Southmoore running back Andrew Long commits to Air Force
Southmoore's Andrew Long verbally committed to play football at Air Force on Wednesday.
Southmoore running back Andrew Long is excited about the opportunity to play Division I football, but the chance to attend the Air Force Academy means far more.
Long verbally committed to the Air Force football program on Wednesday.
“The opportunity to play football and serve my country means a lot to me,” Long said. “When I thought about the opportunity to have a degree from there, it’s like graduating from Harvard. It sets you up for life.”
Long’s uncle and grandfather each served in the Air Force as well.
Long rushed for 1,084 yards and 11 touchdowns on 172 carries for Southmoore, concluding a career as a four-year starter. He is excited to be a part of the Falcons’ run-heavy, option attack.
“I should have the opportunity to run the ball or catch the ball,” he said. “I’ll play defense if that’s what they want me to do, but right now, they want me as a running back.”
Air Force offered a scholarship in April. Long was also considering Central Oklahoma and Washburn, among others. National Signing Day is Feb. 1.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Twitter: @ScottWrightOK
6A-3 All-District
District 6A-3 All-District
Player of the Year: Donovan Roberts, Norman
Coach of the Year: Steve Spavital, Broken Arrow
Special Teams Player of the Year: Brad Davis, Norman
Offensive Player of the Year: Levi Copelin, Broken Arrow
Defensive Player of the Year: Orion Jones, Jenks
Iron Man Award: Victor Williams, Muskogee
All-District Team
Quarterbacks: Hunter Collins, Jenks; Zac Mills, Broken Arrow; Tyler Williams, Sapulpa.
Running backs: A.J. Leinewebber, Putnam West; Andrew Long, Southmoore; Bradley McGee, Muskogee; Forest Myers, Norman; Cameron Ousely, Muskogee; Donovan Roberts, Norman;
Inside receivers: Trevor Hall, Sapulpa; Victor Williams, Muskogee.
Outside receivers: Will Armstead, Broken Arrow; Levi Copelin, Broken Arrow; George Kittle, Norman; Levi Pickering, Sapulpa; Quad Ware, Broken Arrow; Isaac Whitney, Southmoore.
Tight ends: Ryan Boatright, Jenks; Kenneth Dennis, Norman; Sam Laptad, Jenks; Zac Veatch, Broken Arrow.
Offensive Linemen: Samuel Ayeni, Southmoore; Massey Barnett, Sapulpa; Tyler Davis, Broken Arrow; J.T. Dotson, Jenks; Aaron Farris, Jenks; Alex Frazier, Broken Arrow; Gintrell Frazier, Shawnee; Blake Garrity, Putnam West; Foster Hare, Norman; Tyler Loudenback, Putnam West; Harrison Madden, Norman; Sam Sabin, Jenks; Caleb Stainaker, Southmoore; Chris Tabor, Broken Arrow; David Vogt, Sapulpa; Caleb Washington, Southmoore.
Defensive tackles: Jeremy Barrientos, Shawnee; Chase Duke, Sapulpa; Jeremy Gunter, Broken Arrow; Ashton Henderson, Jenks; Orion Jones, Jenks; Kyle Lewis, Muskogee.
Defensive ends: Matt Frazier, Broken Arrow; Chandler Heath, Muskogee; Jamel Ingram, Muskogee.
Inside Linebackers: Will McDonald, Broken Arrow; Derek Morris, Broken Arrow; Dominic Rossetti, Norman; Wes Starr, Muskogee; Kaleb Thompson, Southmoore
Outside Linebackers: Levi Jennings, Southmoore; Chris Ladd, Broken Arrow; Bryan Pisklo, Jenks; Colton Shackelford, Southmoore.
Safeties: Travis Burge, Southmoore; Brad Davis, Norman; Josh Fleak, Sapulpa; Sidtrel Grayson, Muskogee; Xavier Hunter, Muskogee; Matt Linscott, Jenks; Mason Mullings, Broken Arrow.
Cornerbacks: Levi Copelin, Broken Arrow; Aaron Fowler, Muskogee; Rico Hogan, Norman; Dalton Pridemore, Sapulpa; Jaylen Rayford, Norman; Torrence Reed, Jenks.
Purple heart awards: Chris Carpenter, Shawnee; Trevor Davison, Norman; Chase Duke Sapulpa; Andrew Long, Southmoore; Derek Morris, Broken Arrow; James Richardson, Muskogee; Alex Ross, Jenks.
Honorable mention:
Broken Arrow: Calvin Mann, OL
Muskogee: Ed Baker, RB; Mikel Smith, OR; Parker Wilkerson, Muskogee
Norman: Nick Gaines, DE; Dylan Stout, DE
Sapulpa: Kegan Fox, TE; Lane Youngblood, S
Shawnee: Dillon Garcher, ILB; Andrew Smith, OLB
Game preview: Edmond North (0-0) at Southmoore (0-0)
Edmond North running backs Jared Benway, left, and Jarion Tudman. PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN
MOORE — Who’s excited about the start of high school football season?
