A look at our second-round playoff picks
It was a rough week for us in a lot of ways but here’s a look at the second-round picks from myself, Bob and Scott. The race is extremely tight heading into the third round:
Records:
Overall:
Ryan: 94-26
Scott: 92-28
Bob: 91-29
Second round:
Ryan: 29-11 (3-1 in 6A, 2-2 in 5A, 3-1 in 4A, 2-2 in 3A, 6-2 in 2A, 7-1 in A, 4-0 in B, 2-2 in C)
Scott: 28-12 (4-0 in 6A, 2-2 in 5A, 4-0 in 4A, 2-2 in 3A, 7-1 in 2A, 5-3 in A, 3-1 in B, 1-3 in C)
Bob: 28-12 (3-1 in 6A, 2-2 in 5A, 3-1 in 4A, 1-3 in 3A, 5-3 in 2A, 8-0 in A, 3-1 in B, 3-1 in C)
Bob’s best call: Going to Watonga for this one. I talked to coach Shannon Grimes this weekend, and he said what I’ve been thinking: the OCS win and the Cashion loss proved this Watonga team is for real. Watonga is dang good and gets to host Tonkawa this week. Guess we’ll see how good they really are. The only other thing would be I’m proud I stuck to my guns on Kingfisher and Carl Albert. Those were some pick ‘em games if there ever were any.
Ryan’s best call: I’m going to go a bit out of the box here and pick a game I was actually wrong in getting the winner. I (like everyone else not from Deer Creek-Lamont) picked Shattuck to keep its streak intact and advance to the Class C semifinals. But, I did pick Shattuck to win by “just” eight points, 28-20, and wrote this last week in making my Class C picks: “nothing would surprise me here, even Shattuck losing.” For picking the outcome of the game, I’m going to go with Laverne over Davenport. I didn’t step out and take any huge chances last week but Laverne is one of the few road teams I picked and they came through. I went 8-2 in games I picked the road team to win. And I know this is a little unfair since neither Bob nor Scott pick scores but I got two games right on the head this week, picking the exact score of Jenks-Edmond Memorial (28-14, although I didn’t envision the game tied at 14 entering the fourth) and Cascia Hall-Purcell (28-7). Also was looking pretty good for a third in Carl Albert-Tulsa Kelley before the Comets’ late touchdown sent the game to overtime.
Scott’s best call: Nothing that I’m too proud of this week except maybe hitting all four picks in 4A, which I felt was a very competitive round of games, or sticking with Kingfisher over Bridge Creek, even after BC’s 78-point outburst in the opening round. Also feeling good about only having missed four picks in Class A so far, with all of my initial semifinalist picks still alive.
Bob’s bonehead call: Line ‘em up, we got a bunch. How about saying three 3A-1 teams were going to make it? In reality, none did as 3A-3 (Cascia Hall, Berryhill, Sequoyah Claremore and Dewey) is the semifinals. Being WAY off on Sperry and Pawhuska was pretty bad, too.
Ryan bonehead call: Bartlesville-Southmoore is as good a place to start as any. I should’ve known the SaberCats would bounce back after a lackluster performance a week earlier. And it’s not like Bartlesville had the playoff experience that Southmoore lacked. Also got very close to picking Sequoyah Claremore over Tuttle but decided on head over my gut feeling at the last minute. Also, thought Shawnee would win big and I was looking pretty good early before Bixby roared back.
Scott’s bonehead call: I went with my gut feeling and picked Commerce over Talihina. Also went with my gut and picked Guthrie and Laverne to lose, even though I really believed both would win. Still kicking myself over those.
Bob’s biggest surprise: The cool thing is to say Deer Creek-Lamont over Shattuck. Well, I’m not cool (wait, that didn’t come out right). No, I’m going to go to SOuthmoore. Though I said I might be kicking myself later for it, I never expected that type of domination from the SaberCats. Wow, that was impressive. And not even the Boneman, the unofficial booster for Edmond Memorial, thought it was going to be 14-14 with Jenks entering the fourth quarter.
