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
Caden Cleveland signs with Morehead State
By Ryan Aber
raber@opubco.com
Christian Heritage Academy catcher Caden Cleveland signed with Morehead State of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Last year, Cleveland set a school record with a .541 batting average, which included a 30-game hit streak. As a sophomore, he hit .454 with 50 RBIs.
Cleveland chose Morehead State over Ole Miss.
Look for the signing list to run in Sunday’s Oklahoman.
CHA’s Caden Cleveland still weighing college choice
If you’ve looked at the signing list on the blog since Wednesday’s signing day, you might’ve noticed a change in the baseball list.
Christian Heritage catcher Caden Cleveland looked to be headed to Ole Miss but has reconsidered his decision. He took a visit this weekend before making a planned decision this week. It appears Cleveland will choose between the Rebels and Morehead State.
Here’s a video of Cleveland at the 2009 International High School Power Showcase in Tampa (A quick warning on the video: the first minute is advertising). Cleveland competed in the competition with his brother Cole. The brothers are the grandsons of former MLB standout Dom Demeter.
OKRankings.com Girls Basketball Poll
The OKRankings.com Preseason Girls 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. Midwest City (18)
2. Tulsa Union (1)
3. Norman
4. Edmond North
5. Edmond Memorial
6. Edmond Santa Fe
7. Lawton
8. Del City (2)
9. Norman North
10. Putnam City North
11. Jenks
12. Broken Arrow
13. Sapulpa
14. Owasso
15. Ponca City
16. Yukon
17. Enid
18. Southmoore
19. Bixby
20. Choctaw
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
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 )
Private schools: Week 10 recap…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Three area private school teams remain. All three have real chances to make some big playoff runs.
Bishop McGuinness (8-2, 6-1)
The Irish were dominant at Elk City. McGuinness rolled up more than 430 yards in a 49-12 win.
The Whitney boys (Jameel and Jamal) played huge while Camden Tharp was once again solid.
Amazing to think this team is now ranked No. 2 by Ryan. I know I never saw this type of season coming.
That’s a credit to Kenny Young and his staff for putting the kids in the right spots to be successful.
Up next: Another 8-2 team in a first-round battle with Tecumseh. Irish get to play at Pribil Stadium for this one.
Heritage Hall (6-4, 6-1)
I heard Heritage had 64 rushing yards and Barry Sanders didn’t score. Wow. But senior Tanner France had a huge game for the Chargers in 37-19 win against Mt. St. Mary’s.
France ran for a score, caught another and had an interception return to clinch the district title.
Sounds like Cooper Cloud was efficient in his first start. This was big for the team’s confidence after the John Marshall loss.
Up next: Well, we think Meeker. Depending on the OSSAA ruling with Jones, it’s either Meeker or Lexington. Either way, someone is coming to Pop Murray Memorial Field on Friday to face Heritage.
Other private schools
Mt. St. Mary’s (3-7, 2-5): Stifling run defense but couldn’t keep up with Heritage. Mikey Mollman scored three touchdowns in the loss. Strong finish by Dal Nichols’ club.
Oklahoma Christian (8-2): I’m tellin’ ya now that this is a sleeper team. Jack Warren and Jeff Smith are rolling to go with Jon and Skyler Sikes and a better defense than most give ‘em credit for. Won 55-7 at Luther.
Christian Heritage (5-5): Rebounded from rough start to end up .500. Limited Mounds to 62 total yards in a 37-8 win on Friday. Kicker Ian Sanders is one of the best.
Oklahoma Christian Academy (3-7): Huge strides in second season in OSSAA. Parker Randell closed season out in style as OCA won 42-22 against Bowlegs. Randell had five touchdowns.
Private schools POW: Mt. St. Mary’s seniors…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Well, I’m going to let the cat out of the bag a little early on this one. Mt. St. Mary’s football coach Dal Nichols was out last week with the H1N1 flu, so he didn’t make the trip to Newkirk.
The Rockets, who are playing their most inspired ball of the year, went out and won 28-21 to move to 3-6, 2-4 in district and give the Tigers only their second district loss.
That’s not why MSM is earning the Team of the Week honor, oh no. It’s what those seniors decided to do Saturday morning that wins them this award.
I’ve written a lengthy piece about this for Tuesday’s paper, so I’m just going to say the seniors decided they would all go over to coach’s house Saturday morning and give him the game ball.
