SMQ: Douglass vs. Weatherford…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Came in expecting to see another hard-hitting instant classic. Problem was Douglass didn’t want to cooperate. From the second quarter on, never really felt like Weatherford was going to hang with the Trojans.
Douglass was too focused, executed too perfectly, wouldn’t be denied. Led by the defense and running game (shocker there, no?), the Trojans are moving on to the 4A championship.
Douglass 22, Weatherford 6
This game changed on one play. With Kevin Forbes and Quinton Neil battling for yards on the ground, Weatherford simply had no answer for Aliston Cobb.
That’s the thing about the Trojans. You can stop one, maybe even two of their backs, but what happens when that third or fourth guy comes? Cobb’s first carry was a 68-yard touchdown run, and that set the wheels in motion. It gave Douglass a 14-6 lead, a lead it would never relinquish.
Douglass really keyed in on Kale Sawatzky and didn’t allow him to do anything offensively. Defensively, yeah, Sawatzky was as good usual. I had Sawatzky with six carries for two yards to go with three receptions for 14 yards.
Douglass stepped it up in this game. Little things like both of the two-point conversion runs by Neil and Cobb stood out to me. They were both stopped at the line of scrimmage but willed themselves in for the two points. Wouldn’t be denied on this night.
With Cobb leading the way in the first half, Neil did his part in the second half, highlighted by a 58-yard touchdown run that had me writing ‘game over’ in my head. Douglass rushed for 327 yards.
Weatherford was going to have to come back via the passing game. Jake Barrios would have, and I’m fairly certain of that, but he didn’t have any time to throw it the entire night. He was sacked seven times and was intercepted.
For Weatherford, a dream season came to an end, but that senior class has left its mark and made the Eagles a player again.
As for Douglass, a rematch with Star Spencer looms in an all-Oklahoma City Public Schools 4A final.
Boneman’s Breakdown
- Barrios tried to do too much at times. He wanted to make the big play so bad that it sometimes led to him losing even more yardage.
- I’ve never seen a game where a team (Douglass) didn’t throw one pass, but nobody else seemed really shocked about that. I still am. QB Antyoun Smith did make a play, though, as he was the one who picked off Barrios.
- I have now seen the most impressive defensive player of the season and his name is Norris White for the Trojans. On this night, he could not be stopped. I had him unofficially for four sacks.
- There were many skirmishes late in the game, but I’m not placing blame here. You had one proud team (Weatherford) getting ready to lose for the first time and one proud team (Douglass) relishing a HUGE win. There were combustible elements there. Emotion will do that to ya.
So that sets the stage for Douglass (10-3) vs. Star Spencer (11-2) for the gold ball. The time and all that other good stuff will be released by the OSSAA later today.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
WILL THIS BE THE FIRST TIME TWO OKC PUBLIC SCHOOLS FACE EACH OTHER IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME…
That’s an excellent question. I’ll get back to you as you know that will be a major focus of this week for Star/Douglass. We’re going to attempt to run a list of everytime two OKCPS teams have played vs. each other for a championship.
- Bone