The Knights took third place in a loaded field at the Edmond Open over the weekend, with T’aries Taylor leading the team in scoring in two of the three games.

Taylor scored 26 in the opener against Tulsa Central and followed it up with 19 in the third place game against Lawton Mac to earn all-tournament honors at the Edmond Open.

With Taylor providing a reliable scoring option alongside point guard Jamil Donovan, the Knights will be a team to watch in Class 5A this season. At 5-1 on the season, NWC is up to No. 4 in this week’s rankings.

Other contenders

Talmadge Lawrence, John Marshall: Lawrence averaged 18.5 points in a pair of wins over Star Spencer and Bethany last week. DeMontrey Mitchell also scored 19 against Bethany.

Caleb Crayton, Northeast: Scored 20 in a close win over Centennial, then he and Gabe Houston each had 18 in a win over Chickasha at the Harrah tournament. Crayton had 17, behind 24 from Eric Peabody, on Saturday in a close loss to Choctaw.

Delford Robinson and Michael Ervin, Millwood: Robinson led the Falcons in scoring twice at the Millwood tournament, including 14 in the opener. Ervin had a team-high 12 in the third-place game, an 18-point win over Capitol Hill.

Nico Meadows, Capitol Hill: Meadows had 24 points against US Grant as the sophomore continues to make an early impact for the Redskins.

Tona Edwards and Brianna Pendleton, Northeast: Edwards had 25 against Centennial and Pendleton had 19 in a win over Putnam City. Edwards had 15 against PC and scored 22 of the team’s 35 against Carl Albert. Pendleton led the team with 17 in the championship loss to Del City.

Sharane Campbell and LaKeitha Watson, Star Spencer: Campbell, an OU signee, had 25 in a win over John Marshall and 17 to help Star take third at the Millwood Invitational. Watson had a team-high 20 in the third-place game.

Meshelle Parker, Northwest Classen: Scored 19 points in a win over Classen last Tuesday.

Dayla Threat, Millwood:  Averaged 17.5 points over four games last week, helping the Falcons to a runner-up finish at their own tournament.

Te’era Williams, Douglass: Had a team-high 21 against Chickasha on Friday.

But when it all shook out, the Putnam City West victory over Edmond Santa Fe was the biggest win. And senior guard Kyndall Dudley had the biggest impact down the stretch, so POW honors go to him.

It was hard to overlook what Mustang accomplished last week, beating No. 2 Putnam City and winning the Harrah Panther Classic. But I had higher expectations for Mustang than a lot of people, and I knew they’d pull off some wins like beating PC. There were a lot more questions around PC West, so to make that kind of statement in the first week of December was huge.

Dudley hit a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and two more in overtime of the Patriots’ 55-51 win at ESF last week. He finished with 17 points. Dante Lewis and Deonte Ogles both played key roles in the win as well.

Interestingly, the two teams leading the upset charge last week will face off tonight when Mustang hosts PC West.

Other contenders

Armon Provo, PC North boys basketball: It was hard to deny Provo yet again after he poured in 34 in the Panthers’ second game of the year against Choctaw. Provo tore it up over the summer and he has carried it into the season.

Ben Berry and David Glidden, Mustang boys basketball: Glidden scored 20 in the upset of PC, and Berry was the leading scorer in all three of the Broncos’ victories at Harrah, including a 23-point effort in the opener. Over the three games, he averaged 17.3 per game.

D’Anthony Perkins, Yukon boys basketball: Perkins scored 14 points in Tuesday’s 21-point rout of Edmond North, leading four double-figure scorers.

Ron’Quis Lewis, Putnam City boys basketball: Lewis scored 24 in the loss to Mustang. At 6-foot-6, Lewis already has an offer from Western Kentucky and his stock will continue to climb with games like this.

Ashley Callahan and Amanda Biorato, Mustang girls basketball: Callahan scored 16 and Biorato 15 in the overtime win over Putnam City.

LaShawn Jones, Putnam City girls basketball: Jones had 24 in the loss to Mustang and 34 total over two games at the Harrah tournament.

Joh’Vonna Mitchell, PC North girls basketball: Averaged 14.5 points over four games last week, including 21 in an eight-point win over Durant Friday.

Norman Player of the Week: Hayley Scott, Norman North

Norman North girls basketball player Hayley Scott set the tournament single-game scoring record at the Altus Lady Bulldog Classic. The senior scored 35 points in Thursday’s first-round win over Childress (Texas). She scored 12 points in a win over Wichita Falls (Texas) and added 11 in the championship game against Western Heights. Norman North won the tournament title.

Granted full access by the Heritage Hall coaching staff for the 3A championship against Kingfisher allowed me to see the things I normally don’t.

One of those was the group of Charger seniors huddling together separate from the rest of the team for one last final speech about what they mean to each other and what this season meant to them.

I won’t reveal anything that was said as that moment was for those nine seniors. Coach Andy Bogert would always have the seniors stand up first after the postgame talks, and he did it one more time Friday night.

And though a lot of talent resides in that spectacular junior bunch, those kids were quick to point out the leadership of the senior class and how that made all the difference starting from last year’s loss to Pawhuska.

The nine seniors: Graham Busby, Cooper Cloud, Shaun Tkach, Coby Brownrigg, Sami Horani, Dru Bullard, Blaine Kennedy, Andrew Johnson and Bill Johnston.

Seniors were members of 14-1, 15-0, 8-5 and 15-0 seasons.

Other contenders

Sterling Shepard, Heritage Hall: If you don’t know by now, Shepard scored all four of the Heritage Hall touchdowns and all in the second half of a classic 28-21 win over Kingfisher.

T.J. Holland, OCS, Basketball: He’s done it again. Man does he look sharp early on this season. Road win at Casady, followed by a tournament championship at Luther…not bad.

Alexa Lienhard, McGuinness, Basketball: In an incredibly brutal Edmond Open, the Irish beat Memorial and Cache with Lienhard doing significant damage.

Matt Silver, Casady, Basketball: I really like the potential of Silver this season. Cyclones were able to bounce back from OCS loss for consolation championship at Luther.

You could make a lot of arguments for the likes of Courtney Walker of Santa Fe and Elizabeth Donohoe of North, but I’m givin’ it to the youngster, Jordan Woodard of Memorial.

He came up huge in the win Tuesday at Midwest City and also played well in the Edmond Open championship victory against rival Santa Fe.

His upside is tremendous, and he’s only beginning to scratch the surface of what he can become. We’re definitely going to see what he has because the Bulldogs are going to get tested time and time again this season.

Great week for Memorial. The key is to not suffer that emotional letdown, interesting to see the maturity of this year’s group of kids for Shane Cowherd.

Other contenders

Courtney Walker, Santa Fe, Basketball: In a close game, took over with her quickness and defense to lead Wolves to the Edmond Open championship over North.

Elizabeth Donohoe, North, Basketball: There wasn’t much Donohoe didn’t do at the Open, scoring a tournament-high 68 points in the three games. Huskies snapped Cache’s 30-game winning streak Friday.

Obi Emegano, Memorial, Basketball: He missed some gimmes and still finished with 19 points in the championship and also made the Super 5 for the Edmond Open.

Garrett Hermanski, Deer Creek, Basketball: Another good week for the junior. Get a good idea of where this team is at this weekend at the McGuinness Festival.

Andrew Dixon, North, Wrestling: Huskies placed fourth out of 30 teams with Dixon taking second place at 171 in the Mid-America Nationals Wrestling Tournament at Union.

Abbie Imes, North, Swimming: Continues to show she’s one of the best swimmers in the state, winning two individual titles at the Edmond/Norman meet last Friday.

After a year of not playing a role in the 6A picture, Karri Sears’ girls are back. The Del City basketball team made a big statement by winning the Panther Classic at Harrah this weekend.

Gone are Toni Young and Desiree Jeffries that led the Eagles to the title. Now dominating the gym are Mariah Jackson and Toni Smith.

Jackson scored 24 points and Smith pitched in with 17 more as the Eagles defeated Northeast in the championship game. After a slow first quarter, Del City came on with an 18-4 advantage in the second quarter to take control of the game.

Those three wins came off the heels of beating another top 6A team in Norman on Tuesday night. There is reason to be excited once again for Del City girls basketball.

Other contenders

Cherrell Price, Carl Albert: It might take a little bit longer before Tim Price’s girls find their rhythm, but a fourth-place finish at the Panther Classic isn’t the worst result ever.

Marisha Wallace, Midwest City: In a big battle with Edmond Memorial, Wallace was dominant as Bombers blew out a solid Bulldog club.

A.J. Holland, Del City: Panther Classic was also kind to Tim Stogsdill’s boys. Holland led the charge to a third-place outing, beating a very good Woodward team Saturday.

Dominique Raney got off to quite a start himself, scoring 30 in the Pirate victory. The athletic 6-foot-5 senior will be asked to do a lot more on this team, which doesn’t have the interior presence of last year’s squad. He’ll handle the ball a lot more and he’ll be asked to lead the offense.

Raney said he’s letting his father and coach A.D. Burtschi handle most of his recruiting right now so he can focus on the season, but he’s got a chance to be the state’s top recruit this year — especially if he keeps putting up numbers like this.

Other contenders

Armon Provo, PC North boys basketball: Had the Panthers been able to pull off the upset, here’s your POW. Provo poured in 35 in the loss to PC.

Mackenzie York, Yukon girls basketball: York was the only player in double-figures as Yukon opened with a 15-point win over PC West.

Alexis Watson and Joh’Vonna Mitchell, PC North girls basketball: Watson scored 15 and Mitchell had 14 as the Panthers won a thriller in overtime against rival Putnam City.

LaShawn Jones, Putnam City girls basketball: The Oklahoma State-bound Jones scored 18 in the narrow defeat to PC North.

Send West Metro POW nominations to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

It could have been Aliston Cobb, with his 240 rushing yards and two TDs. Or Donnell Ward and Marcus Caddell for the passing connection on the winning TD, as well as their stout pass defense, including Ward’s two interceptions. Or Erik King for his interception in overtime to seal the victory. Or the offensive line for their run blocking. Or the defensive front for their seven sacks. Or…

OK, so you get it. A state championship is a team effort, and that was truly the case for the Trojans Saturday night. Everyone played well, and they all get the honor as the OKC Player of the Week… though I’m sure the gold ball is all the congratulations they needed.

Other contenders

Kevonte Richardson and Brandon Swindall, Millwood football: Richardson, the Falcon QB did all he could, overcoming two early interceptions to have a strong performance, despite the loss. Swindall had six grabs for 120 yards and a TD, as well as another interception — his state-leading 18th on the year.

Marquis Buxton-Hill, Douglass boys basketball: The 6-foot-9 senior poured in 27 in the Trojans’ rout of US Grant in the All-City Conference opener.

Eric Peabody, Northeast boys basketball: Peabody had 28 points as the Vikings pulled out a 70-67 win over Wichita Falls-Hirschi.

DeQuante Taylor, John Marshall boys basketball: Taylor scored 18 to lead the Bears to a season-opening win over Heritage Hall.

Nico Meadows, Capitol Hill boys basketball: Scored 23 and 18 points as the Redskins opened the season with a pair of wins.

Te’era Williams, Douglass girls basketball: Williams had 22 in the opener, a 42-point win over US Grant.

Tona Edwards and Brianna Pendleton, Northeast girls basketball: Scored 15 and 14 sports, respectively, in NE’s rout of Wichita Falls-Hirschi.

D’Carla Kirk and Kebrina Hartfield, Centennial girls basketball: Kirk had 16 and Hartfield 14 in the Bison victory over ASTEC.

– Send POW nominations to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

We are fully entrenched in basketball for the Edmond schools. And frankly, that’s a good thing. There are so many good Edmond basketball teams this year — they’re all going to keep me on my toes.

To start the year no team had a tougher assignment that Shane Coffey’s Memorial girls at Norman. But junior Alie Decker has shown how much she has matured and how she is ready to be the team leader.

Decker scored 19 points in the road win against the Tigers and followed that with a 19-point win against an overmatched Moore team.

All Edmond teams are in for major battles this weekend at the Edmond Open. I hope to get a chance to be there. It will be tough, though, with football still left.

Other contenders

Brooklyn Bell, Memorial: It’s Decker leading the way, but Bell has been dynamite in the first week of the season with her fantastic shooting.

