Getting ready for awards week…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Hey, apologize for the lack of updates from your “beloved” high school staff. We’ve been busy working on postseason awards and happy to say we’re almost there.
And for those wondering, here is how next week is going to shake out:
Tuesday begins everything with your All-City Volleyball awards. Wednesday we move to my stuff with Big and Little All-City Softball. Thursday (Christmas) will be all about All-City Cross Country. Friday we move to football with Little All-City goodies. Saturday (my birthday) will be about the Big All-City. And to cap it all off on Sunday, is the All-State team. We’re doing something different this year and writing a short story on every single kid that made the All-State team.
Of course, I will blog on Wednesday about softball conundrums. I feel better about this team, but there were still some extremely tough moves to make.
As for the Stooges, Ray won the final two games to win the championship. Ray joins Zach from last year as the The Stooges champions.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays as we turn the page to basketball, wrestling and swimming.
Perry wrestling tournament: A night of orange and black
By Matt Patterson
mpatterson@opubco.com
PERRY –Oklahoma State coach John Smith made an appearance at the Perry tournament finals Saturday night and for good reason. At least six future Cowboys were on the mat.
One was Perry’s Ladd Rupp who easily won his 125 pound match by fall. And despite winning three state championships it was his first tournament win at his school’s signature event.
“I don’t know” Rupp said when asked how he could be so dominant without winning the Perry tournament. “I’ve run into some pretty tough competition here the last couple of years with Willie Gunter. I’m just glad I got it in my last year.”
Chris Perry dominant: In what could be a preview of this year’s Class 6A finals at 189 pounds, Stillwater’s Chris Perry beat Ponca City’s Blake Rosholt with a second period fall. Perry recently wrapped up another 1,000 yard season for Stillwater’s football team.
“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” he said. “If you’re not playing football and have all day to train, that’s an advantage but a lot of that stuff is mental.”
Perry and Rosholt will also both wrestle at Oklahoma State.
“I roomed with him at Fargo,” Perry said of Rosholt. “He’s a tough kid.”
Match O’ the night: There were several close matches and several blowouts, but none were more interesting than the 171 pound bout between Woodward’s Zach White and Catoosa’s Dallas Bailey. Bailey ultimately prevailed in a 3-2 grinder.
Heisman cheers: Perry might be deep in the heart of Oklahoma State country, but the between matches announcement that Sam Bradford had won the Heisman trophy brought a cheer from the crowd at John Divine Aren, though there was a smattering of boos.
Morrison 13, Okeene 9 – Class A final
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Now that was a hard-hitting game. Because I can, I elect to give the game’s MVP to Okeene LB Matt Benham. Watching the game with Ryan Aber and Jason Kersey, we agreed Benham was absolutely dominating. The program lists him at 190, say wha? There is no way Benham is that small.
Anyway, Okeene had a 9-0 lead before Morrison fought back. And fought back is the right term. Down 3-0, Morrison had a first-and-goal at the 4, followed by third and fourth down at the 1. The Whippets were up to the challenge. I was joking with Jason “Okeene defended its goalline and then defended its title.”
A 48-yard punt return by Brock Wardlaw gave Okeene a 9-0 lead, and then Morrison came alive. Sophomore Latelle Graves had a day he will never forget. He scored on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Shawn Walls with less than two minutes left in the first half. If that wasn’t enough, it was Graves’ first TD reception of the season.
Morrison’s Cale James punched it in during the third, and then that would be it. With Okeene driving late to tie it up, it was Graves again coming alive. Graves deflected a fourth down attempt by the Whippets and guaranteed Morrison’s fourth straight state championship while denying Okeene its third in a row in the process.
I don’t know what to say about Morrison. I was among the doubters that it would have a reality check this season in Class A. But week in, week out, the Wildcats were up to the challenge. So then I became a believer, too.
My boy, Jason Kersey, had game coverage duties today, so I’m interested to hear what some of those boys said.
As for me, well, now at the Ford Center waiting for the Oklahoma City Blazers and Tulsa Oilers hockey game to start. Wish I could be there for Heritage Hall and Chandler, but hey, what can you do?
Side note: The final game will decide the Stooges. Ray and Ryan are tied. Ryan has Chandler, Ray has Heritage. Ooh boy, just adding to the drama.
The Stooges: Week 15…
Only two games left, ladies and gents. Can you believe it? And yes, there is some drama within The Stooges. Boneman is guaranteed to finish last, his great playoff run notwithstanding. Jason is taking home the bronze, no doubt about that. But in a bitter battle to the end, Ryan and Ray still have first to be decided. So with Morrison/Okeene and Chandler/Heritage Hall the only games left, who will be the second Stooges champion?
