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
Capsule: Broken Arrow at Midwest City
By Ryan Aber
raber@opubco.com
Broken Arrow (9-2) at Midwest City (9-2)
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Jim Darnell Stadium, Midwest City
Winner plays: Tulsa Union-Lawton winner next Friday-Saturday at neutral site TBD.
Broken Arrow (L, Tulsa Union; W, Owasso; W, Tulsa Washington; W, Sapulpa; W, Muskogee; L, Jenks; W, Sand Springs; W, Tulsa Memorial; W, Claremore; W, Bartlesville; W, Enid)
Why the Tigers can win: If you take out the season-opening 17-6 loss to Tulsa Union, Broken Arrow has scored 24 or more points in every game. The Tigers have one of the most balanced offenses around, led by running back Steven Hopper and quarterback Archie Bradley.
Midwest City (L, Del City; W, Moore; L, Southmoore; W, Edmond Memorial; W, Westmoore; W, Lawton Eisenhower; W, Edmond North; W, Putnam City; W, Norman; W, Putnam West; W, Putnam North)
Why the Bombers can win: Because last week was their wake-up call. Midwest City blew through District 6A-2, so it’s not too surprising that once the Bombers get to the playoffs, it was going to take a bit for MWC to get acclimated to a four-quarter game again. The Bombers survived, though, and figure to be ready for a battle this week. Midwest City’s defense could be the difference.
Stat leaders
RUSHING
Broken Arrow
Steven Hopper: 140 carries, 944 yards, 9 TDs
Andrew Griffin: 112 carries, 746 yards, 3 TDs
Midwest City
James Flanders: 107 carries, 679 yards, 11 TDs
J.R. Head: 90 carries, 553 yards, 8 TDs
PASSING
Broken Arrow
Archie Bradley: 84-141, 1,301 yards, 19 TDs, 3 INTs
Midwest City
Greg Austin: 113-219, 1,594 yards, 12 TDs, 11 INTs
RECEIVING
Broken Arrow
Alex Cochran: 32 catches, 531 yards, 6 TDs
Robbie Price: 26 catches, 390 yards, 3 TDs
Midwest City
Cole Eddy: 50 catches, 800 yards, 8 TDs
Cortrael Colbert: 16 catches, 236 yards, 4 TDs
TACKLES
Broken Arrow
John Coleman: 119
John Bullock: 96
Will Watford: 91
Midwest City
Emanuel Maxwell: 161
Dominique Jones: 112
Brandon Lewellen: 87
Key matchup: Alex Cochran and Robbie Price vs. Midwest City DBs. The Bombers are best when they force teams to run right into the teeth of their defense. If the Tigers can pass effectively, Midwest City can’t be quite as aggressive against the run. If Midwest City can take away the pass, it could be a long night for the Tigers.
The pick: Broken Arrow 21, Midwest City 17. Broken Arrow doesn’t want to send Ron Lancaster off with anything less than a state championship. I’m not sure that’s going to happen, but I do think the Tigers make it at least one more week.
Rankings Preview: Nov. 15
For one more time before the playoffs end, here’s the rankings in all their glory:
EDIT: I’ve got to get this in above the jump: I messed up in my Class 2A rankings this week. I initially (and in Sunday’s paper) had Washington above Lindsay. Lindsay beat Washington comfortably during the regular season in a win that started the Leopards on a 7-1 run that has them going to Heritage Hall for a second-round playoff game.
Class 6A
1. Jenks (1)#11-0
2. Tulsa Union (2)#10-1
3. Broken Arrow (3)#9-2
4. Southmoore (4)#10-1
5. Midwest City (5)#9-2
6. Bartlesville (6)#9-2
7. Lawton (8)#9-2
8. Edmond Memorial (9)#8-3
9. Putnam North (10)#7-4
10. Mustang (7)#7-4
The top six teams here all win and remain the same. I seriously considered switching Southmoore and Midwest City and would’ve if the Bombers would’ve been more convincing in their win. Mustang drops from No. 7 to 10 after a 38-7 loss to Edmond Memorial. Lawton and Edmond Memorial each moved up a spot. Putnam North, despite the loss, moved up a spot to No. 9.
OKRankings.com Boys Basketball poll
The OKRankings.com Preseason Boys Basketball Coaches’ poll has been released. These are the rankings that eventually go toward deciding playoff pairings. So here they are (first-place votes in parentheses):
Class 6A
1. Putnam City (8)
2. Putnam City West (7)
3. Muskogee (4)
4. Southmoore
5. Tulsa Union
6. Jenks
7. Edmond Santa Fe
8. Midwest City
9. Broken Arrow
10. Putnam City North
11. Owasso
12. Edmond Memorial
13. Lawton
14 Enid
15. Choctaw
15. Del City
17. Norman North
18. Edmond North
19. Lawton Eisenhower
20. Norman
MWC alum Danny Cahill on The Biggest Loser
In case you missed it last week, Berry Tramel wrote a column on Broken Arrow resident Danny Cahill, who was a member of Midwest City’s 1985 state championship football team (a team quarterbacked by Mike Gundy):
Berry Tramel: Danny Cahill is feeling like a champ
Know of a player signing?
With signing day coming up Wednesday, The Oklahoman is once again compiling a list of players across the state who have signed to play college athletics at any level.