I know I am. I’m covering my first game of the season tonight, and it should be a great one.
Edmond North at Southmoore. Two teams; four outstanding running backs.
But it goes deeper than that. Both teams are talented on both sides of the ball, and both teams have the ability to be two dimensional offensively.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: EDMOND NORTH
In the backfield, the Huskies have speedster Jarion Tudman, who rushed for 1,299 yards and nine touchdowns last season, and the powerful Jared Benway, who was hurt all of last season but showed flashes of what he can do as a sophomore.
Senior quarterback Jesse Mathews won the job after a close competition with junior Luke Hoskins, who will back Benway up at fullback. Mathews, who is replacing two-year starter Travis Townsend under center for Edmond North, has a solid group of receivers at his disposal.
Senior Garrett Molinsky had 476 yards and five touchdowns last season. Senior tight end Troy Davis added eight touchdowns a year ago. Other pass-catchers for the Huskies include senior Ken Bingham, a speedy target with good hands, and Rashad Salaam, who at 6-foot-4 provides a big target for Mathews.
Up front, the Huskies should get a big boost from move-in guard Will Wiedenmann (6-foot-7, 336 pounds), who coach Jeremy Dombek said looks like he’s 280 pounds because of his athleticism.
Defensively, Edmond North returns eight starters. The Husky defense’s strong point is its secondary, which is led by senior safety Christian Peterson.
Southmoore running back Andrew Long. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: SOUTHMOORE
Southmoore missed the playoffs last season after injuries to their top offensive stars — now graduated quarterback Kendal Thompson and running back Andrew Long. But the experienced their backups gained could pay dividends this season.
Junior quarterback Tre Edwards got lots of playing time in Thompson’s absense last year. He threw for nearly 1,000 yards last season and rushed for 467 and 12 touchdowns. SaberCats coach Chris Jensen called Edwards a “magician” with the ball in his hands.
Edwards, Long, who rushed for 1,499 yards in just eight games, and junior Karltrell Henderson, who also rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2010, create one of the top backfields in Class 6A.
A big questionmark for the SaberCats’ rushing attack will be their offensive line, which returns no starters.
Edwards also has three returning starters to throw the ball to — tight end Jackson Stallings, who grabbed five TDs last season, and juniors Johnathan Martin and Nick Ward.
Defensively, Southmoore brings back five starters, including linebackers Kaleb Thompson, who had 125 tackles last season, and Terrance Bonner. The SaberCats defense is very talented despite its inexperience, and has the potential to be a strong unit in 2011.
PREDICTION TIME
This could be a classic game because of the two immensely talented offenses. I think it will ultimately come down to which rushing attack has a better showing, and I believe it will be the Huskies’. Edmond North’s defense is more experienced than Southmoore’s, and when you combine that with the SaberCats’ green offensive line, I think it spells a Huskies victory.
Edmond North 27, Southmoore 24.
Several stars on display at Southmoore, Yukon, Putnam City scrimmage
It was a fun night at Putnam City Stadium Friday watching the Southmoore/Yukon/Putnam City scrimmage. One of the better, more polished scrimmages I’ve seen in a while. I’ll have plenty of coverage in Saturday’s paper, but here are a few quick items that really stuck out to me.
-PC linebacker/running back Desmond Tilly hurt his left knee in the final few minutes of the game. Pirate folks don’t seem to think it’s serious, but it will likely require an MRI once the swelling goes down. The Pirates don’t have a ton of depth, so losing Tilly for any significant amount of time would be bad. He was flying around making plays at outside linebacker and is a great complement to MLB Elie Rushing. Tilly was also running the ball hard backing up Casey Curtis. With Curtis and Tilly each playing both sides of the ball, you need them both at RB to help keep the other fresh.
-Yukon fans might have noticed that Derek Deeds was icing his shoulder at the end of the night. He told me afterward that it was nothing more than a muscle spasm and he’d be fine. Just like Tilly, Deeds is a guy Yukon wouldn’t want to lose. They’re so young at receiver that his presence there is valuable. And he’s an anchor on the back end of the defense as well.
-In other injury news, Southmoore RB Andrew Long sat out Friday’s action, but only as a precaution, coach Chris Jensen said. Essentially, the SaberCats know what they’re going to get from Long, so there was no need to risk getting him hurt.
-On a sidenote to that, Friday was my first chance to see Karltrell Henderson. The junior had a couple big games at the end of last season to climb up over the 1,000-yard mark. He’s a beast of a runner. Punishes people and has decent moves to go along with it. It’ll be fun to watch those two guys share a backfield this year.
