Comments on: Rankings preview: 6A shuffling, most everything else stands pat

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:18:41 +0000

I was responding to others comments not yours, by the way!
Now I am responding to you…..
First of all the 25-27 game was with Bartlesville not Washington! With the exception of the Bartlesville game 25-27 all other wins have been by 7pts, 12pts, 14pts, and 14pts.
You keep saying who has SS played? Well who has Lawton played? Let’s see you say a sub-6A MacArthur 5A team with a 3-2 record is the best they have played, IMPRESSIVE!
With the exception of Muskogee all of SS games have been against decent 6A opponents, maybe not top 10 but decent. The same cannot be said for Lawton, not even close.
Even thought the information about the games from last year where for the person who inquired about the team. I will clarify even though my comment said “I Believe”!
The SS five losses I referred to are:
Lost one game by 1 point
Lost two games by 3 points
Lost one game by 4 points
Lost one game by 7 points
I was not even talking to you when I referred to the players on the team and no press because they were not a powerhouse team. I was responding to the person who asked me a direct question about the players.
I am not even from SS I am from a sub-6A school but enjoy all football. I thought you were giving SS the shaft compared to the other schools and wanted the readers to know more facts about them. No harm in that!

By: Ryan Aber

Ryan Aber — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:44:08 +0000

That 47-44 score certainly does stand out from last year and Sand Springs did put up big offensive numbers last year pretty regularly. But its defense was atrocious after the first two games of the season. Three of their losses were by three points or less, although if you extend that out to seven, you can include five of their losses.

Your next point is absurd. By far the best win among those three teams is held by Edmond North (over Edmond Santa Fe, 26-13). Sand Springs’ best win was 27-25 over Tulsa Washington and Lawton’s was 28-19 over 5A Lawton MacArthur. It might be insane to rank Sand Springs No. 9 and those two 1-2, I’ll give you that (and did in my first response), but we don’t know yet. We’ll find that out tonight when Lawton plays Southmoore and next week when Sand Springs plays Union and Edmond North plays Norman North.

I can’t speak for anybody else, but Sand Springs not getting much press from this end comes from 1.) Still being unproven and 2.) Being on the East side of the state. I write plenty about teams that aren’t “powerhouses.” I’ve selected Sand Springs players to our All-State team before.

I think Sand Springs might be really good. I just havent’ seen it through five weeks for a team with a middling schedule with no wins by more than 14 points.

Lastly, I don’t tend to read too much into team performances in scrimmages. I’ll look for individual performances but there are so many other outside factors that affect team performances that scores don’t mean much. Just look at last year, Edmond Santa Fe beat Jenks in a scrimmage. They met again in the playoffs with Jenks winning 48-21.

It’s an interesting debate and I enjoy the back and forth. We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:04:38 +0000

I checked last year’s scores for Sand Springs and the game with Owasso caught my attention being it was 47-44 Owasso. Sand Springs was ahead 37-44 with less than 3 minutes to play and from what I gather SS had them held on the 4th down for the win, but was called for a penalty. They also lost to Stillwater last year @ Stillwater by 1 point 38-37.
The other scores for SS were also shocking I believe 5 of their losses last year were by 3 points or less.
I do not know what team is better. What I do know is that between the 5-0 teams left (Lawton, Edmond North & Sand Springs) that Sand Springs is the only team that has really played anybody look at the opponents records. Therefore, to put Lawton and Edmond North at #1 & #2 but push Sand Springs back to #9 is insane.
I also witnessed the Sand Springs vs. BA scrimmage. BA did not even come close to scoring a rushing touchdown against SS and that was with their star running back. It was a full field half-game preview. SS defense held BA to two field goals then BA scored against SS offense via an interception, at the very last second BA threw a Hail Mary pass for around 40-50 yards, and came up with a catch in the end zone for their only actual touchdown against the defense. It was impressive. I believe they have some good athletes that don’t get much press because they are not on a “Powerhouse” team but they have really impressed me this year.

By: Guru53

Guru53 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:49:29 +0000

Thanks Expert…It will be interesting to see how things work out…It seems a little more wide-open that usual…a lot of pretty decent teams..

By: Expert

Expert — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:29:40 +0000

I saw Sand Springs scrimmage BA and SS held their own. BA scored at the end of the scrimmage to win. SS is a tough on defense but the only a question is, do they have the skilled players on offense to compete with Union and Owasso? I think they come in third in the district and play Jenks or BA on the road first round. Anything can happen though.

By: Guru53

Guru53 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:19:11 +0000

Hey Nick would you mind giving me some insight on what type of team Sand Springs is…? How athletic are they…how are they on defense…?? Just wondering…because it would be nice to see someone besides the the “REAL TEAMS” in the East compete for something..Can they stack up against Owasso and Union is my question? That will be seen I guess.

By: Ryan Aber

Ryan Aber — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:02:22 +0000

If you’ve read what I’ve written since the shuffle cause by Owasso’s win over Tulsa Union, you’ll know why I put Lawton there. They haven’t played much to this point and I’ve said as much. But they’ve done what a good team should do against lesser competition. They’ve won handily, with the exception of a game again in-city rival Lawton MacArthur. Edmond North I feel less sure about, especially after a tough performance against PC North. But the Huskies have dominated three games and beat a pretty good Edmond Santa Fe team in the other.