If you have a signing to report, e-mail it to Ryan Aber at raber@opubco.com ro post it on the comments section here (on the main high school blog at http://blog.newsok.com/highschoolsports )
Rankings preview: Nov. 8
Sorry for the delay from my usual late Friday night posting. Combination of a long drive back from Glenpool and trying to piece together the playoff brackets left me too tired to think straight last night by the time I would’ve been able to work on them So here they are in all their glory with a little different format this week (and I hope to do Class A-C in a similar format a bit later):
Class 6A
1. Jenks (1)#10-0
Why they’re not lower: Because the Trojans are the only team to go 10-0 in Class 6A.
2. Tulsa Union (2)#9-1
Why they’re not higher: Because the Redskins lost head-to-head to Jenks.
Why they’re not lower: Because their only loss is to Jenks (a two-point win) and they beat Broken Arrow — and everyone else — on their schedule.
3. Broken Arrow (3)#8-2
Why they’re not higher: Because the Tigers only two losses came to Jenks and Tulsa Union.
Why they’re not lower: They beat everyone else, including Bartlesville last night. They also own wins over Owasso, Claremore and Tulsa Washington.
4. Southmoore (4)#9-1
Why they’re not higher: Because they’re the only team of these top four to lose to a lower-ranked team. The SaberCats have also found themselves in more close games than any of the top four.
Why they’re not lower: An impressive list of wins in non-district and 6A-1: Edmond Memorial and Midwest City in non-district and Del City, Lawton and Mustang in district play. Other than Jenks, Southmoore has the best list of wins.
5. Midwest City (5)#8-2
Why they’re not higher: The only thing keeping the Bombers this low is non-district losses to Del City and Southmoore and its hard to vault them over the SaberCats with their previously discussed credentials.
Why they’re not lower: They’ve gone through a relatively weak district and done exactly what a really good team should — destroy everyone. The Bombers closest district game was a 22-7 win over 6A-2 runner-up Edmond Memorial. None of the others were decided by less than 29 points.
Rankings preview: Nov. 1
Here’s the weekly preview for the rankings.
Class 6A
1. Jenks (1)#9-0
2. Tulsa Union (2)#8-1
3. Broken Arrow (3)#7-2
4. Southmoore (4)#8-1
5. Midwest City (6)#7-2
6. Bartlesville (7)#8-1
7. Mustang (9)#7-2
8. Del City (5)#7-2
9. Lawton (10)#7-2
10. Edmond Memorial (NR)#6-3
The main shift here came with Del City dropping three spots to No. 8. Midwest City and Bartlesville move up a spot each, while Mustang jumps up two spots. Edmond North drops out after losing for the second time in three games, and not looking particularly impressive in the one win during that stretch. Lawton moves up a spot to No. 9. Edmond Memorial makes its debut. I considered Owasso for that spot, and went back and forth but Memorial’s streak and the way the Bulldogs’ defense has played this season, even in losses, wins out over the Rams.
What are the most impressive streaks in state HS sports?
With Shattuck about to break Morrison’s record of 90 consecutive wins, I’m wondering what are the other streaks in the state that are most impressive?
Here’s a few I’ve come up with. Let me know, either through a comment here or an e-mail (raber@opubco.com), if you have any others.
I’m sure there are plenty more I’ve missed but here are a few:
- Morrison and Shattuck’s 90-game winning streaks in football
- Tulsa Union’s and Jenks’ stranglehold on the 6A football title
-Asher and Owasso baseball dominance
-McGuinness girls cross country
-Bethel girls basketball state tournament streak
-Bartlesville boys swimming
-El Reno wrestling
-McGuinness girls tennis
-Cascia Hall boys tennis
Rankings preview: Oct. 25
Class 6A
1. Jenks (1)#8-0
2. Tulsa Union (2)#7-1
3. Broken Arrow (3)#6-2
4. Southmoore (4)#7-1
5. Del City (5)#7-1
6. Midwest City (6)#6-2
7. Bartlesville (7)#7-1
8. Edmond North (9)#7-1
9. Mustang (10)#6-2
10. Lawton (NR)#6-2
The top seven stay the same here. Bartlesville still No. 7 after a loss? Yes. The Bruins did score 40 points on Jenks, the first team to do that in regulation since Tulsa Union scored 44 early in the 2005 season (Jenks won that game 48-44). Bartlesville lost but still put together a good showing. They do need to blowout Tulsa Memorial next week, though, and at least hang with Broken Arrow to keep that spot. Edmond North and Mustang move up a spot each. I think Mustang would beat Edmond North head-to-head now, but I’m not going to leap the 2-loss Broncos over a 1-loss Edmond North when the Huskies won the head-to-head earlier this season. It came down to Owasso and Lawton for the final spot, and I even had Owasso written in at one time, but went back and looked at both team’s schedules. Lawton has 2 losses; Owasso has 3. The Wolverines’ most impressive win was a 27-14 victory over Mustang. The Rams was … a 30-8 win over Choctaw? 20-0 over Muskogee? 19-13 over Enid? Not a whole lot to be blown away by there. The Rams are playing much better than they were before the season but Lawton has impressed more to this point. Putnam North was the team that fell out of the rankings after their 46-14 loss to Mustang.