Obi Emegano, Memorial: He’s going to hear a lot of stuff from opposing fans, but he handled it well in Week 1 with impressive outings at Norman and vs. Moore.

Josh Richardson and Courtney Walker, Santa Fe: Did exactly what they’re supposed to do in victories against Stillwater and Mustang. Excited to see the Wolves again.

Jeff Tanner, North: Giving it to the new boys coach. That was the type of statement he was hoping to make, opening with a good win against a formidable Choctaw club.

Garrett Hermanski, Deer Creek: Maybe a game the Antlers lose last year? Hermanski scored 24 points in leading Deer Creek to a tough win against Harrah.

One more week to perfection. A perfect season wasn’t the ultimate goal for Heritage Hall, but if the Chargers win Friday, it will happen.

Every game there seems to be another hero. Against a good Bethany team the second time around, it was lineman Markus Wakefield — just not the way I thought it would be.

I’ve said it more than enough at this point so I’ll keep it short. Wakefield threw a touchdown pass and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score in the semifinal win.

Look for a story on Wakefield and his lineman counterpart Quintaz Struble later this week.

Other contenders

Heritage Hall defense: In a game where both defenses stopped what the other teams are known for, the Chargers in the second half were incredible in limiting Bethany to 9 total yards in the second half.

Preston Sullivan, Casady: Cyclones started the season going 3-0 and Sullivan earned MVP honors of the Liberty Academy Tournament in Shawnee.

T.J. Holland, OCS: What a way to start the year for the Saints. OCS, behind Holland and Jack Warren, won at John Marshall 62-57.

Jake Peace, Mt. St. Mary’s: Not just a star on the football field, Peace led a balanced effort in a win against Heritage Hall.

Kate Andrews, Bishop McGuinness: So many weapons, what do you do? Andrews led a balanced effort in a three-win week.

Well, the first quarter was not what new Del City boys coach Tim Stogsdill was hoping for against Westmoore.

But after an early deficit, back came the Eagles. Behind Chris Stevenson’s 17 points, Del City got out of Westmoore with a 57-44 victory.

Former coach Allen Dukes had been there so long that it feels strange to think about someone else being on that sideline.

Have a gut feeling Del City is going to be a team that sneaks up on people this season.

Other contenders

Kaylon Williams, Midwest City: Bombers got off to a red-hot start against Norman North to cruise to 70-42 victory. Williams led way with 15 points.

Trez Colbert, Midwest City: The unexpected early loss in football allowed the football kids to get their basketball legs. Colbert notched 19 points in an impressive 31-point win against Norman North.

I don’t even know if what Guthrie’s Kentrell Brothers did last week is in the top 3 of his performances this season, but it came at the right time.

Against a gritty Coweta team, the Bluejays weren’t really having that much offensive success. But when you have Brothers, you’re never out of it.

Brothers ended up with three touchdowns in the 27-3 win, and he did it in three different ways. He caught one, threw another and rushed for a score. Big-time players come up big when it matters most, and Guthrie is going to need that for sure this week against Tulsa Washington.

You can read more on Brothers’ partner in crime, WR Devonte McCully in Tuesday’s paper. Sorry, Devonte, the secret is out on you.

Other contenders

Tyrequek Zimmerman, Lawton: With the game in the balance at 20-14 vs. Broken Arrow, Zimmerman scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to give the Wolverines the huge win.

Zeke Zimmer, Washington: It’s a different Warrior every week. Zimmer notched three touchdowns in an impressive 35-0 victory at Crooked Oak.

Darian Bennett, Crescent: Just another day at the office for Bennett. Coach J.L. Fisher said Bennett rushed for 270 yards in the first half and four touchdowns in the win at Carnegie. Look for more on Bennett in Thursday’s paper.

Jeremy Seaton, Cashion: Another familiar face here. Seaton accounted for three touchdowns in the Wildcats’ tough victory against a good Ringling team.

Only one team per class likes the way their season ends. Last year that team was Carl Albert. But this year it wasn’t meant to be for Gary Rose’s club.

It was a coming of age year for Taylor Hawkins, though. A baseball star, the Titans quarterback wasn’t able to get much time in for football during practice in August. He had found a home on defense as the Death Squad group was living up to its name.

But an injury to Dillan Dansby brought Hawkins back to the offense and to the quarterback position. Behind that offensive line and RB Kenton Whittington, the Titans looked like they hadn’t missed a beat.

However, it came to an end last week in a 21-14 loss at Tulsa East Central. A 9-3 season is great for most programs, but you know this will be motivation for the Titans next year.

There were some tense moments in the second half of Heritage Hall’s victory against Little Axe.

And if it wasn’t for Sterling Shepard’s early heroics, we could have really been talking about some anxious times.

Before Shepard left with a hip injury, he scored two touchdowns and started it with an interception return for a score in the 27-7 win vs. the Indians.

The health of Shepard and running back Barry J. Sanders are questions 1a. and 1b. heading into Friday’s game with Bridge Creek (I’ll be there).

Other contenders

LaRone Richardson, Bishop McGuinness: Not the end he was hoping for, but Richardson notched two more touchdowns in the 26-23 loss at Glenpool.

Cooper Cloud and Cale Courtney, Heritage: Hooked up on a touchdown in the fourth quarter to seal the deal against Little Axe.

Nick Callaway, McGuinness: Wasn’t always a pretty thing was the Irish passing game this year, but Callaway came up with key grabs, including a touchdown Friday.

Austin Brooks, OCS: Overmatched against Millwood but was able to stay with it and ran for a score and threw for another in the 59-28 loss to Falcons.

Victoria Vaughn, Mt. St. Mary’s, Cheerleading: I know her from tennis, but she became the first MSM cheerleader to make the all-state team.

It was just THAT week for Bridge Creek quarterback Ryan Spangler. Two days after signing with Gonzaga to play basketball, he threw for four touchdowns in a rout of Purcell in the first round. You couldn’t stop him on this week.

Spangler has thrown more than four touchdowns in a game, but in the crazy conditions Friday, no performance may have been more impressive for him.

He only finished with 139 yards, but he got ‘em when they mattered. It was the quick start that doomed Purcell.

Spangler had a little help from running back Blake Henderson. The senior rushed for three touchdowns as well to set the stage for Bridge Creek at Heritage Hall on Friday (I will be there).

Other contenders

The Miller boys, Davenport: Mike and Matt combined for all five touchdowns as Bulldogs won a thriller, 32-28 vs. Seiling.

T.J. Martin, Cashion: That’s how you make sure you are not victim of an upset. Martin returned two kicks for touchdowns in the 55-31 win against Turpin.

Guthrie defense: Just another brilliant outing, this time against Durant. Lions had -37 rushing yards. Bluejays forced four turnovers to cruise to the 35-6 win.

Steven Howard, Washington: Warriors are rolling right now. Howard was sensational scoring five touchdowns in victory against Tishomingo.

Deaquan Wojciechowski, Lawton: I was there to witness his brilliance. Two rushing touchdowns, a punt return for a score in a fun, well-played 28-13 win vs. Edmond Memorial.

I called him out in the five-minute guide, and he showed me up on Friday night. Edmond North running back Jarion Tudman rushed for 222 yards and a touchdown to shut me up in the Huskies’ 28-21 win at Yukon.

Tudman is deadly with the ball when he holds onto it. He held onto it against the Millers and became the workhorse he always has the potential to be.

It was a spirited effort by North, who has rebounded nicely from that 2-4 start. Is the upset possible? North is at Union on Friday.

Look for more on Tudman later this week.

Other contenders

Shawn McLaws, Deer Creek: Always around to play a big role. Fumble return for a touchdown, kicking field goals. He did a little bit of everything in the 19-12 road win at Ardmore.

Kameron Doolittle, Memorial: The senior closed out a tremendous career for the Bulldogs by rushing for more than 100 yards as Justin Merideth’s gritty bunch kept it close before losing to Lawton.

Travis Townsend, North: Senior quarterback wasn’t about to call it a career just yet, accounting for two touchdowns in the win.

Deer Creek offensive line: Less than five minutes and with the ball, Antlers line did its job as Deer Creek ran out the clock behind Alex Christensen and the offensive surge.

Will Conant, Memorial: Been regarded as one of the best kickers by yours truly for two years and showed it with two big FGs vs. Lawton.

Elizabeth Donohoe, North: You’ll be seeing that name a lot in the next couple of months as she signed with Oklahoma State last week.

I focused a lot on Taylor Hawkins in my story on the Carl Albert overtime victory against Duncan. He didn’t give me much of a choice by scoring the game-winner in overtime to stave off the upset.

But running back Kenton Whittington woke this team up. After a rough first quarter, Whittington scored twice in the second quarter and rushed for more than 100 yards.

Whittington sure isn’t the biggest runner in the world, but he’s about as tough as they come and knows how to get the hard yards.

The Titans saw a 21-3 halftime lead disappear but found a way to pull it out and set the stage for a mega-showdown at Tulsa East Central.

Other contenders

James Flanders, Midwest City: The junior finished a strong season with two rushing touchdowns in the overtime loss to Westmoore.

Taylor Hawkins, Carl Albert: Got his passing game going in the second and third quarters and did the little things necessary to get the victory vs. Duncan.

Midwest City defense: I wasn’t there so I don’t know how the Jaguars pulled off that upset, but I know the Bombers defense gave it everything it had as it did all season.

Kaylon Williams, Midwest City: Just about that time again, the senior signed to play basketball for Oklahoma last week.

Some really good options in this category on this week. Several players came up with big outings in the final week of the regular season.

But I liked what Dylan Coppenbarger of Tuttle did. The Tigers were coming off a tough, hard-fought loss against undefeated Anadarko and needed to show there was no hangover.

Mission accomplished. The Tigers rushed for 376 yards in a 41-7 dominating win against Marlow. Leading the charger Coppenbarger.

He finished with four touchdowns and hopes to do more of the same when Tuttle visits Madill in one of the more intriguing first round matchups Friday.

Other contenders

Tylor Seabolt, Jones: He scored one rushing touchdown, one receiving touchdown and took a punt back for a score as Jones continues to roll.

Darian Bennett, Crescent: What can you say about him? Twelve carries for 361 yards and five touchdowns to go with an INT return for a touchdown. Incredible month.

Levi Hill, Hennessey: Another team able to overcome a spirited loss. Hill notched three touchdowns as Eagles took care of Centennial.

Bryan Dutton, Guthrie: Not shocking that Bluejays defeated Southeast, but Dutton was perfect in passing and threw for three more touchdowns.

That’s the kind of statement you wanted to make if you were McGuinness before the playoffs. The Irish were able to get the passing game going to go with that incredible rushing attack, and it led to a blowout win at Guymon.

Quarterback Camden Tharp hasn’t had the greatest season ever, but the last few weeks have been a step in the right direction. Against Guymon, he threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another.

If the Irish are balanced on offense, look out, could be a bad sign for the rest of the state. The running game added another 272 yards.

In the best first round matchup of the week, the Irish are at Glenpool on Friday night.

Other contenders

Sterling Shepard, Heritage Hall: Nothing new to what he’s doing, but his consistency has been incredible. Added another four touchdowns in win vs. Kingfisher.

Josh Bivens, OCA: Oklahoma Christian Academy went out on top as Bivens notched three touchdowns in a 45-0 blowout against Sasakwa.

Colton Lindsey, CHA: Freshman quarterback is coming of age. Lindsey threw for four touchdowns and rushed for another in Crusaders victory over Crooked Oak.

Joseph Reis-Herron, Mt. St. Mary’s: Momentum for next year for Rockets? End year on two-game winning streak as Reis-Herron tallied five rushing touchdowns in cruising to win vs. Walters.

Cooper Cloud, Heritage Hall: Not much said about passing game for Chargers, but Cloud notched three more touchdown passes and didn’t throw a pick.

Few performances would have outranked the return of Southmoore quarterback Kendal Thompson. But Westmoore cross country runner Noemi Hernandez did.

In 11:26, Noemi Hernandez not only set a new career-low in the last race of her career but also won the Class 6A girls’ state cross country championship. She is the first Jaguar to do so since Summer Suchy won in 1998.

Hernandez defeated Mustang’s Emily Helms for the first time all year and has now made the All-State team in back-to-back years.