Ryan’s biggest surprise: Have to go with Guthrie here. When I watched the Bluejays early in the season, they were punchless offensively. But they’ve got a freshman quarterback who has really come around and Kentrell Brothers is looking more and more like the next star to come out of Guthrie. I also have to go with Forgan, who I didn’t think stood much of a chance against Covington-Douglas.
Scott’s biggest surprise: If anyone says they’re not surprised that Shattuck lost in the quarterfinals, they’re either lying or they have a son playing for Deer Creek-Lamont. In my picks preview, I said this about the Class C bracket: “If you took Shattuck out of the mix, this class would be wide-open.” Looks like the last part was true, even without the first part. Other surprises: Shawnee’s loss. I leaned heavily toward picking the Wolves as 5A champs before the playoffs began. Clinton’s loss. I did pick the Tornadoes as my 3A champs.
A look at our second-round playoff picks
It was a rough week for us in a lot of ways but here’s a look at the second-round picks from myself, Bob and Scott. The race is extremely tight heading into the third round:
Records:
Overall:
Ryan: 94-26
Scott: 92-28
Bob: 91-29
Second round:
Ryan: 29-11 (3-1 in 6A, 2-2 in 5A, 3-1 in 4A, 2-2 in 3A, 6-2 in 2A, 7-1 in A, 4-0 in B, 2-2 in C)
Scott: 28-12 (4-0 in 6A, 2-2 in 5A, 4-0 in 4A, 2-2 in 3A, 7-1 in 2A, 5-3 in A, 3-1 in B, 1-3 in C)
Bob: 28-12 (3-1 in 6A, 2-2 in 5A, 3-1 in 4A, 1-3 in 3A, 5-3 in 2A, 8-0 in A, 3-1 in B, 3-1 in C)
Private schools POW: Sterling Shepard, Heritage Hall…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Can one player really make that much of a difference? If it’s Heritage Hall and that player is sophomore Sterling Shepard, the answer is yes.
With Shepard back in the lineup, the Chargers were back to being at the absolute best this team can be.
The question, however, is this team’s best good enough to claim another championship? We have three weeks to find out that answer.
Until then, Shepard will have to be content in winning the Private Schools Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Though Barry Sanders got the ball rolling early, Shepard put the game away in the second quarter of a 48-8 win against Lindsay.
Shepard caught a touchdown pass from Cooper Cloud and also threw for two of his own as Heritage improved to 8-4.
Shepard has had two concussions this year, so the next one would definitely end his season. He plays so hard for such a ‘little’ guy. He leaves it all out there and provides such a lift to the team.
Heritage heads to Pawhuska this week in a 2A quarterfinal. I will be there. But for a different take on the Chargers (a long overdue one), check out Wednesday’s paper.
Other contenders
LaRone Richardson, RB, Bishop McGuinness: Wow, a man possessed Friday against Sallisaw. Richardson ran for 155 yards and a touchdown in the 20-14 loss. More than that, he showed the explosiveness he’s become known for and what will be possible for this team next year.
Barry Sanders, RB, Heritage: Definitely set the tone early. Added another three touchdowns on the ground but added another interception return for a touchdown. He’s got quite the nose for the ball.
Jay Lester, LB, Irish: Had an interception and blocked an extra point as Irish shut down Sallisaw in second half but couldn’t overcome slow start.
Edmond POW: Memorial’s Justin Merideth…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
If you’ve read the Edmond blogs this season, you know I bought into Memorial coach Justin Merideth from the word ‘go.’
From being out at the practices in August to seeing how he interacted with the kids, had a feeling the Bulldogs weren’t being given the proper respect.
In the picks, Memorial went 10-2 according to my predictions. Seriously, that’s just how much I believed in Merideth.