Sand Springs beat a Muskogee team that has yet to win by 12. They beat a Bixby team by 14 that lost to Broken Arrow by 34. Sapulpa? Their wins have come vs. Ponca City, Tulsa Hale and Putnam City. Tulsa Washington’s wins have come against sub-6A competition with the exception of last week’s vs. Enid.

Sand Springs might wind up being good. They might wind up being better than Lawton when it’s all said and done. I won’t say that’s out of the realm of possibility. But nothing they’ve done so far suggests that. If they play Union close, even in a loss, maybe you look in that direction. Not quite yet though.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:43:19 +0000

Please tell me who Lawton has played so far that makes them worth them being ranked #1. They have played two SUB-6A Teams and 4 out of 5 games are against teams with a record of 1-4 or WORSE. Combined record of teams played so far for Lawton is 6-19. Any team can run up points when they play teams of this caliber.
In addition, please tell me why Edmond North is ranked #2. 7 of the 10 games on their schedule have a record of 1-4 or WORSE so far that is 7 out of 10 games with a 1-4 record or WORSE. The combined record of Edmond North’s 1st five opponents is 9-16.
However, Sand Springs who you had to make room for in your TOP 10 has played 3 teams with winning 6A records and decent teams at that with the exception of maybe one. The SS combined record of the teams played so far is 11-14 or 13-12 since two of these teams get one of their looses back from East Central.
I say give credit where credit is due.
As far as schedules go, Sand Springs has a much harder schedule than either one of these teams so far and over all.

By: Ryan Aber

Ryan Aber — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:33:55 +0000

Guru,
I think what slightly sets Lawton ahead of Edmond North is the versatility of its offense. The Wolverines have Ivan Thomas back close to 100 percent in the backfield and have a vertical passing game that is dangerous. Both defenses are very physical, and I’d probably give Edmond North’s a slight edge there.

As for Southmoore-Lawton, I’m really looking forward to it. That’s where I’ll be Thursday night. For Lawton, it’ll be it first legitimate challenge against a 6A opponent. For Southmoore, it’s another chance to prove it belongs among 6A’s best. Both teams have terrific skill-position players. I give Lawton a slight edge because of their lines on both sides of the ball.

By: Guru53

Guru53 — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:11:47 +0000

Ryan early thoughts on Southmoore vs. Lawton…Seems to be a great match up…?

By: Ryan Aber

Ryan Aber — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:45:18 +0000

Guru,
Not at all. I’ll get you an answer sometime this evening. Sorry for the delay.

Jon,
It’s a legitimate question, especially looking at the score difference. I think there might be too much bias to teams that were highly ranked to start the season but I’ll break down Class A completely after this week, as I’ve done with a couple other classes already. Thanks for the comment.

By: Jon Loveland

Jon Loveland — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:53:49 +0000

Don’t know much about how you figure your rankings, but I find it amusing that Cashion can be ranked #6 in class A when they beat a ranked Okeene 27-20 and Fairview @ 5-0 beat the same ranked Okeene 49-6 and remains unranked. They are also in the same district as Texhoma and are virtually tied for frontrunner in it. FYI They also scrimmaged Crescent, for what its worth, and outscored them I believe 4 or 5 to 1 TD’s and Crescents was a defensive TD. I understand that has no bearing in rankings, just making an observation.

By: Guru53

Guru53 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:15:44 +0000

Ryan….? No time to respond to readers these days??

By: GURU

GURU — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:40:23 +0000

Ryan what are your thoughts about the differences between Lawton and Edmond North…? What separates the two teams at this point in the season..? It appears Lawton has a very tough 2nd half of the season? Would like to know what you think about these two teams at the top.

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:48:44 +0000

NOt a big deal either but Blanchard is 5-0. Good move on Cushing getting #10. That is one wild game and probably more to come in that district. It will be a dog fight for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place behind Seminole. And look out for Pauls Valley making some noise down south just as district play gets started. Gotta love class 3A. It is WIDE OPEN!!

By: Ryan Aber

Ryan Aber — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:50:04 +0000

Ricky,
Thanks. We had that score reversed. I’ve updated the rankings to reflect that, swapping Thackerville and Webbers Falls.

By: Ricky Dale

Ricky Dale — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 03:45:56 +0000

Thackerville beat Webbers Falls 58-40.

By: Ryan Aber

Ryan Aber — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:59:12 +0000

40-7 wasn’t the score that was reported to us. 28-7 was. If 40-7 is the right score, then certainly that changes the dynamic. Let’s do without the attacks, though. I’ve covered more Poteau High School games than any other school. And if you’re arguing for Poteau, who might want to boost up Sallisaw a bit, since they beat the Pirates.

By: Shelli Hey

Shelli Hey — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:47:34 +0000

What crack pipe are you smoking on? In 4a Poteau didnt dominate stilwell? 40 to 7 isnt domination what do you expect 63-0 geesh i got a ideal how bout you come to poteau and watch a game! oh wait to far out for you right. Sallisaw only beat Poteau by 10 and Sallisaw gets throttled by casica hall and they are still top 10 really who gave you your job. Poteau dominated friday i should know i was there?????????