Hernandez spent two years behind Katelin Cherry and Taylor Painter. Despite accomplishing something neither of them did, Hernandez still feels that they will always be superior.

“I think, in my mind, they are always going to be better than me,” she said. “It feels pretty awesome. I feel like I gave everything to my school and I represented really well.”

Others in consideration:

Kendal Thompson, Southmoore football: After missing six straight weeks, Thompson returned triumphantly. He threw a touchdown on his first play and scored twice in only three drives. Southmoore scored every drive he was in the game.

The Lions’ offense, Moore football: The Lions put up more points than they had in the previous four weeks combined despite falling 42-40 to Putnam North last Friday. After 8 losses, kudos goes to an offense that still pushed hard until the very end.

This was a good battle for the honor this week. In one corner, you had Sterling Shepard and Cooper Cloud leading a comeback win at Bethany.

In the other corner, you had Mt. St. Mary’s wide receiver Jake Peace, who caught the game-winning touchdown to give the Rockets their first victory of the season.

The winner? Peace…by that much. Coach Dal Nichols has raved about Peace all season. He said bluntly he feels if MSM was a better team, more colleges would be taking a look at Peace.

Peace caught the game-winning TD with 26 seconds left. Rockets added an INT return for a score and won 28-20 against Comanche.

Other contenders

Cooper Cloud and Sterling Shepard, Heritage Hall, Football: Down at half, the duo connected for both touchdowns in a huge 14-7 road victory at Bethany.

LaRone Richardson, McGuinness, Football: Richardson notched another three touchdowns and turned a sluggish 7-3 halftime lead into a comfortable 27-3 victory against Cache.

Cassius Calhoun, Casady, Football: Look out for the Cyclones in 2011. All those juniors are going to be something special. Calhoun scored both touchdowns in the 35-14 loss to Holland Hall.

Christian Heritage returns: Crusaders had a pair of them. Kenny Wooldridge took an INT back for a touchdown. Bryant Hodge returned a punt for a score.

Irish cross country teams: Solid all season, the girls placed third and the boys finished fourth at the state meet at Mitch Park.

Marie Mason, Rhodes College (Casady), Field Hockey: Rhodes is 15-1 and has clinched the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship. Mason was named the conference Defensive Player of the Week.

So close. Deer Creek was dominant at the boys cross country regional. And at the state meet, the Antlers weren’t that far off but fell just short.

Deer Creek took second as Guthrie earned the team championship at the state meet. However, Taler Buck did earn the championship and was pretty impressive in doing so.

Buck beat out Guthrie’s Zack Cates by more than 12 seconds to claim the individual title. Deer Creek’s Jake Verdin and Kody Ewing also placed in the top 10.

The girls, paced by a sixth-place finish by Courtney Maichak, earned fourth.

Other contenders

Ry Huff, Memorial, Football: Looked a lot more comfortable with Kameron Doolittle back and accounted for two touchdowns in the Bulldogs win vs. Norman North.

Travis Townsend, North, Football: Forgettable first half erased by a great second half, throwing for 231 yards and a couple of scores in 17-10 win vs. Santa Fe.

Dale Jefferson, Santa Fe, Football: First time I’ve seen him in person, and he is dang good. A little small at WR but was the best one on the field.

Meredith Farley, North, Cross Country: Farley placed 10th individually in leading the girls to a fifth-place finish in the team race at the state meet.

Arya Bahreini and Alex Skinner, Santa Fe, Cross Country: Each placed in the top 10 to help pace the Wolves to finishing sixth.

Tara Lewis, Memorial, Cross Country: Lewis placed 11th while the Memorial girls were brilliant in earning second place.

Oh baby, what a performance. I picked Midwest City to win. I picked 37-32, but I was extremely unsure about the selection. I thought the long bus ride combined with a fired up Lawton Eisenhower team was going to prove to be an extremely difficult task for the Bombers.

They showed me and made their most impressive statement of the season. Sparked by that stellar defense, Midwest City blanked Lawton Ike 28-0 at Cameron Stadium.

Eisenhower was held to less than 200 yards of offense. Midwest City picked off two passes and recovered a fumble. The Bombers were up 21-0 at halftime and never let their guard down in clinching the district championship.

Other contenders

James Flanders, Midwest City, Football: Another big night for the junior as Flanders had three rushing touchdowns. It got better Saturday as older brother John picked off a pass in the end zone to cement Tulsa’s win over Notre Dame.

Greg Johnson and Adrian Fletcher, Del City, Football: Each had a pair of rushing touchdowns as the Eagles blanked US Grant.

Carl Albert rushing game and offensive line: Darvonta Knight, Kenton Whittington and Tank Richmond all scored rushing touchdowns as Titans rushed for more than 300 yards in big road win at Deer Creek.

Shameka Sanders, Del City, Cross Country: Only Eagle runner at the state meet last week and did pretty well, placing 18th.

On Thursday, QB Kevonte Richardson was 19-of-30 for 454 yards. That’s 15.1 yards per pass — not per completion, per attempt. Nearly 24 yards per completion. He threw for four touchdowns and ran for another in leading the Falcons to a 53-22 win over Crooked Oak.

Helping him out were Josh Turner (seven rushes for 51 yards and a TD, seven receptions for 98 yards and a TD), Brandon Swindall (five catches for 200 yards and two TDs) and Mike Cole (five catches for 102 yards, one TD and a two-point conversion)

Other contenders

Aliston Cobb, Diontay Washington and the Douglass defense: When Cobb took the first handoff of the game and went 48 yards for the TD, you could tell Harrah wasn’t ready for the Trojans’ speed in the 47-0 Douglass win. Cobb finished with 210 yards and two TDs, while Washington added 102 yards and three scores to back the defense’s shutout of the Panthers — holding them to negative yardage in the second half. Marcus Caddell came up with two big interceptions in the first half as well.

Trevyone Willis, Northeast: Had scores of 88 yards (interception return) and 99 yards (kickoff return) in Northeast’s loss to Oklahoma Christian.

Christian Gorham and the Northwest defense: Gorham threw four TD passes and the Knights’ defense registered its first shutout since 2004 in defeating Capitol Hill 40-0.

Send OKC Player of the Week nominations to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

The Moore Player of the Week was going to a Westmoore Jaguar this week. Whether it would be a football player or a track star was the only question. After Friday night, the only question was which football player.

Five turnovers and a big loss is a lot to come back from for a young quarterback only a few games into his starting career. But that’s exactly what Westmoore junior Trevor Thompson did Friday against Putnam City in a 30-6 victory for the Jaguars.

Thompson went 11-for-18 for 108 yards and two touchdowns to lead Westmoore (5-3, 4-1) back into the win column after a horrendous game against Edmond North seven days ago.

For that, Thompson is this week’s Moore Player of Week. He’s also given the Jaguars a shot at the 6A-2 title.

Others in consideration:

Cody Feuerborn, Westmoore football: The powerful running back took a lot of pressure off Thompson on Friday but also put a lot of pressure on Thompson for the PoW award. Feuerborn ran for 258 yards on 33 carries and had two touchdowns, one of which was an 82-yard score — surprisingly long for the big back.

The Jaguars’ defense, Westmoore football: One week after giving up 38 points, the Jaguars held Putnam City to its lowest point total of the season. Senior linebacker Cody Cates was the leader with 10 tackles, but Addison Staggs picked off a pass and Brad McKay recovered a fumble. The team also forced a safety in the fourth quarter.

Noemi Hernandez, Westmoore cross country: Hernandez finished third in the Class 6A regional cross country meet Saturday in Norman. Edmond North edged the Jaguars by two points for the regional title. Hernandez ran in a time of 12:02.

Crescent coach J.L. Fisher told me a couple of weeks ago that his Tigers club normally plays well if running back Darian Bennett does well.

The last two weeks have been a good sign for fans of Bennett and Crescent. After giving Minco its first loss in Week 7, Crescent was dominant in a 67-6 win against Wellston.

And once again it was Bennett stealing the show. He rushed for more than 300 yards on just 10 carries. He added 10 tackles on defense and did it all in 24 minutes. Crescent regulars didn’t sniff time in the second half.

At 4-3 and 2-2 in district, Crescent is going to have a very interesting, exciting final couple of weeks.

Other contenders

Corey Wiley, McLoud: That’s how you perform in your first win of the season. Wiley threw two touchdowns ran for another four scores in the Redskins victory against Santa Fe South.

Alex Patterson, Enid: Needing to bounce back after the loss to Bixby, Patterson and the Plainsmen did just that. Patterson threw four touchdown passes in the win at Stillwater.

Chris Hunter, Watonga: I knew about Travis Hartfield, but where did Hunter come from? He scored five touchdowns as Watonga put up 76 points against Chisholm.

Michael Lowe, Jones: Longhorns have been sensational in two wins following Millwood. Lowe threw for five touchdowns and 291 yards in the 56-0 win against Luther.

Gonna keep this short because you can read much in Tuesday’s paper. I thought I had lost my chance to name LaRone Richardson the best player of the week.

Seriously, how do you top his five-score outing in a loss to Millwood? Um, well, he did. Richardson found the end zone six times in a dominating win against Piedmont.

Always one of my favorite kids to talk to, look for his story in Tuesday’s paper.

Other contenders

Garrison Lee, Casady: Found out the day before the game he would be playing defensive line, and he was one of the best players on the field in the loss to Bellaire Episcopal.

Chris Easterly, OCS: Playing running back just because the Saints have no one left. How’d he do? Five touchdowns in the OCS win against Northeast.

Josh Bivens, OCA: I was really pumped about this team until the Parker Randell injury. Bivens notched four touchdowns in the win against Macomb, the Eagles’ first of the year.

Ray Frazier, Mt. St. Mary’s, Cross Country: Frazier was impressive at the state meet, placing fourth overall as the Rockets earned seventh.

Maddy Hill, McGuinness, Cross Country: The Irish girls were dominant at the 5A regional, placing second, third, fourth and sixth in winning the event.

Note: No Heritage contenders because SeeWorth Academy forfeited the game last week.

Some weeks are easier than others when it comes to picking the West Metro Player(s) of the Week. This is one of those weeks.

The Yukon Millerettes rolled to the Class 6A state softball championship with an impressive performance.

Whitney Ellis, Madi Ellis and Skylar Leathers all had big RBIs in the title game, but it was a total team effort throughout the weekend to pull of the title. Here’s Robert Przybylo’s story on the finals.

Other contenders

Brandon Taylor, David Glidden and Cole Williams, Mustang: Taylor threw for 338 yards and six TDs, Glidden caught four TD passes and returned a kickoff 84 yards for a score, and Williams came up with two fumble recoveries to set up touchdowns as the Broncos exploded for 59 points in beating Putnam City.

Corben Jones and Derek Deeds, Yukon: Filling in for Terry Jones as he works his way back from an ankle injury, Deeds broke loose for four touchdowns and 91 yards on 17 carries to keep the Yukon offense balanced. Corben Jones was sharp as usual, throwing for 208 yards and completing 19 of 26 passes.

Casey Curtis and Putnam City offensive line: Curtis broke free for his third straight 200-yard rushing performance and his fourth of the year. Behind an offensive line with several seniors, this Pirate run game just keeps churning out big yards.

Jace James and Sam Wolfe Putnam City North: James had his second straight 300-yard passing game and led the offense to a near-comeback victory against Yukon. James threw one TD pass and rushed for another in the fourth quarter. Wolfe rushed for two TDs, including a 64-yarder that sparked the rally. 

Emily Helms and Andy Carroll, Mustang cross country: Helms won the girls race and Carroll the boys race at the Metro Conference meet — a good sign heading into regionals this weekend and state on Oct. 30.

Scott Massey, Yukon cross country: Finished fourth at the Metro Conference meet.

Send West Metro POW nominations to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

It could have been a magical weekend for Carl Albert. A football win over Guthrie added with a state softball championship. Could have been.

Instead, the softball team redeemed the weekend. There was no better team in 5A this entire year. And the girls proved it repeatedly and emphatically at the state tournament.

Pryor was up early before CA rolled ‘em. Down 6-0 to Tahlequah, Titans came back to win 12-10. Another win against Tahlequah set up the stage against McAlester and star pitcher Taylor Dewbery.