For the historic season the Bulldogs had, I’m giving the Edmond Player of the Week to coach Justin Merideth.
Is that allowed? Well, it’s my blog, so I’m going to say yes.
Memorial (8-4) gave everything it had in a 28-14 loss to Jenks. It wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment. And after being down 14-0, the Bulldogs fought back to 14-14 going into the fourth quarter.
Merideth, who has mentioned his staff every time I’ve talked to him, was able to get the most out of his kids and the coaching staff devised a great plan throughout this season.
I’ve harped on the move of putting Kameron Doolittle at QB and having senior leader Blake Umberham sit and how well everybody handled that situation, but that really was the spark that made this season take off.
Memorial won the city championship for the first time in 12 years and made the quarterfinals for the first time ever since the Edmond split.
Replacing the defense will be tough, but the offense should have a lot more explosion with several key components (topped by Doolittle and Cale Olbert) coming back.
Other Memorial contenders:
Josh Sierra, RB: Had a one-yard TD run to make it 14-7.
Adrian Shoecraft, LB: Had an interception and a fumble recovery.
Nelson Medeiros, DB: Had an interception.
Parker Langford and Kameron Doolittle: Duo combined for the touchdown to make it 14-14.
Southmoore receiver duo among best in 6A; but Symonds and Serowski share the ball more than other top tandems
Looking over some of the best wide receiver tandems in Class 6A, the stats of Southmoore’s Derek Serowski and Nyko Symonds, while impressive, don’t leap off the page at you like some of the other duos. However, there’s a big reason for that.
None of the other top receiving duos have other players on the team who get the ball thrown to them as much as the two standouts. Symonds and Serowski share the passes with tight end Austin Haywood (29 receptions) and running back Andrew Long (35).
For the season Symonds has 33 receptions for 730 yards and six touchdowns. Serowski has 27 grabs for 559 yards and four touchdowns. They both have amazing per-catch averages, Symonds 22.1, Serowski 20.7. And both have had big-time games: Symonds caught three touchdown passes against Putnam City North, Serowski caught three Friday against Bartlesville.
Here are a few other strong duos with their number of receptions and reception yardage:
* Del City: Donovan Dan 72 receptions, 1,175 yards & Chris McAlister 53, 859
* Mustang: David Glidden 61, 1,046 & Braden Wisely 49, 646
* Bartlesville: Garrett Powell 48, 952 & Mike Thompson 51, 980
* Putnam City North: Antonio Johnson 31, 548 & Dillon Schooley 29, 465
Now, in each case, none of the above listed duos have anyone else on their team in the top 20 in receptions. Southmoore has four.
Upon further review: Southmoore even better than 49-28 score against Bartlesville
There were a lot things to take away from Southmoore’s walloping of Bartlesville Friday. We’ll go over a few in a minute, but by far the most important was this: The SaberCats were game ready.
What’s game ready? Everything but the physical aspects of the game — mental focus, attitude, confidence, drive, etc.
This area was strangely absent the week before. But instead of just taking the sluggish 34-32 win over Lawton Eisenhower and moving on, the SaberCats spent all week addressing the fact that they weren’t game ready against the Eagles. It would have been easy to just say that they had overlooked Ike and forget about it. It also would have been easy for the coaches and players to celebrate a last-second win after the handshakes and forget about everything else.
Instead, coach Chris Jensen’s first words were to ask his players if they were awake yet. And the players wouldn’t let the topic die during the week, either. Apparently a couple of players spoke up in the locker room about being game ready from here on out. And it was a great week of practice and players were lauded for how hard they worked.
Well, Southmoore was game ready in a big way against Bartlesville. The SaberCats were as good as they’ve been all season. Actually, given the strength of the opposition (particularly on offense), it was the best they’ve played.