Week 15
Morrison vs. Okeene
Boneman: Morrison; Jason: Morrison; Ray: Morrison; Ryan: Okeene
Chandler vs. Heritage Hall
Boneman: HHall (game of the year); Jason: Chandler; Ray: HHall; Ryan: Chandler
It’s ironic Ray and Ryan picked the opposite teams. Neither guy knew the other’s pick. Only the Boneman is worthy enough of such vital information.
Last week: Boneman (8-2, 1-0); Jason (8-2, 1-0); Ray (10-0, 1-0); Ryan (9-1)
Overall: Ryan (129-42); Ray (128-43, 11-3); Jason (118-53, 10-4); Boneman (116-55, 9-5)
It’s The Boneman Championship…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
You have to agree the Boneman Championship is worth fighting for more than a gold ball. Why else would Heritage Hall and Chandler being playing so hard?
All kidding aside, I feel like I’m choosing between two brothers Saturday with Heritage Hall and Chandler.
I know all about the Lions from my time in Shawnee. I was there when Jack Gray was just a sophomore. He was a special talent then, too. He didn’t just come out of nowhere this season. Coach Neal Bacon has done a magnificent job with this team and my boy, Jason Kersey, will have more on Bacon in Friday’s Oklahoman.
Heritage Hall, well as I’ve said before, I’m the Chargers beat writer. One reason could be that I live a stone’s throw away from the school, so it’s not the toughest place in the world for me to get to.
And through the last two years I’ve learned about Turner Petersen, Graham King, Banning Fudge, etc. I’ve probably seen them more than any other team, so I feel I have a pretty good read on ‘em.
With that said, I have no idea who is going to win this game. None. Do any doubts still linger for Heritage after last year’s loss to Cascia? Can the Chargers stop Jack Gray? If they do, who does Chandler look to?
The offense gets so much pub (you can blame us), but both teams defenses are nothing to sneeze at, either. Heritage Hall gives up 79 rushing yards per game while Chandler’s “pitiful” group give up a whopping 81 on the ground.
The Chargers allow less than seven points per game while the Lions allow 10. Not much separates these two teams.
I wish I could be there, but I’ll be at an Oklahoma City Blazers game.
I picked Chandler to win 2A when we did our playoff preview. But then I let Ryan Aber get into my head about Lincoln Christian. So when Heritage beat LC the way it did, I’m torn. And the loss of Johnny Morton for Chandler certainly adds a little something, too. Guess we’ll see what’s up.
Some tidbits from the visits with Heritage this week
- Barry Sanders Jr. models his game after a lot of people but his favorite player is Clinton Portis. If you haven’t seen the video of Jr.’s TD run against Lincoln Christian, do yourself a favor and find it.
- The way you carry yourself has no bearing on how the game will be decided, but Turner Petersen carries himself real well. He’s not cocky or arrogant, but he’s supremely confident. And after asking several players and coach Andy Bogert, the first word to describe Turner is: leader.
- And Petersen cannot stress it enough that this game, this season has all been for Ford Price.
- It’ll be interesting to see how Marc Robinson develops at LB. The seniors cannot gush enough about the freshman. You add Barry, Robinson and freshman QB Cale Courtney, and let’s just say those are three names you’ll be hearing a lot about the next few years.
Should be a fun, dare I say classic, championship Saturday night.
The Stooges: Week 14…
Where did Sequoyah-Claremore come from? That was the only game where none of your beloved Stooges picked the right winner. It was another solid week for Boneman and as history dictates should mean avoid his picks this week. Ryan had a one-game advantage on Ray for the week and is up two games with only 12 games left. Some championships to be decided, so on with the show…
Week 14
Tulsa Union vs. Jenks
Boneman: Union (LOCK); Jason: Jenks; Ray: Union (keep dreaming, west side); Ryan: Union
Carl Albert vs. Tulsa Washington
Boneman: CAlbert (clicking at right time); Jason: CAlbert; Ray: BTW; Ryan: BTW
McGuinness vs. Glenpool
Boneman: Glenpool (it’ll be close, and I’ll be there LIVE); Jason: Glenpool; Ray: Glenpool (LOCK, someone knocks off Irish); Ryan: Glenpool
Cascia Hall vs. Sequoyah-Claremore
Boneman: CHall; Jason: CHall; Ray: CHall; Ryan: CHall
Heritage Hall vs. Lincoln Christian
Boneman: HHall (game of the week); Jason: HHall; Ray: HHall; Ryan: LChristian
Chandler vs. Kingfisher
Boneman: Chandler; Jason: Chandler; Ray: Chandler; Ryan: Chandler
Morrison vs. Hennessey
Boneman: Morrison; Jason: Morrison (LOCK); Ray: Morrison; Ryan: Morrison
Okeene vs. Tonkawa
Boneman: Okeene; Jason: Okeene; Ray: Okeene; Ryan: Okeene
Garber vs. Laverne
Boneman: Laverne; Jason: Garber; Ray: Garber; Ryan: Garber
Shattuck vs. Timberlake
Boneman: Shattuck; Jason: Shattuck; Ray: Shattuck; Ryan: Shattuck
Last week: Boneman (18-2, 1-0); Jason (16-4, 1-0); Ray (15-5, 0-1); Ryan: (16-4)
Overall: Ryan (120-41); Ray (118-43, 10-3); Jason (110-51, 9-4); Boneman (108-53, 8-5)
More quotes on Kenny Young
By Jason Kersey
jkersey@opubco.com
Because of space constraints, I couldn’t fit everything I wanted to into my story about Bishop McGuinness coach Kenny Young, which ran in today’s paper.