However, CA was able to touch up Dewbery with three 2-run homers. One by Krista Waggoner and two by Madisyn Long to claim the club’s first championship since 2007 in the 6-4 victory.

Pitcher Whitney Robinson was not great in the circle, but boy was she gutty. She gave us everything she had in the final three days of her high school softball career. She is one of the most complete players in the state and had a great tournament at the plate.

First baseman Molly Davison and Jenni Lane also came up with huge hits. Coach Colin White said once his team got rolling, there was no turning back.

He’s certainly right about that.

Other contenders

James Flanders, Midwest City, Football: With Choctaw stopping the passing attack, Flanders rushed for four touchdowns in the shutout of Choctaw. Read more about Flanders in Tuesday’s paper.

Taylor Hawkins, Carl Albert, Football: It wasn’t the night the Titans were hoping for, but Hawkins threw for a touchdown and rushed for another in the loss to Guthrie.

Greg Johnson and Chazten Gonzales, Del City, Football: Each scored a touchdown though the team came up short against an inspired Lawton club.

Like there could have been another winner? Honestly, on the biggest stage of the season thus far, these two (Bryan Dutton, Kentrell Brothers) played the game of their lives in the 32-14 win at Carl Albert.

Dutton, a sophomore, was 17-of-20 for 233 yards and five touchdowns.  His main target? Brothers – 8 catches, 156 yards and four touchdowns. Not to mention all he did on defense.

The Bluejays went through the ringer of Deer Creek (41-7), Ada (13-7) and Carl Albert (32-14) and are in firm control for a district championship.

It was sweet redemption for Dutton, Brothers and the rest of Rafe Watkins’ boys. The key, of course, is to not dwell on this one and forget about the rest of the year. Have no fears that Guthrie will be ready for El Reno on Friday night.

Other contenders

Blake Henderson, Bridge Creek: “Best game he’s played this year,” said coach Jerry Wallis. Guess so. He rushed for 240 yards and six touchdown in a rout of Marlow.

Louis Durant, Lawton Eisenhower: Break up the Eagles! Lawton Ike has quietly gone 5-2 and Durant had three touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a 35-0 blowout of Edmond Memorial.

Robert Rhynes, Washington: Pressure? What pressure? Rhynes nailed a game-winning 37-yard field goal to complete the comeback in a 24-21 win against Frederick.

Harrah offensive line: Panthers rushed for more than 400 yards in a 48-7 win against Santa Fe South. Now for a showdown with Douglass.

This week’s Moore player of the week choice was a tough one. On one hand, there was an athlete accomplishing something she’d never done before. On the other hand, there was an athlete who chose to do something I’d never seen before.

It was tough, but in the end I had to go with Noemi Hernandez of Westmoore.

Hernandez won the individual Mid-State Conference championship while leading the Jaguars to a team title by one point. Westmoore edged Edmond Memorial 47 to 48. It was Westmoore’s fourth-straight conference championship.

Hernandez finished with a time of 11:37, a career-best.

Others in consideration…

Vova Razryvin, Moore football: Razryvin jumped back behind center when starting quarterback Corey Reeves went down with an injury and threw for three touchdowns and 181 yards. He also ran for 82, but Moore still lost to Norman North.

More importantly, when Norman North’s D.J. Hicks was injured and being driven off in an ambulance, it was Razryvin that quickly organized a game-wide prayer at midfield.

“I go church every Sunday and every Wednesday I get a chance to,” Razryvin said. “I saw that hit and it didn’t look good. I just thought, ‘Hey, we can’t do anything but God can.’ And just prayed for him.”

Andrew Long, Southmoore football: In a 56-28 loss to Broken Arrow, Long rushed for three touchdowns and 154 yards against a tough Tigers’ defense. He also caught three passes for 15 yards. Long has been key for the SaberCats as quarterback Kendal Thompson continues to miss games.

Caleb McKee, Westmoore cross country: McKee finished in fourth at the Mid-State Conference meet and led the Jaguars for a third place finish. He ran in a time of 17:05.

Moore softball: Raegan Sampson’s game-winning hit Thursday looked like a sign of good things to come. However, the Lions were bounced by Jenks and finished another great season.

Well, you knew with Heritage Hall running back Barry J. Sanders sitting out with an ankle injury that somebody was going to have to join Sterling Shepard and step up.

And as much as I rave (and I do) about the junior class, the senior leadership is also readily apparent with this Chargers club. Heritage needed someone to pick up the slack and senior quarterback Cooper Cloud was more than willing to be the guy in a 42-12 win against John Marshall.

Of course, it helps to have an elusive target like Shepard to throw it to, but Cloud ended the night with four touchdown passes. Three of them went to Shepard while the other went to Cale Courtney.

That may have answered some critics about the lack of balance in the Heritage offense. The offensive line is vastly improved this season, which is making this magical year happen so far.

Other contenders

LaRone Richardson, Bishop McGuinness, Football: It was a down week for the Irish in a loss at Elgin, but Richardson notched two more touchdowns.

Sterling Shepard, Heritage, Football: That’s nine touchdowns in two games. Also three INT returns for scores in the last two games. His stock continues to soar.

Irish volleyball: Gave it a great effort against a dominant Bishop Kelley team in the championship but ultimately lost in four games.

Dylan Murray, Mt. St. Mary’s, Football: Murray scored three touchdowns as the Rockets went down to Cordell.

Irish boys cross country: One of several state teams to make the trek to Arkansas. The Irish, led by Frank Frantz, placed 12th out of 54 teams in Fayetteville.

They had the target on their backs all season. They had to deal with Micha Hancock missing time for the Youth Olympics. And Mattie Burleson missing matches because of an OSSAA rule about traveling teams.

But frankly, none of that mattered last weekend in Shawnee and Oklahoma Baptist for the Edmond Memorial volleyball team. The Bulldogs were almost beyond dominant in winning another state championship.

How good were they? They didn’t drop a game in the state tournament. They were never pressed to play beyond 25 points in a game though Santa Fe gave ‘em a good 25-23 game in the final.

It’s one thing to be expected to be the best all season, and it’s totally another to be able to go out there every single night and bring it. And that’s what they did all season.

For Scott Wright’s coverage of the championship, here ya go.

Other contenders

Edmond Santa Fe football: Wolves picked up first win of season with 61-0 win vs. US Grant. A colleague told me Ty Hensley played well. Santa Fe fans, help a Boneman out. Any stats you got from Friday sure would be appreciated.

Troy Davis and Travis Townsend, North, Football: In the first must-win game of the season, each accounted for three touchdowns in the 38-15 victory against Westmoore. Defense also forced six turnovers.

Deer Creek offensive line: Once again, the Antlers were able to spread out the wealth with its rushing attack. Alex Christensen, Joel Blumenthal, Luke Bradshaw and co., another solid outing in win against Western Heights.

North softball: Just ran into a hot hitting team in Jenks. With only one senior that saw significant playing time, this team should be back contending for the state championship last year.

Santa Fe volleyball: Just one of dem years, you know? Alex Hodges and the rest of the girls probably win against the rest of 6A – just not this Memorial squad.

Taler Buck, Deer Creek, Cross Country: Buck dominated at the Suburban Conference meet and then helped the Antlers to an eighth-place finish at the event in Fayetteville.

Alex Shook, Memorial, Cross Country: Shook led the charge for the Bulldogs who placed 15th at the same Fayetteville event.

Meredith Farley, North, Cross Country: Farley placed second at the Metro Conference meet and the Huskies couldn’t be touched in the team race.

Cobb tacked on three more touchdowns this week in a rout of Cushing, bringing his season total to 14, which isn’t quite as impressive as Cobb’s 11.6 yard-per-carry average. Barring something unforseen, Cobb will go past the 1,000-yard mark next week.

For the year, he has 954 yards on just 82 carries. With Diontay Washington, Ian Robinson and Shon Green adding some punch in that backfield as well, then guys like Marcus Caddell at receiver, the Douglass offense is dangerous. And that’s good news, considering Willis Alexander is a guy that lives on defense. And the Trojans are pretty solid over there, too.

Other contenders

Brandon Swindall and Josh Turner, Millwood: Ridiculous, simply ridiculous. The numbers these guys are putting up, the big plays they’re making — amazing. Turner had TD catches of 43 and 81 yards. Swindall scored from 8, 33 and 74 yards, the last two in the fourth quarter to close out Millwood’s rally for a 45-38 win. Swindall finished with 189 yards receiving and Turner had 158.

Kody Stamm and Dejon Brison, John Marshall: Bruce Troxell was pleased with the play of guys like Denzelle Johnson, Kody Shields and Delante Scroggins, but it was his senior linemen who really stood out. Stamm and Brison led the way as the Bears got back in the win column.

Stevo Henderson, Star Spencer: Henderson had a 68-yard TD run in the fourth quarter, the lone offensive bright spot for the Bobcats in a 35-8 loss.

Send OKC Player of the Week nominations to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

Christian Gorham, Northwest Classen: The Knight QB tossed a pair of TD passes in NWC’s loss to Duncan.

Westmoore’s defense showed on Friday that it is big-time. The Jaguars held Del City to only 6 points, but forced six-straight turnovers to end the game. One of the key forces on that defense is Tyler Newton, who is the Moore Player of the Week.

Newton finished the game with 9 tackles and two recovered fumbles. The second of the two fumbles was also the first touchdown of his career. He also gets the award for being one of the leaders on the defense.

To go along with Newton, Ricky Balogun, Bo Hurst, Cody Cates and Bryan Norris all had double-digit tackles.

Others in consideration:

Andrew Long, Southmoore football: Long rushed for 140 yards and scored three touchdowns in a loss to Norman. What makes this performance standout is that the junior almost led his team to a come-from-behind win. Two of his three touchdowns came in the fourth quarter. He also had one catch for 41 yards.

Zach VanDyke, Westmoore football: VanDyke factored into Westmoore’s victory in two ways. He returned a punt for a touchdown in the first half and intercepted a Del City pass in the second half as the Jaguars took control off the game. He also had 6 tackles out of the secondary.

Noemi Hernandez, Westmoore cross country: Hernandez set a new season-low as she finished fourth at the Edmond Pre-State meet. Hernandez ran in a time of 11:54.27 as Westmoore edge Jenks to win the event by less than two seconds.

Caleb McKee, Westmoore cross country: McKee finished seventh overall at the Edmond Pre-State 5k and posted a 16:43.33. It bettered his previous season-best by nearly 10 seconds.

Moore softball: What a shock (not really). Stephanie Riley’s girls are headed back to the state tournament, and it’s a wide open field

With the help of a few key plays by other people, Smith essentially carried the Pats on his back to their first victory in three years. He ran for 196 yards on 29 carries, scoring five touchdowns. He pounded out the tough yards in the middle. He punsihed tacklers who got in his way and ran past the ones who didn’t.

Smith just kept making big play after big play, like his two interceptions, one of which he returned 74 yards to the 1 and plunged into the end zone two plays later.

Overall, just an incredibly impressive performance. And congratualtions to the Patriots on the victory.

Other contenders

Casey Curtis and Elie Rushing, Putnam City: Curtis, behind another strong effort from his offensive line, posted yet another 200-yard game as PC knocked off Edmond North Thursday night. Rushing came up with a key tackle inside the 1-yard line to prevent Edmond North from cutting it to a one-score game. The win sets up a huge game at Mustang on Friday night, with major playoff implications on the line.

Corben Jones, Yukon receivers and Carson Mathews: With brother Terry playing on a bum ankle, Corben Jones threw for 280 yards, including TDs of 25, 29 and 41 yards to Kaiden Horn, Jordan Edwards and Eric Granado to carry the Millers to another win. Granado, who hasn’t gotten much notice for his solid play on defense this season, recovered a fumble for a TD to give Yukon its final points. Mathews intercepted a pass that was a huge turning point in the second quarter. It set up the Millers for a TD to take the lead just before halftime.

Brandon Taylor, Jacob Strassle and Tyler Webster, Mustang: Taylor was impressive again, throwing for 366 yards. He hit Strassle twice for TDs and Strassle also converted his first two field goals of the year, from 27 and 37 yards. Webster has been a huge part of the offense lately, accounting for 179 all-purpose yards in Friday’s win over Edmond Santa Fe, including some QB action in the second half.