Other things that caught my eye:
* Both sides of the ball were equal: The offense was unstoppable — scoring touchdowns on five consecutive possessions. But the defense was terrific, too. Bartlesville, which came in averaging nearly 40 points per game, has a strong quarterback and a receiving duo as good as any in the state, with the exception of Chris McAlister and Donovon Dan (Del City) and Derek Serowski and Nyko Symonds. But Southmoore basically rendered useless one of the receivers and dominated the QB, constantly harassing him and picking off four passes. Now, give credit to Garrett Powell, the Bartlesville receiver came to play — five catches and a touchdown, an interception and a 60-yard kick return.
* Score didn’t tell show how dominant Southmoore was: The final score was no indication of how the game went. Sure, 49-28 looks pretty nice on the scoreboard, but it could have been a lot worse for the Bruins.
Jensen covered the field with reserves for essentially the entire fourth quarter. Until then, the defense held Bartlesville to 14 points. And those 14 points both came on big plays.
And on offense, 50 points was easily attainable, but Jensen started running the ball to run the clock after his squad went up 42-14. In fact, on the final TD drive 10 of 11 plays were runs. And backup QB, freshman Tre Edwards, came in with 1:41 to play in the third quarter.
* Bruins couldn’t move the ball all night: Bartlesville never drove the ball on the SaberCats. One touchdown was a 60-yard pass play and the drive was just four plays. The other was a 66-yard pass and it was a two-play drive. Otherwise, against the first-string defense, Bartlesville only had one drive of any length and that was its first. The Bruins went 50 yards in 10 plays before Kimes Gilbert picked off QB Kirby Schoenthaler at the line of scrimmage.
After the first series, Bartlesville had 10 straight possessions that lasted four plays or less. That’s impressive.
* Speaking of drives: Southmoore’s offense showed it can beat defenses with a quick strike or can beat them with a sustained drive or it can beat them with a clock-consuming, ball-control grinder of a drive.
The SaberCats did all of the above against the Bruins. Their first drive was the definition of a sustained drive. They went 83 yards in 11 plays. Of the 11, four were pass plays and seven were runs. Fifty one yards came on the ground and 32 through the air. And three different players carried the ball on the drive.
After that, it was like a two-minute drill in fast-forward. In fact, after the 11 play drive, Southmoore scored three touchdowns in their next 11 plays. In succession, there was a four-play drive, a five-play drive and a two-play drive. And all three covered 63 yards or more (the second covered 91).
The next three TDs came on nine-play, 11-play and 11-play drives. All were 65 yards or longer. And, as mentioned before, all the yards on one drive came via the run.
Private schools: Playoff Week 2 recap…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I must admit I didn’t think I would be down to one team at this juncture. But alas, the Chargers are the last team standing.
Heritage Hall (8-4)
Sophomore Sterling Shepard got his clearance to play, and boy, did he ever make it count. Shepard caught one touchdown and threw for two more as the Chargers made a statement in a 48-8 win.
Fellow sophomore Barry Sanders continued his stellar season, running for three touchdowns and taking back an interception for a score.
Sanders won’t hit ya that much on defense, but he has great instincts as a corner and makes teams pay.
If Heritage is able to rush for 333 yards like it did Friday, it’s going to be a long night for the other team.
Up next: The Chargers head to Pawhuska (10-2) in a 2A quarterfinal Friday.
Bishop McGuinness (9-3)
Not too much to add than what I already said in the Saturday Morning Quarterback. On one hand, I felt the Irish just ran out of time in a 20-14 loss to Sallisaw.
But on the other, give a load of credit to the Black Diamond defense. After McGuinness scored on its first drive, didn’t score again until its final drive.
The Irish simply couldn’t get anything else going besides LaRone Richardson. Kyle Ahmad and Jamaal Whitney were stymied, and Sallisaw’s big start put ‘em in a hole early.
I’m still thoroughly impressed with Jameel Whitney and Jay Lester. And when Little All-City Defensive Player of the Year comes around, I’ll be banging the drum for Jameel. I’ll probably be out-voted, but Whitney is impressive.