The first thing that I couldn’t fit in is the fact that Young coached in his 100th game last weekend, and I’m sure it was a special game. McGuinness came from behind to beat Grove, 29-28 and advance to the Class 4A finals. Young is 81-19 in his career. He has been coach at McGuinness since 2001.
Here are some quotes from the people I interviewed for the story — Young himself, Newkirk coach Barrett Shupe, who coached tight ends and defensive ends under Young at McGuinness in 2004 and current McGuinness quarterback Ryan Randolph.
Barrett Shupe
“He’s very thorough. He’s the hardest working coach I’ve ever been around.”
“That was a good year. I learned a lot about how to treat other coaches. I thought he did a great job of taking care of his coaches; he was very demanding, but he praises you for your efforts.”
“He’s bee around some good coaches. He’s got that inner drive where he doesn’t want to fail at anything, it doesn’t matter if it’s a game of solitaire on the computer; he wants to win.”
“The thing that I learned that has helped me was that you just keep working. You set a routine, follow it, and if you know what you’re doing is right, things will happen for you. He told me to keep my head up, and I think this year it paid off. It was tough for me at first, putting in all that effort and not being successful.”
“I remember one night, we played Carl Albert. We probably should have won that football game, and I remember on the bus I sat next to him. He looked at me and said, ‘Barrett, we’re gonna win some of these big games some day. You watch. We’re gonna win because we’re gonna keep working.’ I’ll always remember that night on the bus.”
“It never shook him. He kept on doing what he believed in. He’s got a system and he sticks with it. I really took that to heart this year; we found some things that we were good at, and I attribute all of that to him.”
“There were some long nights with coach Young, but they were worth it.”
“The kids have bought into his system.”
“I’m a better person and a better coach for having worked with him.”
Kenny Young, McGuinness coach
“The most influential coach on me was Todd Graham, because when Todd came to Carl Albert in 1994, he had a way of doing things that I was not familiar with. He brought a whole different level of preparation and work ethic to us there at Carl Albert. I was just so impressed with his overall knowledge of the game. He knew so much about every position on offense, defense and in the kicking game. It made me realize that there was so much more for me to learn. I got to work with him for 3 consecutive years, and that, I believe, elevated my level of expertise. I just saw the drive and determination. He had such detailed knowledge; it wasn’t just knowledge of every position, but detailed knowledge. I thought, if he can do that, I can do that. I knew that I had to better myself as a coach.”
(He coached under Todd Graham for one year at Carl Albert in 1994, and two years in Allen, Texas)
“We really are a blue collar team at McGuinness, and I’m a blue collar coach. I don’t claim to be the smartest guy out there, but I do know that we work as hard if not harder than any team around.”
“I grew up in southwestern Oklahoma in the 60s and 70s, and I came from a family where we knew nothing but hard work. The only way I saw anybody get anything in life was through lots of hard work; nothing was ever given to anybody that I ever knew. Going 100 miles an hour and going 100 percent is the only way I know how to get anything done.”
“I think there’s a formula for success in high school football. And I think a lot of guys know what the formula is, but aren’t willing to stick with the formula when the going gets tough. You need to play great defense; build your team around your defense every single year. You need to really value special teams, and teach kids about the kicking game and what field position does for you. You’ve gotta spend time working on that. You have to be able to run the football on offense. That is a winning formula in high school football. If you’ll play great defense, kick it well and have the ability to run the football, I think that gives you a chance in every game that you play. We have a defense that we believe in at McGuinness; it’s the defense that I learned from Todd Graham in 1994. People get too caught in schemes on defense. Every defense is a good defense if it’s run correctly. I believe in the 4-3 defense; it’s my personal belief. I like it, I understand it, I know the strengths and weaknesses of it. We are not going to be one of those schools that jumps into a fad defense. We don’t do things because other people do them; we do things because it’s what I believe in. What happens is, when your kids run the same defense every single year, they get to where they know it as good as you do. We’ve had a consistency in our defense and our kicking game. This is the first year we’ve ever made any big adjustments on offense; we had been an under center, I formation team, every year until this year. After we started 0-2, we started looking at who our best players were and realized we needed to get into the shotgun. But the reason a lot of people go to the spread is because they see it on TV all the time. We didn’t feel like it fit our personnel. We waited until we had a group of kids that it fit. It has really, really elevated Ryan Randolph. Because of the shotgun, he’s rushed for almost 1,000 yards. He’s thrown for over 1,400. He’s much more comfortable back there.”