-I know Southmoore QB Tre Edwards has some doubters simply because of his height — probably 5-10 if you count the mohawk — but the kid is a confident player who throws the ball well. He can run the offense, move in the pocket and find the open man. He might not make D-I coaches drool, but he’s going to win a lot of games at Southmoore.
-Speaking of short guys, Yukon is running out some little dudes at receiver this year as they try to replace four of their top five from last season. But QB Corben Jones was excited with their performance Friday, especially when protection broke down. They were making good decisions in situations the team hasn’t worked on yet in practice, and Jones was happy to see that.
-The Millers are auditioning about four different players at running back, and might use multiple guys throughout the season. It was tough to tell a lot Friday, because Yukon only had a couple of regular starters available on the offensive line. The replacements held their own, but with their regular starting five, Yukon will have one of the better O-lines around, and that will certainly make life easier for the RBs.
-Lastly, I was impressed in my first chance to see PC quarterback Devin White in live action. Seeing him at practice last week, he certainly looks the part of a good high school quarterback at about 6-1 and probably 195 pounds. On Friday, he showed that he has a good, accurate arm, and he moves really well. Combine that with Curtis — who had some crazy good runs Friday — and the Pirates should be in good shape offensively. They are using a lot of new guys on the O-line, but they seemed to hold up well.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Southmoore, Carl Albert to meet in 2012-13 football season openers
With his two neighborhood rivals always playing each other in the first week of the football season, Southmoore coach Chris Jensen is left trying to find a quality opponent for his season opener.
He landed a good one for the 2012-13 seasons.
Southmoore will play a home-and-home series with Class 5A power Carl Albert in back-to-back season openers, the coach told The Oklahoman this week.
Carl Albert will host the 2012 game, and the SaberCats will host in 2013.
Southmoore will return to a west district for the 2012-13 seasons, being paired with the likes of Norman, Mustang, Lawton, Edmond Memorial and Edmond Santa Fe.
Carl Albert’s new district will be very similar to the current one, with Guthrie, Deer Creek and El Reno, along with the addition of McGuinness.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Connie Mack state baseball bracket
Here’s the bracket for the Connie Mack State Tournament, which begins Tuesday at Enid’s David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
Tuesday
Game 1: Southmoore vs. Woodward CM, noon
Game 2: Enid Minors vs. Edmond Stars, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: WW Minors vs. CC Shockers, 5 p.m.
Game 4: OKC Broncos vs. Enid Majors, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Game 5: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, noon
Game 6: Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser, 2:30 p.m.
Game 7: OKC Sandlot vs. Game 1 Winner, 5 p.m.
Game 8: Game 2 Winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Loser, 5 p.m.
Game 11: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
*After Thursday’s play, pairing will be determined by AABC rules
Game 12: TBA vs. TBA, 5 p.m.
Game 13: TBA vs. TBA, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 14: TBA vs. TBA, noon
Game 15: TBA vs. TBA, 2:30 p.m.
Game 16: TBA vs. TBA, 7 p.m.
Sunday
Game 17: Championship, 1 p.m.
Game 18: Championship, 6 p.m. (if necessary)
Champion advances to South Plains National Regional in Fort Worth
Edmond Baseball Classic: Day 2 schedule
Edmond Baseball Classic
Pool A: Edmond Memorial (1-0), Southmoore (0-1), Choctaw (1-1), Checotah (0-1), Norman North (1-0).
Pool B: Edmond Santa Fe (1-0), Norman (0-1), Moore (1-1), Latta (0-1), Westmoore (1-1), Edmond North (1-0).
Wednesday
At Memorial
Choctaw 16, Checotah 2
Norman North 7, Choctaw 4
Edmond Memorial 5, Southmoore 3
Edmond Santa Fe 17, Latta 2
At North
Moore 13, Norman 5
Westmoore 5, Moore 2
Edmond North 8, Westmoore 5
Thursday
At Memorial
Checotah vs. Norman North, 2:30
Southmoore vs. Checotah, 5 p.m.
Edmond Memorial vs. Choctaw, 7:30
At North
Edmond Santa Fe vs. Norman, noon
Norman vs. Edmond North, 2:30
Latta vs. Westmoore, 5 p.m.
Latta vs. Edmond North, 7:30
Friday
At Memorial
Southmoore vs. Norman North, noon
Edmond Memorial vs. Norman North, 2:30
Southmoore vs. Checotah, 5 p.m.
Edmond Memorial vs. Checotah, 7:30
At North
Edmond Santa Fe vs. Moore, noon
Moore vs. Latta, 2:30
Norman vs. Westmoore, 5 p.m.
Edmond Santa Fe vs. Edmond North, 7:30
Saturday
At Memorial
A5 vs. B5, noon
A3 vs. B3, 2:30
A1 vs. B1, 5 p.m.