Quarterback Camden Tharp will only grow from this. It’s possible we have a 3-man battle again next year with Quinn Shanbour, Tharp and David Krahl.
Like I said, with the lack of big-name talent, this is easily one of the better coaching jobs by Kenny Young and his staff.
Edmond: Playoff Week 2 recap…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Well, as we enter the semifinals for the larger schools, we’re closing the books on the football season for Edmond teams.
Memorial (8-4)
I must admit a wry smile came across my face when I heard it was Memorial 14, Jenks 14 heading into the fourth quarter. Could it really happen?
It’s a credit to the coaching staff and to those players that they went as far as they did before bowing out in a 28-14 defeat.
You don’t need me to say it, here’s senior leader, captain Nelson Medeiros:
This season meant a whole lot to us. It’s something we won’t forget. With the change in coaches, we didn’t know how it would go, but it was great. We were city champs, and we achieved most of our goals. We never quit. Even when we were down 14-0, we kept fighting for each other. We tip our hats to Jenks. But yeah, this was a great season for us.” – Medeiros
There ya go.
Every time I went to a Memorial practice or anything like that, you could feel the good vibes. The kids loved being around each other, and the coaching staff is basically just kids who happen to be a little older. The chemistry was apparent throughout the season.
Coach Justin Merideth did a fantastic job in his first season, and the offense should be loaded with Cale Olbert and Kameron Doolittle coming back as well as Connor Myers on defense.
The defense will take a hit with all those senior leaders departing. But much like Edmond North, it’s going to be this year’s Memorial team that opened people’s eyes to Bulldog football.
The Boneman Curse…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I thought it was a myth, an urban legend. No, it’s real, my friends. If you want to win, don’t have me cover your playoff game right now.
With the zone strategy, we’ve basically been picking teams from our zones to cover for the playoffs and that’s led to bad news for Edmond and private school clubs when they see me in the parking lot.
I’ve driven a long ways in back-to-back weeks to basically write “team wrapup” stories.
First was Edmond North and the 90-mile trek to Lawton where the Wolverines wore down the Huskies in the second half of a 34-16 win.
But Friday takes the cake. Making my first trip to Sallisaw and driving 180 miles (or six hours roundtrip) to see Bishop McGuinness get off to a bad start and Sallisaw earn a huge 20-14 victory.
Who’s next on my hit list: Heritage Hall. Yep, I’m making the 140-mile trip to Pawhuska on Friday for that one. Beware, Charger fans, the Boneman is coming.
Lawton winning wasn’t a shock. Sallisaw fought for that one and definitely deserved it even though I LOCKed the Irish last week. But I tell ya, starting to wonder if this curse thing is legit. And for those wondering, headed to Douglass and Weatherford on Saturday at Yukon.
The Boneman Curse…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I thought it was a myth, an urban legend. No, it’s real, my friends. If you want to win, don’t have me cover your playoff game right now.
With the zone strategy, we’ve basically been picking teams from our zones to cover for the playoffs and that’s led to bad news for Edmond and private school clubs when they see me in the parking lot.
I’ve driven a long ways in back-to-back weeks to basically write “team wrapup” stories.
First was Edmond North and the 90-mile trek to Lawton where the Wolverines wore down the Huskies in the second half of a 34-16 win.
But Friday takes the cake. Making my first trip to Sallisaw and driving 180 miles (or six hours roundtrip) to see Bishop McGuinness get off to a bad start and Sallisaw earn a huge 20-14 victory.
Who’s next on my hit list: Heritage Hall. Yep, I’m making the 140-mile trip to Pawhuska on Friday for that one. Beware, Charger fans, the Boneman is coming.
Lawton winning wasn’t a shock. Sallisaw fought for that one and definitely deserved it even though I LOCKed the Irish last week. But I tell ya, starting to wonder if this curse thing is legit. And for those wondering, headed to Douglass and Weatherford on Saturday at Yukon.
