Semifinal sites set
Here’s the semifinal times/dates:
Class 6A
Jenks vs. Southmoore, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Putnam City Stadium
Tulsa Union vs. Broken Arrow, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, University of Tulsa
Class 5A
El Reno vs. Carl Albert, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Putnam City Stadium
Bixby vs. Guthrie, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Stillwater High School
Class 4A
Weatherford vs. Douglass, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Yukon
Star Spencer vs. Sallisaw, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sapulpa
Class 3A
Seq. Claremore vs. Cascia Hall, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Collinsville
Berryhill vs. Dewey, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Skiatook
Class B
Garber vs. Laverne, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Woodward
Ryan vs. Canton, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Norman
Class C
DC-Lamont vs. Timberlake, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Enid
Seiling vs. Forgan, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Woodward
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.
Video: Carl Albert pulls off win over Tulsa Kelley
By Ryan Aber
raber@opubco.com
I was able to get some video of the overtime periods last night at Tulsa Kelley, including J.T. Realmuto’s TD run to end it. The first two plays are the scores in the first overtime and the final one, obviously, is the game winner.
Like you’ll hear Realmuto say in the video, the play call there (on third and goal from the 1) was the same play that the Titans ran against Shawnee on a fourth down that they wound up being stopped on.
SMQ: Irish vs. Sallisaw…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
From talking to Matt Oberste following the game, the Collinsville last-second victory was almost as instrumental in beating Bishop McGuinness as anything else.
Sallisaw was battle-tested in a tough district and Oberste was hungry. Well, the whole team was hungry, but especially Oberste because of his late-season injury.
Sallisaw 20, Bishop McGuinness 14 – Final
The Black Diamonds got off to a fantastic start. Jeremy Davenport didn’t end up with that many yards, but he did find the end zone twice.
As much as I was impressed with Oberste (and I was), nobody impressed me more than Trey Wiley. Oberste is so good because he can just throw it up to Wiley, and Wiley will make a play.
Wiley had seven receptions for 102 yards and set the single-season school record in the process for yards in a single season. Wiley has the height (6-3), but he’s not very big (listed at 175). I tend to not care about that at all. If you pass the Boneman’s eye test, that’s good enough for me.
It was basically Wiley on one side against LaRone Richardson on the other. Wow. A huge game by the Irish junior RB. He was dominant. I had seen him against Weatherford where the Eagles just keyed in on him the entire game, so it was good to see just what Richardson is all about.
After looking like a track meet, it really settled down into a defensive struggle. The Irish made great second-half adjustments after being down 20-7. Sallisaw never gave Camden Tharp any time at all during the game to find an open receiver.
The big run by Oberste clinched the game or else we might have have seen another dramatic finish like last year’s battle.
Sallisaw takes on Star Spencer on Saturday at Sapulpa. Fellow chum Ryan Aber will be there.
Here’s a link to Saturday’s story on the game.
It was a weird season for McGuinness. In the early part, I was thinking it was going to be a 7-3, 6-4 season. But after stellar showings in all the top games, viewed them as favorites.
Injuries definitely hurt this team. The defense is going to take a big hit, but the offense should be even more explosive this next season.
The Irish finish 9-3 with a one-point loss at Bishop Kelley and Weatherford to go with the six-point loss Friday night.
Coach Kenny Young got the most out of his talent this season and this may have been his best coaching job yet. The talent wasn’t supposed to be there, but the Irish made it work.
SAQ: McAlester-El Reno
Your Saturday Afternoon Quarterback look at El Reno’s 21-14 win over McAlester.
First, a few thoughts that didn’t make it into the game story in Saturday’s paper:
Remember the name Tony Kiefer. The McAlester quarterback is just a sophomore, and he’ll only get better. That’s saying a lot, because he was pretty good Friday night, particularly in the toughness category. He had to carry the ball 38 times. In the first half, only one play wasn’t a run or pass by Kiefer.
He threw the screen and mid-range routes well, but struggled with some of his deep throws. Of course, that only means he’s like 90 percent of the high school QBs in the state. Kiefer’s biggest problem when he went deep was that he got too much air under his throws, turning a lot of them into jump-balls. That’s fixable. Kiefer and McAlester will be good the next two years.