Jace James and Covin Conrady, PC North: Conrady had another big week at receiver. He’s up to 638 yards and four TDs after grabbing a 47-yarder this week. And James was asked to throw a lot more than usual as PC North only ran the ball 14 times in Friday’s loss. James threw for 310 yards on 28-of-39 passing.

Mustang and Yukon softball teams: No point in singling out individuals here. When you make it to state, it’s a team effort. Yukon won the regional it hosted, while Mustang went to Midwest City as the No. 2 seed and came out on top.

Scott Massey, Megan Wilkerson and Alex Moore, Yukon cross country: Massey finished third in the boys race, while Wilkerson and Moore each finished in the top nine of the girls race at Southwestern Christian last week. Both teams finished third.

Andy Carroll, Mustang cross country: Carroll finished 10th in the pre-state meet in Edmond.

Little Axe softball won its first title Saturday night.

This could have gone to any number of the Little Axe girls on the softball team. I remember meeting with coach Mike Bread in August talking about his team. You could tell he was excited, but he didn’t want to seem too overconfident.

Well, turns out he was right. Led by an incredible group of seniors, the Indians won their first state softball championship Saturday night.

The Player of the Week honor could have gone to Bread, for sticking it out with Little Axe the last six years. To Lacey Williams for battling back from two torn ACLs. To Peyton Watson for setting the tone with HRs in the quarters and semis. To Amanda Edmundson for driving in three runs in the championship. To Andee Frazier for being a sophomore who didn’t crack under pressure.

So instead, it goes to the team and its 35-2 record.

Other contenders

Tanner Koons, Tuttle: Wow,what a Friday for Koons. Three passing TDs, three rushing scores, and all were needed in a double overtime win against Blanchard.

Haskell Browning, Luther: In a huge win against Lexington, Browning accounted for three touchdowns to give the Lions the upset victory.

Kentrell Brothers, Guthrie: His time to shine could be this week, but he added another three touchdowns in the rout of Noble.

There were a lot of heroes in the Mt. St. Mary’s softball team winning its first state softball championship. Morgan McCalmon was phenomenal in the circle. She gave up two runs in three games.

Freshman Sable Hankins came up huge in the championship with a couple of hits and RBIs to lead the Rockets past Washington.

But this team has an unquestioned leader. And the great news for MSM fans is that catcher Bryana Wade will be back for one more season.

Wade was incredible, hitting a home run in the semifinals and the championship. Definitely in the running for Little All-City Player of the Year (no, I haven’t decided that yet).

Other contenders

Sterling Shepard, Heritage Hall, Football: Had more than 330 total yards and scored five touchdowns in a dominating win against Newcastle.

Barry J. Sanders, Heritage Hall, Football: In limited time, rushed for 162 yards and two long touchdown carries in the first half.

Irish offensive line: A statement was made in a rout of Elk City. LaRone Richardson had another big game with the line leading the way to 364 rushing yards.

Mac Katigan, Casady, Football: In a rather surprising loss (to me, anyway), Katigan ran for a score and threw for another against Dallas St. Marks.

Skyler Sikes, OCS, Football: Still operating without Jack Warren, Sikes came up huge with three touchdowns in the win against Perry.

Jake Peace, MSM, Football: Did they break the scoreboard in Lindsay? In a 71-40 loss, Peace scored four touchdowns for the Rockets.

Heritage Hall and CHA volleyball: Both had tremendous seasons. Chargers were ousted in the quarterfinals while CHA was downed by Cache in the championship.

Irish volleyball: Girls are one of the favorites to walk out with the 5A championship this weekend in Shawnee.

Irish cross country: Strong showing by both boys and girls in Edmond. Girls, led by Mary Kate Roy, placed third. Boys, led by Brett Scott, earned the 5A championship.

Ooh this was a tough one. But in the end, his numbers were too good to be overlooked. So Deer Creek’s Alex Christensen gets the Edmond Player of the Week, just edging out the Memorial defense.

In talking with coach Grant Gower, he had no idea Christensen had THAT many carries. Christensen ended up with 38 carries for 246 yards and four touchdowns in a big road win against El Reno.

Gower said El Reno was unable to stop his big QB so he didn’t go away from it. I’ve compared Christensen as a beast before, and well, that might work for this week.

Good bounce back the last two weeks by the Antlers following the loss at Guthrie.

Other contenders

Memorial defense: Aw heck, the whole team in the second half. Playing inspired because of the loss of Cale Olbert, teams turned a 7-7 game at halftime time to a 47-7 win against Choctaw. Jeff Balkenbush and Ry Huff were part of the charge leading the way.

Jesse Mathews, North, Football: Once upon a time he was a contender for the QB job, but Mathews has made a nice transition and had a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Putnam City.

Jeremy Moore, Santa Fe, Football: Wolves dropped their sixth consecutive game, but Moore did pick off two passes in the loss to Mustang.

North softball: Here we go. This is what they’ve been waiting for. Rick Nordyke’s girls are ranked No. 1 heading into this week’s state tournament.

Memorial, North, Santa Fe volleyball: Gotta think the Bulldogs are heavy favorites, but Shawnee will be Edmond east this weekend for the 6A volleyball tournament with all three teams.

Alex Shook and Tara Lewis, Memorial, Cross Country: Lewis was second and Shook was fourth at the pre-state run at Mitch Park.

Arya Bahreini and Alex Skinner, Santa Fe, Cross Country: Bahreini was third and Skinner was fifth as Wolves placed fifth at the pre-state run.

However you describe it, Brandon Taylor was on fire Friday night. His first half alone would have been a great full-game performance — 22-of-25 for 354 yards and three TDs. He finished 30-of-38 for 442 and four TDs as Mustang coasted to a 56-34 win over Edmond North.

Taylor wasn’t alone in his special performance. The offensive line gave him plenty of time virtually all night. David Glidden pulled in 10 passes for more than 220 yards. Jon Luckey made some big catches and had an interception return TD. Tyler Webster kept the ball moving both running and catching the ball. And Stephen Fruit got his name called a lot on defense, making a lot of tackles.

When the Mustang offense is working like that, it’s fun to watch. Taylor is a big, strong lefty who throws the ball well and he’s starting to get more comfortable with his receivers other than Glidden and Luckey — guys like Michael Andersen, who had a TD Friday, Jacob Mersman and Jacob Strassle.

The offense will get another test this week against a stout defensive team at Edmond Santa Fe.

Other contenders

Covin Conrady, PC North football: If the Panthers had pulled off the upset of Midwest City, Conrady is your POW. The senior receiver had nine catches for 230 yards and a score. In case you missed it, here’s the game story.

Casey Curtis, Putnam City football: Curtis isn’t the type of back you’d expect to be a workhorse type who gets 30-plus carries, but he handled it well, rushing 33 times for 204 yards and four TDs.

Corben Jones, Yukon football: With his brother, Terry, sidelined by an injury, Corben Jones picked up the offense and turned a 17-14 deficit to a 35-17 win. He threw TD passes to Kollin Retter and Eric Granado, and rushed for a 20-yard score as well. He threw for 260 yards.

Jamie Rateliff and Kayla Adams, Mustang softball: The two seniors hit back-to-back home runs to finish off a 12-4 win over Choctaw.

Madi Ellis, Yukon softball: Ellis leads the Millerettes into regionals this week after driving in four runs in a rout of PC West.

Emily Helms and Andy Carroll, Mustang cross country: Helms won the girls race and Carroll was fourth in the boys race at the Mustang meet.

– Send West Metro Player of the Week nominations to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

Well, tried to not do it, but we have our first repeat winner of the year. Just a little too tough to not give Edmond Memorial’s Cale Olbert another honor as the Edmond Player of the Week.

In a game the Bulldogs had to have in district play, Olbert was a beast. He rushed for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns in leading Memorial to a 21-6 win against Moore.

It’s a mental test more than anything else as the Bulldogs are trying to survive without their captain (Kameron Doolittle) at 100 percent.

Olbert doesn’t mind having to carry the load. He’s got some real nice help with that defense, too. The defense hasn’t let this team down yet.

Other contenders

Travis Townsend, North, Football: It was a long night for the Huskies in a loss to Mustang, but Townsend was able to throw for four touchdown passes.

Alex Christensen, Michael Coleman, Shawn McLaws and Brennan Miyake, Deer Creek, Football: All four had two touchdowns for the Antlers in a 69-13 blowout win vs. Southeast.

Trevan Smith, Santa Fe, Football: Smith continues to be a bright spot for the Wolves, who have been shutout three times this season.

Taler Buck, Deer Creek, Cross Country: Add another honor to an incredible season, winning the individual title at Holland Hall against great teams from the Tulsa area.

Tara Lewis and Alex Shook, Memorial, Cross Country: No shock here as Lewis and Shook continued their stellar seasons at Mustang on Thursday.

Meredith Farley, North, Cross Country: Farley was team’s best finisher as Huskies won the team competition at Mustang.

Arya Bahreini, Santa Fe, Cross Country: Bahreini helped the Wolves to a fourth-place finish and placed third individually.

Jordan Dixon, North, Softball: Dixon is one big reason why the Huskies are ranked No. 1 and should punch their ticket to state this week.

As his quarterback continues to miss games, Southmoore running back Andrew Long does nothing but carry his team more and more. In a 51-27 victory against Sapulpa last Friday, Long rushed for 215 yards on 32 carries and scored two touchdowns. He also caught two passes for 12 yards as he earned the Moore Player of the Week honor.

Long also eclipsed the 1,000-yard and 10-touchdown mark for the season and is averaging 11.3 yards per carry.

Others in consideration:

Noemi Hernandez, Westmoore cross country: Hernandez led the Westmoore Jaguars to a second-place finish in Mustang last Thursday. With a time of 11:56.50, Hernandez finished in second place. It was also Hernandez’ best time of the season.

Hernandez has finish in the top-6 in all fives races this year and has finished in second place on three separate occasions.

Bryan Norris, Westmoore football: As the Jaguars earned their second-straight shutout, Norris hauled down 11 ball carriers. The senior linebacker led the team in total tackles as well as solo tackles — he had six.

He’s set the bar so high for himself that’s it has become increasingly tough to be surprised at the skills of Heritage Hall junior Barry J. Sanders.

But what he did Friday night in a blowout of Tulsa NOAH had my jaw dropping again. Sanders rushed for 313 yards and five touchdowns as the Chargers continue to make a statement in Class 3A.

Sanders has routinely put two- or three-touchdown outings that I don’t bat an eye at those. However, this was the type of statement that sure silence some critics. And in the short term, it’s this performance that has earned him the Private Schools Player of the Week.

The Chargers have  another big test this week with Newcastle (I’ll be there).

Other contenders

Jamaal Whitney, McGuinness, Football: Whitney broke through for a big one with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in a 21-14 victory at Woodward.

Mac Katigan, Casady, Football: Gets better with every game. Katigan is proving to be a solid running option for the Cyclones, rushing for three touchdowns in the Dallas Greenhill thumping.

Cassius Calhoun, Casady, Football: The workhorse for the Cyclones was at it again with 160 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown.

Tom Frantz, Irish, Cross Country: Frantz placed eighth in leading McGuinness to a second-place finish at Holland Hall.

Mt. St. Mary’s softball: Back to the state tournament go the Rockets. Definitely a contender for the 3A championship.

Gonna keep this one brief because you can read much more about Blanchard’s John McCracken in Tuesday’s paper as the Player of the Week.

We always have a media day for all the local teams to come in for photos and conversations and things like that. Blanchard’s Jeff Craig is one of the most consistent coaches to bring his kids.

The Lions showed up this year but not McCracken. Where did he come from? This junior has exploded through five games. He has 15 rushing touchdowns and two receiving scores.

His success is leading to a lot of team success and Blanchard is 4-1 and right on the cusp of being ranked in the crazy-deep Class 3A.

Let’s just say the key for McCracken has been mental maturity as much as anything else. Read more Tuesday.

Other contenders

Blake Henderson, Bridge Creek: The Bobcats didn’t have great success on the ground in the win against Weatherford, but Henderson did score four touchdowns.

Chase Rodgers, Chickasha: In one of the most emotional scenes of the season, Rodgers threw for five touchdowns in the Chicks’ first home game since the death of Kody Turner.

