Edmond Santa Fe showed flashes of its potential in loss to Midwest City
Edmond Santa Fe quarterback Justice Hansen throws during his team's loss to Midwest City on Thursday. PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
EDMOND — Most will look at the score of Thursday’s game at Wantland Stadium and think it was a blowout.
But it really wasn’t. It’s one of those games where you can point to clear moments that determined the outcome, and had those few moments gone the other way, we might be talking about a different result.
Midwest City beat Edmond Santa Fe 27-6, and the Bombers (3-0) were clearly the better team. There’s no doubt about that.
But the Wolves (2-1) did a pretty good job on defense and were able to move the ball with some success on the Bombers’ D.
Here is a look at some of the key moments that determined the way Thursday’s game went:
* With the game in a scoreless tie, Edmond Santa Fe was on an impressive drive as the first quarter ended. In fact, the last play of the quarter was a 40-yard completion from Justice Hansen to Trevan Smith that put the ball on the Midwest City 27-yard line. Running back Phillip Sumpter opened the second quarter with a 10-yard run, but on first-and-10 from the Bombers’ 17, Hansen was picked off by Ricky Reeves on the one-yard line.
* Later in the quarter, with the Bombers leading 6-0, the Wolves were stopped for a three-and-out. But Midwest City’s Antonio Martin blocked the Santa Fe punt, giving the Bombers the ball on the Wolves’ one-yard line. One play later, James Flanders scored his second touchdown and the score was 12-0.
* On Edmond Santa Fe’s very next drive, Hansen led the Wolves to Midwest City’s 24-yard line, but the sophomore quarterback threw two straight incomplete passes on third and fourth downs. The Bombers took over possession, marched down the field, scored with two seconds left and added the two-point conversion to take a 20-0 lead into halftime.
* On the first drive of the second half, the Wolves started on their own 23-yard line but got all the way to the Midwest City 33. But on fourth down, Hansen was intercepted by Flanders, whose 57-yard return put the ball on the Wolves’ 21. Seven plays later, Flanders scored his third touchdown on a five-yard run.
* Near the end of the third quarter, Midwest City was up 27-0 and punting on a fourth-and-eight from their own 42. But the long snapper sent the snap over the punter’s head. Edmond Santa Fe got no where near the ball or the punter, who had time to re-adjust and kick the ball away.
Now obviously all of the above plays went Midwest City’s way not because Edmond Santa Fe was unlucky, but because the Bombers were just the better team. I’m not trying to suggest that the better team lost.
But the Wolves’ talent was evident. And Hansen, just a sophomore, still played really well considering what he was up against.
Edmond Santa Fe had the ball inside Midwest City’s 35-yard line six times, and came away with just one scoring drive. That’s a mixture of the Bombers’ big-game experience, their talent and the Wolves’ inexperience.
The Wolves are going to win a lot of games this year. And with Hansen’s continued development, they are going to win a lot of games over the next couple of years.
Jason Kerseyjkersey@opubco.com
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Comments
Yep…it was closer than the score indicated. The stats should reflect that. But the Bombers are really good this year. Good enough to take the gold ball from the Tulsa Union/Jenks stronghold? I don’t know yet.
Bombers need to develop a soild passing game to go with the run game they seem to have year in and year out. That, and a solid defensive squad. Plus on last and most important factor…they have to get that “refuse to lose” attitude.
GO MWC BOMBERS!
Didn’t see the game, but have seen the Hansen kid grow up and he is indeed the real deal – talented, smart, confident AND driven. That’s a dangerous Elway/Montana/Brady type combination. He stays healthy and keeps his head from inflating, he’ll be D-1 for sure. Tony is right on target about the “refuse to lose”; that can’t be coached, its going to take success. Union is as good as I’ve ever seen them – scary good on D – disciplined, FAST, swarming, and takeaways. And the O is getting there too, just a little finishing and they are as good as last season. If they stay healthy and focused it will take all that MWC has and then a blessing from the football gods to get it done, and that’s if someone can knock Jenks off first, cause it is TOUGH to go through both of them in back to back weeks – virtually impossible. But the Trojans are not quite the power this year, and if someone keeps them out of week three of the playoffs (Sapulpa did it a few years ago), then you just never know – Lawton almost did it last year, but ran up on Unions “refuse to lose,” and the gold ball stayed put. Fun to see the talent of the Bombers though, and REALLY fun to watch Santa Fe; they are a team in the making for sure.
They have the refuse to lose attitude. Pc north game last year was proof of that… I don’t see the east teams going undefeated or winning state this year. Ba beats union tonight and ba loses down the road, prolly to jenks. I think it’ll be a classic of Mwc/ jenks in the finals. I think it’s mwc’s to lose. There’s a dynasty in the making. Go bombers!
I think MWC could have put the game away in the 1st qrt on a few trips inside the wolves 20yard line, A missed FG and few missed opportunities. So lets not take anything away from a good MWC team, ok!!!
That’s true too. Santa fe had a great team though… And that union/ Lawton game last yr was due to a bad ref call in ot. Had nothin to do with ” refusing to lose”. Lawton refused to lose, but still lost.
They got a heckuva ball club, no doubt…