It’s something Nichols said he will never, ever forget. It’s a type of feel-good moment that you really can’t get enough of nowadays.
Check back Tuesday, and I’ll post the link so you can read the whole story. What a cool move by those kids and what a heartfelt, genuine moment that must have been.
UPDATE: It’s Tuesday, so here ya go.
Other contenders
Camden Tharp, QB, Bishop McGuinness: Tharp was efficient in a 37-22 win vs. Southeast. He ran for a touchdown, threw for another and was 9-of-13 through the air.
Jameel Whitney, RB/QB, McGuinness: I kid about the “QB” label, but Whitney did throw a touchdown pass and ran for another in the Irish win.
Barry Sanders, RB, Heritage Hall: Sanders scored the lone touchdown and rushed for 128 yards in a 12-7 loss to John Marshall.
Parker Randell, RB, Oklahoma Christian Academy: Randell was good for four rushing touchdowns as OCA once again knocked off Prue.
Bryant Hodge, QB, Christian Heritage: Solid game from Hodge who ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more in a 38-15 win against Thomas.
Jack Warren and Jeff Smith, Oklahoma Christian: They’re almost connected at the hip at this point. Smith rushed for three scores and caught another while Warren threw four touchdown passes in a 55-14 victory over Crescent.
Mary Kate Roy, McGuinness, Cross Country: The Irish were stunned in the team race, placing second. Roy led the individual charge with a fourth-place finish.
Frank Frantz, McGuinness, Cross Country: The Irish were good enough to take third in the team race with Frantz placing eighth.
Private schools: Week 9 Recap…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
There was one surprise after another in the private school realm this last week. Teams losing I thought would win and teams winning I thought would lose. You really just never know.
Bishop McGuinness (7-2, 5-1)
Well, there were no surprises with the Irish. A dominating first half had ‘em up 24-0 before earning a 37-22 win against Southeast.
Senior Jameel Whitney had a rushing touchdown. Yea, that’s usual. But he also had a passing touchdown, finding David Krahl on a 31-yarder. I would love to see that video.
McGuinness was able to total more than 400 yards of offense, so that’s a good sign as we get deeper and deeper in the season.
The Irish close out their regular season at Elk City. EC has come a long way and is a totally different team from the one that lost to Western Heights.
Heritage Hall (5-4, 5-1)
Maybe the biggest shocker of the week. John Marshall went into Pop Murray Memorial Field and gutted out a 12-7 road victory.
Sophomore Barry Sanders had a big game as usual, but the Bears controlled the rest of the club.
The biggest question is the health of Sterling Shepard, and it will be the first question I ask coach Andy Bogert when I talk to him Monday.
When I first heard it, I thought it was overconfidence. But after hearing about Shepard’s injury in the first half, think it was more confusion to go with a determined club from John Marshall.
Heritage is at Mt. St. Mary’s on Friday.
Casady (7-3, 3-3)
Not the end the Cyclones wanted. Casady was the toast of the town at 7-0, but the wheels fell off in losing the final three games.
Losing to Houston St. Johns and Houston Episcopal were things I could see. But I really thought Casady was better than Holland Hall, so the 35-12 margin was shocking to me.
Casady gave up 61 points the first seven games and 87 in the final three.
Plan on giving coach Koby Scoville a call to wrap up the season for the Cyclones later this week.
Other private schools
- What a performance by Mt. St. Mary’s in winning 28-21 at Newkirk. Wow. It was the usual suspects (Dalton Newsome, Aaron Smith and Mikey Mollman) doing the bulk of the damage, but Andrew Aguilar and Jake Peace came up big, too.
The Rockets did something for coach Dal Nichols on Saturday that I don’t want to talk about just yet. Let’s just say it says a lot about those kids and how those kids see their coach. A truly touching moment.
- Parker Randell once again stole the show as Oklahoma Christian Academy made it two wins in a row against Prue. This time it was a 32-14 victory. Randell had four touchdowns while OCA held Prue to -6 rushing yards.
- Christian Heritage also had an offensive explosion. The Crusaders won 38-15 against Thomas, with QB Bryant Hodge throwing two touchdowns and running for two more.
- And Oklahoma Christian School was dominant in a 55-14 win vs. Crescent. OCS had 461 yards of total offense as Jeff Smith and Jack Warren each accounted for four touchdowns.
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