Louis Durant, Lawton Eisenhower: The Eagles haven’t lost since a Week 1 defeat to Lawton and Durant is a heckuva running back. Durant had three more touchdowns in a rout of Choctaw.

Jeremy Seaton, Cashion: The Wildcats remain the No. 1 team in Class A and Seaton notched another four touchdowns in Cashion’s win against Crescent.

I’ll be keeping this one brief because you can read a whole lot more about this in Tuesday’s paper. But I thought it was a misprint to see Oklahoma Christian win and not see the name Jack Warren.

He’s the straw that stirs the drink for the Saints. But he wasn’t there last week, out with a concussion. So in came a sophomore who has never played quarterback. And all Austin Brooks did was a throw a couple of touchdowns and run for another in a shutout win against Chisholm.

For making the most out of a difficult situation and showing OCS fans the future is bright, Brooks is the Private Schools Player of the Week.

Other contenders

Barry J. Sanders, Heritage Hall, Football: Sanders added another four touchdowns, all in the first half, as the Chargers routed Centennial.

Cooper Cloud, Heritage, Football: He didn’t throw many passes, but the ones he did he sure made count. Cloud threw three touchdowns in the win.

LaRone Richardson, McGuinness, Football: Rushed for a touchdown and more than 100 yards in a 29-14 loss for the Irish to Clinton.

Garrison Lee, Casady, Football: With Cassius Calhoun taking over at RB, it’s allowed Lee to dominate on defense. He had 15 tackles in the Cyclones 10-7 win against Irving Cistercian.

Aimee Rischard, Mt. St. Mary’s, Cross Country: The freshman’s great year continued Saturday at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree, placing eighth in the 3A-A girls competition.

Gabby Marion, Casady, Cross Country: Marion was the highest finisher for the Cyclones who placed 15th in Stillwater.

The Bishop McGuinness boys cross country team: What more can be said about this group? They’ve been great all year and dominated at the Jamboree. How good were they? Larry Ressler (4th), Frank Frantz (5th) and Tom Frantz (6th) were all in the top 10. The girls, paced by Mary Kate Roy, took fifth.

Is Class 3A the land of the running backs? From Devin Campbell (Bethany) to John McCracken (Blanchard) to Blake Riojas (Newcastle) to Barry J. Sanders (Heritage Hall), the list goes on and on.

But you know what? With all those names being mentioned, the best back in the class might reside in Anadarko. Sheldon Wilson has been putting up video game-like numbers through the first four games.

Wilson scored six touchdowns as the Warriors improved to 4-0 this season. And frankly I think I grossly underrated this team initially.

Not anymore. I’m not sleeping on this group any longer. I moved Anadarko up to No. 4 in the class and that sounds about right.

Other contenders

Cole Swayze, Purcell: Not a ‘running back’ in title, but Swayze has been a beast on the ground, too. He scored five touchdowns on the ground in the Dragons’ win against Sulphur.

Corey Bennett, Choctaw: The Choctaw running back notched two touchdowns in helping the Yellowjackets to their second win of the season.

Jerame Littell, Stillwater: Littell was finally able to get things rolling, throwing for 462 yards and five touchdowns in the Pioneers’ first win.

Devonte McCully, Guthrie: Kentrell who? Just kidding, but McCully has become a formidable option for Bryan Dutton, too, scoring three times in a rout of Deer Creek.

The best of the best in the state (and some out of state clubs) for cross country were in Stillwater this weekend for the OSU Cowboy Jamboree.

And while Bishop McGuinness earned the 4A-5A boys title, nobody could touch Deer Creek’s Taler Buck in the individual competition.

Buck won the event by a staggering 18 seconds. And his time would have been good enough to place him fourth in the 6A competition, giving him Edmond Player of the Week honors.

The Antlers have one of the deepest squads in 5A and placed second to the Irish. Blaine Powell was 11th and Kody Ewing took 16th.

Other contenders

Jarion Tudman, North, Football: Welcome to Oklahoma, Tudman. The transfer from Amarillo came alive for 212 yards and 3 TDs in a win against Del City.

Ry Huff, Memorial, Football: Might see even more time this week and showed glimpses of what he can do with a touchdown in a 17-7 loss.

Abby Taliaferro, North, Softball: Taliaferro has been one of the best hitters for Rick Nordyke’s club all season and has done it in the biggest games.

Alex Hodges, Santa Fe, Volleyball: If it wasn’t for Memorial, we’d be talking about Hodges and the Wolves who are ranked No. 2 in 6A.

Taylor Melchert, Deer Creek, Cross Country: The girls placed sixth at the Jamboree with Melchert leading the way earning 36th.

Arya Bahreini, Santa Fe, Cross Country: His stellar season continued in Stillwater, too, placing fourth as the Wolves earned 10th.

Alex Shook, Memorial, Cross Country: Six was the magic number as Shook earned it individually and the team did the same at the Jamboree.

OK, I felt a little pressure Friday night. Went out and said Midwest City was my LOCK of the week over Yukon. And when Scott Wright was keeping me posted Friday, was starting to sweat.

And then Greg Austin took over. In the blink of an eye, a 21-6 deficit became a 48-21 victory. Austin came up huge, throwing for 256 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for another.

With his performance, the Bombers showed they’re still the team to beat in the OKC area and has earned Austin the Mid-Del Player of the Week.

Other contenders

James Flanders, Midwest City, Football: After being shutdown in the first half, came alive to rush for more than 100 yards and a touchdown.

Greg Johnson, Del City, Football: Nobody played harder on the Eagles squad than Johnson, who did all he could in a 36-21 loss to Edmond North.

Carl Albert offensive line: With all those touchdown runs by the Titans last week, can’t just pick one. This line has absolutely dominated the competition the last three weeks.

Madisyn Long, Carl Albert, Softball: Titans survived another week as the top-rated team and Long had a six-RBI game against Guthrie.

Joshua Metcalf, Carl Albert, Cross Country: Metcalf was the Titans’ best finisher at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater.

Jamie Locke and Matt King, Midwest City, Cross Country: Top finishers for the Bombers at Oklahoma Baptist this weekend.

And though the numbers might not appear to make sense, I’m going with the Millwood defense as the Oklahoma City Players of the Week. Yes, the Falcon D gave up 41 points and 362 yards, but less than 100 of those yards came in the second half when Millwood needed their defense the most.

And the defense got takeaways on McGuinness’ first two possessions of the game — including the interception Clifford Lawrence took back 73 yards for a touchdown — to help the Falcons build a 20-0 lead.

Kevonte Richardson’s 200 passing yards and 144 rushing yards — including a 92-yard TD run — were ultra-impressive. Smae for Mike Cole’s three catches for three TDs. Brandon Swindall had multiple important catches and Shevin Patton averaged more than 10 yards per carry at running back.

And Millwood needed all of those contributions, but the top award goes to the defense, guys like Lawrence, Larry Seals, Josh Turner and Davion Pierson.

Seals was all over the place all night long, despite playing with a huge cast on one hand. Pierson battled dehydration throughout the night, but came up with two huge plays on McGuinness’ final offensive series, making a tackle in the backfield and sniffing out a screen pass to make another stop at the line of scrimmage.

That play came right before Swindall’s interception that sealed the victory.

Other contenders

Marcus Caddell and Diontay Washington, Douglass: Washington rushed for 60 yards on 10 carries, including two early TDs, and Caddell made the game’s biggest play, a 38-yard interception return for a score.

Jay Gogue, Southeast: Gogue led the Spartans to a third straight win, knocking off Capitol Hill. Gogue rushed for 165 yards and five TDs.

Brison Currin, Centennial: Coach Mark Ryan praised his quarterback for managing the offense well as the Bison head into Week 4 with a 2-1 record.

Aron Gaines and Migual Potts, Northeast: Each player had two TDs, with Gaines pulling in scoring receptions of 12 and 30 yards, and Potts rushing for scores of 48 and 54 yards as the Vikings defeated Riverside 38-6.

Send nominations for OKC Player of the Week to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

This time around, the 5-foot-8, 170-pound junior lowered the boom on Choctaw, rushing for more than 200 yards in Thursday’s 42-22 defeat of the Yellowjackets.

He had three touchdowns and four runs of 20 yards or more, incluing his last two touches before heading to the bench for a well-deserved break.

Honorable mention to PC’s offensive line, and Curtis’ backfield runningmate, Desmond Tilly, who surpassed the 100-yard mark on Friday as well. The run game will be a big part of what the Pirates do as they try to make a run at the postseason, starting this week with a Thursday home game against US Grant.

Other candidates

Brandon Taylor and the Mustang offensive line: The Bronco front five gave their quarterback ample time to throw, and the result was 25 completed passes in 30 attempts for 313 yards. And give credit to senior receiver Michael Andersen, who had seven catches for 117 yards, providing Taylor with a reliable target as teams try to take away David Glidden.

Sam Wolfe, Putnam City North: Another strong week from Wolfe has him among the top rushers in Class 6A with 417 yards on 54 carries (an average of 7.7 yards per carry) with two TDs.

Yukon’s Jones brothers, Terry and Corben: Running back Terry Jones exploded for 261 yards and a pair of touchdowns behind another stout effort from the Miller offensive line, and QB Corben Jones completed 14 of 24 passes for 232 yards, including scoring tosses of 51 (Eric Granado), 64 (Kollin Retter) and 18 yards (Jake Doyle). He also rushed for a TD in the win over Stillwater.

Tori Cox, Putnam City volleyball: The Baylor commit anchored the Pirates’ run to the finals of the Bartlesville Bruin Invitational.

Andy Carroll, Oscar Barcenas and Lucas Goble, Mustang cross country: All three runners finished in the top 11 at one of the metro area’s top meets, the Edmond Dog Pack, on Friday. The trio each finished between 17:12 and 17:24.

Emily Helms, Mustang cross country: A contender for the 6A girls state individual title, Helms was second at the Dog Pack. She finished the 3,200-meter run in 11:59, just 14 seconds off the winning pace.

Scott Massey, Tyler Baxter and Thad Dies, Yukon cross country: The Millers dominated the PC North meet at Woodson Park, with Massey winning gold, Baxter the bronze and Dies finishing foruth. Clay Mattox and Kelby Watson also finished in the top 10 for the Millers.

Send West Metro Player of the Week nominations to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

I don’t like giving out ‘season’ honors, but Midwest City running back James Flanders has earned that honor through the first three games.

Adding another 170 rushing yards and two touchdowns in a 41-6 victory against the Wolves, Flanders is my Mid-Del Player of the Week.

Flanders has been incredible in the last two weeks, leading the charge in the comeback win against Enid. And sparking the team to the win vs. Santa Fe.

Midwest City has a big test Friday night against fellow undefeated Yukon (Scott Wright will be there).

Other contenders

Kenton Whittington and Darvonta Knight, Carl Albert, Football: One’s got the power (KW), the other has the speed and the moves. Together they’re a big reason why the Titans are 2-1.

Larry Long, Del City, Football: In a tough game for the Eagles, Long caught the only touchdown of the night in a 41-6 loss to Norman.

Brooke Hand, Midwest City, Softball: After a big week at a tournament at OU, the Bombers continued their success with a win against top-ranked Edmond North at the Putnam City Tournament.

This might be the first time a Player of the Week honor is going to someone who didn’t score a touchdown. Yes, it’s true that Edmond Memorial RB Cale Olbert did not punch it in Friday in the win against rival Edmond North.

But you know what? He did just about everything else. With Kameron Doolittle hobbled, Olbert was the workhorse time and time again and has earned the Edmond honor.

Olbert is going to have to play a big role if the Bulldogs are going to continue their hot start. He adds a perfect blend to the offensive game. And we know how good that defense is.

Other contenders

Grant Bohuslavicky, Memorial, Football: Scored a touchdown and made big catches all night in the win against North.

Travis Townsend, North, Football: For three quarters, deadly accurate. Made good decisions all night long against Memorial.

Ty Hensley, Santa Fe, Football: Hensley scored the Wolves’ touchdown in a 41-6 loss at Midwest City.

Michael Coleman, Deer Creek, Football: Defense caused seven turnovers against Tecumseh and Coleman had an INT return for a touchdown.

Maddie Martin, Santa Fe, Softball: Wolves don’t have the numbers they’ve had in the past, but Martin is proving to be a stellar player.