At North
A4 vs. B4, 2:30
A2 vs. B2, 5 p.m.
Edmond Baseball Classic schedule
Edmond Baseball Classic
Pool A: Edmond Memorial, Southmoore, Choctaw, Checotah, Norman North.
Pool B: Edmond Santa Fe, Norman, Moore, Latta, Westmoore, Edmond North.
Wednesday
At Memorial
Choctaw vs. Checotah, noon
Choctaw vs. Norman North, 2:30
Edmond Memorial vs. Southmoore, 5 p.m.
Edmond Santa Fe vs. Latta, 7:30
At North
Norman vs. Moore, 2:30
Moore vs. Westmoore, 5 p.m.
Westmoore vs. Edmond North, 7:30
Thursday
At Memorial
Checotah vs. Norman North, 2:30
Southmoore vs. Checotah, 5 p.m.
Edmond Memorial vs. Choctaw, 7:30
At North
Edmond Santa Fe vs. Norman, noon
Norman vs. Edmond North, 2:30
Latta vs. Westmoore, 5 p.m.
Latta vs. Edmond North, 7:30
Friday
At Memorial
Southmoore vs. Norman North, noon
Edmond Memorial vs. Norman North, 2:30
Southmoore vs. Checotah, 5 p.m.
Edmond Memorial vs. Checotah, 7:30
At North
Edmond Santa Fe vs. Moore, noon
Moore vs. Latta, 2:30
Norman vs. Westmoore, 5 p.m.
Edmond Santa Fe vs. Edmond North, 7:30
Saturday
At Memorial
A5 vs. B5, noon
A3 vs. B3, 2:30
A1 vs. B1, 5 p.m.
At North
A4 vs. B4, 2:30
A2 vs. B2, 5 p.m.
Carl Albert’s Quincy Johnson, Southmoore’s T.J. Wright set powerlifting records
Quincy Johnson and T.J. Wright bring home more powerlifting gold.
There wasn’t a more dominant powerlifter this season than Carl Albert’s Quincy Johnson. Meet after meet, Johnson was racking up the honors.
He punctuated the season last weekend by winning the national championship in the 198-pound unequipped division at the National Athlete Strength Association championships.
Johnson set the world record in the squat (518 pounds), bench (320), deadlift (524) and total (1,362). Johnson was also named the Most Outstanding Heavyweight Lifter.
Other area winners included Southmoore’s T.J. Wright in the unequipped 168-pound division and Cajun Cox of Midwest City in the equipped 168-pound division.
Wright set world records in the deadlift (573 pounds) and total (1,267). Wright won Most Outstanding Lightweight Lifter.
Unequipped means no power suits or shirts were worn. Equipped means things such as wrist wraps, knee wraps, shirts and belts are allowed.
***
Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
High school baseball at the Brick expanding
BY RYAN ABER
raber@opubco.com
The last two years, the Mayor’s Cup between the three Edmond and three Moore high schools has been a regular event at the ballpark now known as RedHawks Field at Bricktown.
This season the schedule of games at the park expands with 17 high school and one college game scheduled for the park during April.
The 2011 Mayor’s Cup will be played Saturday with Edmond North and Moore at 11 a.m., Edmond Santa Fe and Westmoore at 2:30 and Edmond Memorial and Southmoore at 6 p.m. (Boneman’s note: I will be at The Brick for the Saturday games).
Crowder and Stuart will play at 7 p.m. Friday to start the series.
World Baseball Outreach will hold a baseball equipment drive during the Mayor’s Cup. Fans are asked to bring new or gently used baseball and softball equipment to help the organization provide equipment to at-risk youth in the state.
Other than the Mayor’s Cup, the other games in the series are free to the public.
Schedule (gates open an hour before game time):
Friday: Crowder vs. Stuart, 7 p.m.
Saturday: Edmond North vs. Moore, 11 a.m.; Edmond Santa Fe vs. Westmoore, 2:30 p.m.; Edmond Memorial vs. Southmoore, 6 p.m.
Tuesday: UCO vs. USAO, 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Amber-Pocasset vs. Cashion, 7 p.m.
Thursday, April 7: Yukon vs. El Reno, 7 p.m.
Friday, April 8: Sterling vs. Elgin, 4 p.m.; Purcell vs. Sayre, 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 9: Kansas vs. Westville, 5 p.m.
April 23: Stroud vs. Wellston, 2 p.m.; Cushing vs. Lone Grove, 5 p.m.
April 26: Carnegie vs. Clinton, 4 p.m.; Holdenville vs. Konawa, 7 p.m.
April 27: Carl Albert vs. Shawnee, 7 p.m.
April 28: Jenks vs. Choctaw, 7 p.m.
April 30: Midwest City vs. Muskogee, 2 p.m.; Comanche vs. Velma-Alma, 5 p.m.
