at times relied too heavily on the run. What made the young quarterback's play even more impressive was his quick assimilation of a newly-installed audible package into the game.

"He did a really nice job of making all the checks and actually one of my touchdowns came on an audible that he made," Newman said. "He switched my route from a slant to a fade when he saw the corner playing up on me."

Newman, who caught two of the scoring passes, leads an impressive group of Braves receivers. Jeremy LaGarde also showed promise with 97 yards on only three grabs.

It will be awhile, however, until the home crowd gets to see the improved passing attack in Oxford again. Talawanda's game tonight against Kings is the first of three consecutive games on the road.