Mattie Burleson, Memorial, Volleyball: You tend to forget how great she is with Micha Hancock also on the team, but Burleson is incredible at the net.

Tara Lewis and Alex Shook, Memorial, Cross Country: Surprise, surprise. Shook was second and Lewis fifth at the Edmond Dog Pack event at Mitch Park.

Hannah Helker and Anna Kimsey, North, Cross Country: In a good battle, Helker and Kimsey helped Huskies to win against Westmoore and rest of field at Edmond Dog Pack run.

Taler Buck and Courtney Maichak, Deer Creek, Cross Country: Girls won the smaller school competition and Buck was fourth in boys event at Edmond Dog Pack run.

Arya Bahreini and Alex Skinner, Santa Fe, Cross Country: Bahreini was third and Skinner seventh at the Edmond Dog Pack run.

Again, will keep this short because you can read much more in Tuesday’s paper. But the Best of the Rest Player of the Week for last week is Newcastle’s Blake Riojas.

I could give it to the entire Racers team for making me look like an idiot because they did in the 35-7 victory against a good Blanchard team.

Newcastle was pumped to play at home, and it sure showed. Riojas scored four times and is averaging more than 220 rushing yards per game in the first three contests this season.

Other contenders

Michael Lowe, Jones: Came up huge in the 44-0 win against Mt. St. Mary’s. He was 16-of-22 for 311 yards and three touchdowns. And in a huge oversight, the Longhorns were left out of the 2A rankings. I apologize, Jones should be No. 9.

Jonathan Burton, Enid: In what was probably the best game of the week, Burton had four touchdowns (three receiving, one rushing) in the 37-36 victory against Guthrie. He scored the game-winner from Alex Patterson with 31 seconds left.

Ryan Spangler, Bridge Creek: After a disappointing Week 1, Bobcats are back to what they do best. Spangler threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns in a 32-19 win against Little Axe.

Jeremy Smith, Kingfisher: In the big rivalry showdown with Hennessey, Smith scored four times in a fun, close 35-32 victory.

It was hard enough narrowing the field down to three guys, and that’s why Millwood quarterback Kevonte Richardson and receivers/defensive backs Brandon Swindall and Josh Turner must share the honor of Oklahoma City Player of the week.

Richardson threw for nearly 400 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 40 more yards and a score. Turner had five catches for 117 yards, including grabs of 32 and 27 yards on the final drive, the latter accounting for the game-winning touchdown. And Swindall had five receptions for 161 yards and three scores, with his shortest catch of the day going for 19 yards. Oh, and he had the game-saving tackle at the 1-yard line on the final play of the 36-31 victory.

So, yeah, they were kind of a big deal on Saturday.

A few other Millwood players who earned recognition Saturday: Nose guard Stanford Rice, linebacker Larry Seals and receiver Dametric Sanders, who had a 79-yard TD catch.

And Douglass had their share of playmakers, too. RB Aliston Cobb had 202 rushing yards and three TDs, and Diontay Washington running behind a powerful offensive line all day. DeVante McKinney was stirring up trouble at defensive end. Erik King and the linebackers were running to the ball well. QB Shon Bridges made his share of plays, though he wishes he could’ve picked up one more yard on that last play. And Marcus Caddell who made several plays, including a 90-yard kickoff return TD that kept the Trojans in the game in the third quarter.

Other POW contenders

Jay Gogue, QB/RB, and Micah Hunter, QB, Southeast football: The Spartans are 2-0 with Gogue leading the way. He has played quarterback and running back this season as coach Michael Branch looks for the best way to utilize his dangerous runner.  Hunter threw a TD pass in Thursday’sd 27-14 win over Star Spencer, helping keep the Spartans from becoming one-dimensional.

Christian Gorham and Terry Arnold, Northwest Classen football: Gorham threw five touchdown passes, hitting Arnold for three of them, on his way to a 279-yard performance on just 12-of-19 passing. Arnold pulled in scoring catches of 15, 23 and 21 yards, and also returned a kickoff 86 yards for a score as Northwest edged Northeast 40-34.

Trevyone Willis and Michael Thomas, Northeast football: Thomas threw a touchdown pass to Willis and caught another himself in the tough loss to NW Classen. Willis had the 22-yard TD catch and rushed for TDs of 20 and 37 yards.

Nico Durham and Tyrone Jones, Centennial football: Durham and Jones combined for all three Bison touchdowns in Friday’s loss to Anadarko.

GaVonte Bonds, US Grant football: Bonds rushed for 116 yards on 14 carries against Capitol Hill.

Irving Roa, John Marshall cross country: Roa won the John Marshall meet at Lake Hefner last Thursday, finishing the 4,800-meter course in 16:55.

– To nominate an OKC athlete for Player of the Week, e-mail Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com

I was all set for Garrison Lee to become the star running back for Casady this season. But when I talked to him, he mentioned a fella by the name of Cassius Calhoun.

Say wha? I know why now. Calhoun, a transfer from Richardson, Texas, brings the goods every game and had that bust out performance Friday in a win against OCS.

Calhoun scored three times as Casady earned its first win with an impressive showing against the Saints. He’s earned the Private Schools Player of the Week.

Just a junior, Calhoun is one of several crazy-talented 11th graders on this team. Oh, and Lee? Well, he’s become one of the unquestioned leaders on defense.

Other contenders

Nick Callaway, Bishop McGuinness, Football: I know him on defense, but he wrote his name in Irish lore with the TD reception with :17 left against rival Bishop Kelley.

Barry J. Sanders, Sterling Shepard and Cooper Cloud, Heritage Hall, Football: Each in one way or another accounted for two touchdowns in a win against Clinton.

Mac Katigan, Casady, Football: His numbers won’t blow you away, but Katigan is doing an effective job running and passing for the Cyclones.

Zach Peak, OCS, Football: In a losing effort, Peak scored both of the Saints’ touchdowns.

Meredith Zerby and Trevon Ivory, Heritage, Cross Country: The top girls and boys finishers for the Chargers at Deer Creek.

Larry Resler, Bishop McGuinness, Cross Country: In a field of top 6A teams, it was the Irish that won the OK Runner Classic event in Norman. The girls placed seventh.

Aimee Richard and Ray Frazier, Mt. St. Mary’s, Cross Country: Look out for the Rockets. Richard placed fourth and Frazier second at the OK Runner Classic.

Know any more nominations? Let me know.

There were other numbers that were more impressive. Running backs that ran for more yards. Quarterbacks that put up gaudy numbers.

But what Lawton’s Deaquan Wojciechowski did against a rival in a big-game atmosphere, well, that’s gotta mean something. Wojciechowski rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown and set the tone in a 41-9 thrashing of a good Lawton MacArthur team.

We’ll keep this short because I’ve written about Wojo for Tuesday’s paper, but he has taken this move from WR to RB and made it a seamless transition.

Other contenders

Brayle Brown, Shawnee: Brown threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for two more in a 33-26 victory against Deer Creek.

John McCracken, Blanchard: What a start to the season for the Lions. McCracken added another four touchdowns in a win against Lindsay.

Caden Locke, Bridge Creek: You want an all-around game? Three receiving touchdowns, a rushing score and recovering a blocked punt for his fifth touchdown. Not bad.

Jeremy Seaton, Cashion: When the Wildcats needed it the most, Seaton powered his way for one big play after another in a win against Morrison.

His numbers may not be up to Player of the Weeks standards, but the feat Southmoore’s Tre Edwards pulled off earns him the spot. The sophomore quarterback filled in for Oklahoma-commit and senior quarterback Kendal Thompson midway through the third quarter and went on a 98-yard drive in the fourth quarter to give the SaberCats a permanent lead.

Thompson led the SaberCats back against Westmoore and finished the game with 91 rushing yards and 108 passing yards. He ran for two touchdowns and three for a third in the 49-27 victory.

Others in consideration:

Tyler Thompson, Westmoore, Football: Thompson performed at a top level against one of the Jaguars’ toughest opponents of the season. In the Southwest Showdown, Thompson threw for 125 yards and rushed for 117 yards and one touchdown. He threw for two touchdowns.

Noemi Hernandez, Westmoore, Cross Country: Finished second at the OK Runner Classic in Norman with a time of 12:43. She led the Jaguars to a second consecutive first-place finish.

Brianna Nunley, Moore, Softball: The Lions are roaring again under Stephanie Riley. Nunley is leading the charge in the circle.

Volleyball fanatics are probably saying ‘it’s about time.’ And hey, you’re probably right. But now that I’ve had the opportunity to watch Micha Hancock of Memorial play the game, I get it.

Like I said last week, I was amazed by her skills. The Tuesday wins in the Edmond Triangular would have been enough for her to earn the Edmond Player of the Week.

However, when you add in the fact the Bulldogs swept the field at the 2nd annual Heather Harkness Invitational over the weekend, that clinches it.

Memorial is easily the best team in 6A and would only get a legit argument from Bishop Kelley in terms of being the best in the state. Should be a fun rest of the season for the girls.

Other contenders

Kameron Doolittle, Memorial, Football: Only added two rushing scores and two passing touchdowns to his long list of accomplishments in a win vs. Stillwater.

Phillip Sumpter, Santa Fe, Football: Get ready to see this name a lot. He did everything but score in proving to be the future at RB for the Wolves.

DonQuay Hammons, North, Football: A 99-yard touchdown reception will get you here every time. Says he ready for the Edlam battle with Memorial.

Alex Christensen, Deer Creek, Football: Tough loss for the Antlers at Shawnee, but Christensen was able to find the end zone twice.

Alex Hodges, Santa Fe, Volleyball: The best player on the second-ranked Wolves team impressed me with her abilities and leadership.

Santa Fe softball: Biggest winner of the week with the OSSAA eliminating the game limit rule, allowing the Wolves to have a JV team for the rest of the year.

Taler Buck, Deer Creek, Cross Country: Won the boys competition at Deer Creek this weekend as Antlers had the top five runners.

Arya Bahreini and Shannon Ray, Santa Fe, Cross Country: The top finishers for boys and girls at the OK Runner Classic event in Norman.

P.J. Osburn and Hannah Helker, North, Cross Country: The top finishers for boys and girls at the OK Runner Classic event in Norman.

Tara Lewis, Memorial, Cross Country: Placed fourth at the OK Runner Classic event in Norman.

Have more nominations? Send ‘em this way.

The group has only two returning starters, Travis Henning and Lantz Parks, with only one of them — Henning — being a senior. Other guys like Tyler Bush, Logan Schantz and Will Paddock have done well stepping into roles on the Yukon front.

Behind them on Friday, the Millers got 120 rushing yards from Terry Jones and 72 more from quarterback Corben Jones, who had good protection all night in the passing game as well.

Other contenders

David Glidden and Jacob Strassle, Mustang football: Other than Glidden’s more than 200 return yards, including a 95-yard TD, Strassle was one of the only other players to make a significant impact Friday night for the Broncos. He joined the team to be a kicker, and he made all four of his extra-point tries, while putting a couple of kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. And he caught two passes for 41 yards on the Broncos’ only significant offensive touchdown drive.

Carson Lynn, Putnam City football: Last year’s version of Strassle, Lynn joined the football team to help the kicking game, but soon became a receiving option as well. This year, with a full offseason under his belt, he will be one of the team’s top WRs. He scored a TD and kicked a late field goal in the 16-7 win over Putnam City North.

Scott Massey, Yukon cross country: Massey won the Shawnee Canadian River Run on Thursday, 19 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Teammate Tyler Baxter was fourth.

Emily Helms and Andy Carroll, Mustang cross country: Carroll finished third to lead Mustang in the boys competition at Edmond Santa Fe, and Helms, a sophomore, won the girls competition.

Madi Ellis, Yukon softball: Ellis had a two-run double to help third-ranked Yukon edge Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 last week.

Shaundra Hicks, Putnam City volleyball: Hicks is a reliable player who holds the Pirates together. She and hitter Tori Cox have led PC to the No. 7 spot in the rankings after a hot start.

Jordan Cox, Mustang volleyball: The Broncos have made a move to get into the top 15 early in the season, including winning their own tournament. Despite a pair of losses in the last week to top teams PC and Edmond Santa Fe, Mustang is making some noise, and Cox’s hitting ability is a big reason why.