McAlester breakdown: The Buffs just couldn’t get it done inside the El Reno 30. In addition to the three stops El Reno made inside the 10, McAlester had a turnover on downs at the 28 and a missed field goal after reaching the 12, as well as another turnover on downs at the ER 39.
Those struggles were damaging for another reason beyond the obvious. Most of them came at the end of long, grinding, time-consuming drives, so it gave the Buffs less time and less energy for their rally. The El Reno offense couldn’t do much of anything in the third quarter. It had only one first down, so McAlester spent a lot of time on offense in the third.
McAlester had 121 more yards and 16 more first downs than El Reno, but the Indians made game-changing plays, and the Buffs didn’t.
El Reno breakdown: The numbers in the paragraph above might suggest that the El Reno offense wasn’t all that sharp, but that’s not the case at all. McAlester had the ball so much, that El Reno ran only 40 offensive plays, compared to 77 for McAlester.
The El Reno defense got hit by the big play early. McAlester’s first three offensive snaps went for 12, 23 and 28 yards. But of the next 74 plays, only nine went for double-digit gains. And all three interceptions were big, but especially the two picks that came inside the 5-yard line.
And the Indians have a pretty good kicker, too. Joseph Vorva, a sophomore backup quarterback, had plenty of leg on a 40-yard field goal try that was just a little wide in the fourth quarter.
Up next: Next year, this will be a district game, but for now, it’s a 5A semifinal. El Reno vs. Carl Albert will be played Friday night at 7:30 at Putnam City Stadium after CA knocked off Tulsa Kelley in overtime Friday night. The winner gets the Bixby-Guthrie winner for the 5A title.
SAQ: Sequoyah Claremore at Tuttle
Sequoyah Clarmore (henceforth to be refered to as SC since it’s tedious to type the schools entire name every time it’s mentioned) dominated Tuttle en route to a 40-14 Class 3A second round win Friday night at Bill Hinkle Field. It may not have been a surprise that Tuttle was beaten, but the thoroughness of the beating they took was a bit of a surprise.
Tuttle
What went right: Very little. Tuttle did manage a few nice clock killing drives, but one came up short at the goal line. The Tigers also had a decent night from Ethan Biddy carrying the ball on 14 carries for 95 yards. Outside of that, few if any bright spots.
What went wrong: Tuttle’s defense had no answer for SC’s offense all night long. SC’s first two plays went for 80 yard touchdowns which was an ominous sign for Tuttle. The Tigers didn’t force a punt until the fourth quarter. Offensively, there were turnovers and a general inability to execute against SC’s tough defense. Tuttle also lost a ball over Tanner Koons’ head on a safety.
SC
What went right: Just about everything. SC gets some demerits for attempting an onside kick up 40-14, but overall a stellar effort on both sides. SC’s defense effectively muted Tuttle’s offense for huge chunks of the game and its offense dominated at the line of scrimmage and seemed to have Tuttle confused much of the time.
What went wrong: Abysmal kicking game. You get the feeling this will come back to bite SC at some point. The Eagles chased an extra point all night long and failed multiple times on 2 point conversions. In the playoffs every point counts and SC has a real weakness on special teams. It may or may not be exploited.
Douglass’ defense the difference
BY RYAN ABER
raber@opubco.com
For the second consecutive week, Douglass’ defense dominated teams that have been known for putting up big offensive numbers.
In Friday night’s 14-0 win over Wagoner, the Trojans held the Bulldogs to just 44 total yards — five rushing — to advance to this week’s Class 4A semifinal against Weatherford.
But it’s not like Wagoner didn’t have chances to score.
The Bulldogs had the ball with first and goal from the 2 midway through the third. Douglass’ defense held strong, though, helped by a Wagoner penalty, before the Bulldogs missed a field goal.
Wagoner had another chance to score late in the game, starting in Douglass territory, but once again, the Trojans’ defense held.
Douglass, which allowed 14 points in each of the last four regular season games, has now put up back-to-back shutouts to open the playoffs.
Game blog: McAlester at El Reno
10:12 p.m.: El Reno stopped McAlester quarterback Tony Kiefer at the 1-yard line on fourth-and-goal with :44 left. Two personal-foul penalties on the Buffs moved the ball out of the danger zone and El Reno was able to run out the clock on a 21-14 win.
El Reno advances to the 5A semifinals