“You have to willing to adapt your kids. This is not the professional level where you get to draft people to fit your system. Sometimes you have to make adjustments.”
“I don’t want to put together a team that just wins a few games. We’re trying to build a team every year that wins a championship. You don’t win a championship unless you commit to playing a good defense. It’s the offense that gets all the highlights on TV and in the newspaper, but I’m telling you, it’s about defense. The old saying that ‘Defense wins championships,’ is still very true.”
“As good as we were on offense in 2006 and 2007, the difference was that during that 28 game winning streak, we had 16 shutouts.”
“People get enamored with offense. Some people think a 10-7 football game or a 1-0 baseball game is boring, but a 1-0 baseball game is a thing of beauty.”
Ryan Randolph
“I think he’s extremely dedicated. Our coaching staff puts in more time than anybody. We come in and they have the game plan down to a T.”
“He never lets you be satisfied with the player you are. He pushes you to be better. That’s why you see all the guys on our team get so much better every year. Our team always gets better as the year goes on.”
More on Built Ford Tough…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
(left to right: Turner Petersen, Ford Price, Ryan Randolph. Photo courtesy Sherri Price).
Seriously, I’m not the Heritage Hall beat writer. It just appears that way. I’ve written a lot about the Chargers during the last two years.
But nothing can top the emotional investment put into today’s Ford Price III story.
I heard about this from one of his best friends, HH quarterback Turner Petersen and Mike Turpen. I’ve been keeping this in my back pocket for a while because I wanted to make sure to tell this story right.
Not everything is fit to print. Here are some of the things that got left on the cutting room floor (if that really existed).
- I asked Ford about the love buckets. I wanted to know about some of the interesting things he’s received. He said it’s not real interesting, but the cheesy jokes some of the kids have written have been great.
- There aren’t a lot of experts for
- Ford was in
- Ford started at 170 pounds and got as low as 137. I joked to him that that is probably what I currently weigh. They don’t call me Boneman for nothing.
- Ford said he loves making it out for the practices and games. I thought it might have been a little tough for him, but no, he’s fine.
- Mike Turpen has been a big influence on Ford. Turpen created the Turpen Poetry Society with various members of Heritage Hall and McGuinness. I wrote about their story last year and the poem “If.” The boys are working on the “Sum of Life” now.
- The family cannot state enough how blessed they are with the way things have turned out.
- Ford and McGuinness QB Ryan Randolph plan on rooming together at
- And once again, the link to the
The Chargers have played this season for Ford and now face their toughest test yet against Lincoln Christian. Should be fun and should be a classic.
Kingfisher young compared to Chandler
By Jason Kersey
jkersey@opubco.com
Kingfisher and Chandler face off in the Class 2A semifinals this week, and one thing has Kingfisher coach Jeff Myers somewhat concerned: Age and experience.
“Right now, our quarterback is a sophomore, one running back is a sophomore, one receiver is a sophomore, we have a secondary kid that’s a sophomore,” Myers said. “Being in a big game, that does worry me a bit.”
But, Myers said, he does like that his young players have had big game experience — even if they weren’t playing in those big games.
“Those kids were part of our team last year as freshman when we played in the state championship game (against Clinton),” Myers said. “These kids have been in some big ball games.”
Del City starts 6A girls hoops season with a bang
By Justin Harper
The Del City girls basketball season couldn’t get off to a more interesting (or challenging) start. The Eagles, who are ranked second in Class 6A, open the season playing No. 3 and No. 1 in consecutive games.
Del City, which was 22-5 last year, hosts second-ranked Norman tonight at 6 p.m. The team’s next outing, on Dec. 9, is a game at top-ranked Midwest City. All three schools in the 1-2-3 triumvirate made the state tourney last year and each defeated and lost to one of the three teams.
“I think it’s OK,” said coach Karri Seals. “We’ve opened up with Norman for a couple of years and we opened with Jenks last year. We’re used to it.”
The Eagles are led by a pair of Oklahoma State signees, Desiree Jeffries and Toni Young.