– If you’d like to nominate a West Metro player of the week, e-mail information to Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com.

When you have a top recruit like Kentrell Brothers of Guthrie, the attention gravitates toward him. And when you score three touchdowns like he did, more attention is given.

But you don’t score three touchdowns without an accurate quarterback, and that’s why the Best of the Rest Player of the Week is Guthrie quarterback Bryan Dutton.

Dutton missed one pass. Check that, had one incompletion. It wasn’t an actual miss as he was throwing it out of bounds. He was 12-of-13 for 203 yards and had two of those scores to Brothers.

A lot of teams made statements in Week 1, but the 25-0 win against the Demons is arguably the biggest one made in the state.

Other contenders

Travelle Pelkey, Lexington: Bulldogs didn’t have much time with new coach Waymon Scott but made it count. He rushed for 233 yards and two touchdowns in a win against Sulphur.

John McCracken, Blanchard: McCracken had four touchdowns in a 32-29 win at Bethany. This was easily one of the best games of the opening week.

The senior had 156 yards and two touchdowns on just eight carries, and barely touched the field in the second half of a 42-0 win over Star Spencer Friday night.

Former Millwood running back Emilio Gatewood, now at Norman North, said Patton was the team’s most dangerous player with the ball in his hands, even last year, when Gatewood was busy rushing for more than 2,000 yards at Millwood as a junior.

Other contenders

Douglass defense and RB Aliston Cobb, football: It was the defense that truly gave Douglass a chance to win on Thursday, holding McGuinness to 150 yards in the 9-7 loss. And Cobb anchored a strong backfield that had 160 yards on 36 carries in all.

Davion Smith, John Marshall football: The freshman quarterback stepped into his first varsity football game and accounted for two TDs, one passing and one rushing (a 30-yarder) as the Bears topped Northwest Classen 27-9.

Clifford Lawrence and Brandon Swindall, Millwood football: Aside from his solid play at receiver, Swindall had a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown. Lawrence had three sacks in the win over Star.

Edgar Velasco, US Grant cross country: Velasco finished seventh, just more than a minute off the winning pace Friday at Edmond Santa Fe.

– To nominate an OKC player of the week in any of the fall sports, e-mail Scott Wright at swright@opubco.com.

With a weekend full of big runners, there was one that stood out the most. Westmoore Noemi Hernandez finished second at the 3.2-kilometer race at Edmond Santa Fe with a 12:24.00 and led the Jaguars to a first-place finish. Westmoore beat Edmond North by 21 points in the first recorded meet of the season.

Behind Hernandez, Westmoore picked up 5 of the top-15 spots against an extremely tough field. The race featured Edmond North, Edmond Santa Fe and Edmond Memorial. Hernandez is the Moore Player of the Week.

Westmoore runs again on Friday in the OK Runner Classic in Norman.

Others in consideration:

Cody Feuerborn, Westmoore, Football: Feuerborn carried the Jaguars to a 21-14 victory in the Moore War and scored all three touchdowns.

Andrew Long, Southmoore, Football: With the SaberCats trailing by 13 through the first quarter, Long turned 28 first-quarter yards in a game total of 324 and three touchdowns. Behind touchdown runs of 75 and 80 yards, Long brought Southmoore back for a 40-19 victory.

Caleb McKee, Westmoore, Cross Country: As Westmoore finished in second place as a team, McKee’s 16:54.00 was good enough for a individual fifth-place finish.

Raegan Sampson, Moore, Softball: The Lions remain one of the top teams in the state and Sampson is a big reason why. She’s hitting .486 with 15 RBIs.

There were some good Mid-Del football performances in Week 1, but I know we’re going to see better. And right now, the Carl Albert softball team is on a huge roll.

Since losing the second game of the season against perennial power Moore, the Titans have rallied off 16 consecutive victories.

And might, just might be No. 1 in 5A when the new poll comes out Tuesday. Leading the charge is senior pitcher Whitney Robinson.

In three games last week, Robinson earned two victories and came on in relief in the other. But it’s not just in the circle where she is shining. Robinson is also the team’s best hitter with a .594 average and leads the teams in runs scored with 31. Robinson has earned the Mid-Del Player of the Week.

Other contenders

Chazten Gonzales, Del City, Football: Plagued by four turnovers, Gonzales did show signs of why he is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the state. He threw a TD in the 35-13 loss to Midwest City.

Trevon Lewis, James Flanders and Greg Austin, Midwest City, Football: Hard to pick between the three so all get nominated. Lewis dominated on defense while Flanders and Austin each accounted for two touchdowns.

Taylor Hawkins, Carl Albert, Football: Still rounding into football shape, Hawkins had the Titans sole touchdown in a tough 12-10 loss to Booker T.

Andrew Thompson and Jessica Green, Carl Albert, Cross Country: Thompson led the Titans to a seventh-place finish at the Edmond Santa Fe meet by placing 13th. Green paved the way to a 10th-place result for the girls.

Anyone else deserve recognition? Let me know.

When healthy, he’s one of the most passionate players you’re going to find in the state. The key is going to be staying on the field for Heritage Hall’s Sterling Shepard.

He showed what he can do when he is on the field in a 35-16 win against Casady. Pick a way to score and Shepard did it. He had three touchdowns – one receiving, one rushing and one INT return. He has earned the Private Schools Player of the Week.

The Chargers made a big statement against their rival, catapulting to No. 3 in the Class 3A rankings. It doesn’t slow down as Heritage welcomes Clinton to Pop Murray Field on Friday.

Other contenders

Brandon Nguyen, McGuinness, Football: Defense dominated the day in a 9-7 win against Douglass and Nguyen made several key plays.

Graham Bennett, Casady, Football: A sensational defensive performance in a loss. Had many tackles, a sack and ran down Barry J. Sanders in the open field.

Barry J. Sanders, Heritage, Football: Didn’t play most of the second half but still ended up with almost 300 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.

Jake Peace, Mt. St. Mary’s, Football: In a 30-28 losing effort against Crooked Oak, Peace was incredible with three receiving touchdowns.

Jack Warren and Logan Magill, OCS, Football: The two accounted for both touchdowns in a tough 19-17 loss to Metro Christian. Magill also had 14 tackles.

Caleb McGehee, CHA, Football: In a 33-0 win against Maysville, McGehee led the charge with three rushing touchdowns.

Bryana Wade, MSM, Softball: Wade is playing a huge role in why the Mount is ranked No. 3 in Class 3A and has a big showdown with Little Axe this week.

Jack Bickford, Casady, Cross Country: Was Cyclones best runner at Edmond Santa Fe meet and Casady placed 10th.

McGuinness volleyball: Irish picked up a big win against rival Heritage Hall last Tuesday.

Anyone else deserve recognition? Let me know.

Going to keep this one kinda short because you can read much more on Colten Sander in Tuesday’s paper. However, Sander deserves special mention for being the Edmond Player of the Week.

Sander was sensational in a win against Piedmont, rushing for 231 yards and three scores. Wildcats hung in there early, but Sander and the rest of the team carried the day in the second half.

Sander was banged up all last season with a concussion and foot injuries but appears to be back on the right track now.

Other contenders

Kameron Doolittle, Memorial, Football: There wasn’t much scoring in a 14-0 win against Santa Fe, but Doolittle provided a big spark with a 65-yard TD run.

Troy Davis, North, Football: Showed great versatility catching and running the ball and scored a touchdown in a 40-19 loss to Southmoore.

Ty Hensley, Santa Fe, Football: Hensley is the future for the Wolves, which should be incredibly bright. However, Week 1 was not kind to ESF.

Alex Christensen, Deer Creek, Football: Caught a couple of passes from Joel Blumenthal and also rushed for two touchdowns.

Madison Nordyke, North, Softball: The Huskies are on a roll right now, and Nordyke is a big reason why. She pitched beautifully in an Edlam win against Memorial.

Micha Hancock, Memorial, Volleyball: Back after claiming silver at the Youth Olympics, Hancock and the rest of the girls pulled out a fun five-game battle with Bishop Kelley.

Alex Shook and Tara Lewis, Memorial, Cross Country: Shook won the 5K run at Santa Fe and helped lead the Bulldogs to a team title. Lewis placed third.

Arya Bahreini, Santa Fe, Cross Country: Bahreini placed second as the Wolves finished fourth.

Hannah Helker, North, Cross Country: Helker led the Huskies’ charge with a fourth-place finish. The team placed second.

Have any more? Send ‘em this way.

Alec Lee, Norman

Boys soccer

The junior scored the game-winning goal as Norman upset a Putnam City North team that was unbeaten and ranked first in the NSCAA/adidas national rankings. Lee, who had two game-winners this season, helped the Tigers win the program’s first district championship since 2002.

Jade Staggs, Westmoore

Girls golf

Even while playing in swamp-like conditions and heavy winds, Staggs won the Mid-State Conference championship. Staggs carded a 1-under par 70 at Westwood Park Golf Course and ran away with the title by 10 strokes.

Chris Haworth continues to dominate for the Putnam City North tennis team at No. 1 singles, winning again this week at Duncan. But a key piece in the Panthers’ state tournament hopes is No. 2 singles player Kole Melton.

At Duncan, Melton earned a top finish, which put the Panthers tied with Jenks for the team title.

Both of these guys will be in the mix down the stretch, and it should be fun to watch.

Other contenders:

June Tigert and Charter Lawson, Mustang girls golf: Looking more and more like an unstoppable force, the Mustang girls golf team finished with the top score at its eighth straight tournament last Thursday at Lake Hefner North. Tigert was second individually at 77 and Lawson third at 78.

Kyle Covey, PC North baseball: Covey drove in the winning run as No. 8 PC North knocked off No. 6 Yukon on Tuesday in a crucial top-10 matchup.

Ty Hill, Yukon baseball: Hill had a spectacular outing at the Northwest Optimist Tournament, including a five-hit, four RBI performance in a 10-2 win over Norman on Thursday.

Shaydestiny Johnson and Jamee Moore, PC girls track: Running against one of the deepest fields before the state meet, Johnson won the 100 meters  in 12.07 seconds at the Edmond North Invitational on Friday. Moore was second in both the 100 and 200.

Lacey Rhodes, Ashton Adams and Mariah Garcia, Mustang girls track: Rhodes was first in the high jump (5-4) and third in the long jump (17-1 1/2) at Edmond on Friday. Adams was second in the 300 hurdles (48.64) and Garcia was second in the discus (125-8). 

Atavian Blakely, PC West boys track: The senior tied for second in the high jump (6-4) and finished fourth in the long jump (21-0) at the Edmond North meet.

Edgar Pineda, Mustang boys soccer: Pineda scored the only goal in Mustang’s 1-0 win over second-ranked and previously unbeaten Edmond Memorial on Tuesday.

Bailey Boulware, Mustang girls soccer: Boulware, the OU signee, scored twice, including the golden goal in a 4-3 OT win over Edmond Memorial.

Kollin Retter, Tanner Ramsey and Ethan Coughlin, Yukon boys track: Retter won silver medals in the 110-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles at Ardmore on Friday. Ramsey (14-0) and Coughlin (13-6) were second and third in the pole vault.

Ashley Fox and Jordan Smith, Yukon girls tennis: Fox at No. 1 singles and Smith at No. 2 singles each finished as the runner-up at the Metro Conference Touranment, helping the Millerettes to a second-place team finish.

This is me killing two birds with one stone. The Deer Creek baseball team was solid in winning the East-West Classic, and I wanted to get this video of Andrew Harlan up here on the blog.

Harlan had the game-changing hit in the championship victory with an inside-the-park home run to lead the Antlers to the 10-4 win against Guthrie.

But his outing was one of several worth mentioning as Brian Anderson had a big game. Pitcher Michael Fulmer, in only his fifth plate appearance of the season, hit a grand slam against Miami on Friday. Cale Coshow was steady on the mound.

There are so many players on this team that can come up big on any given day. It’s almost scary to think what could happen if ALL of them were clicking at once.

As is, the Antlers have been No. 1 in Class 5A ever since winning at Carl Albert and are in great position to try to claim the state title.

Other Contenders

Ty Hensley, Santa Fe, Baseball: Don’t have too much to add from his 11 K outing vs. rival Memorial, just fun to see someone grow up in front of your eyes.

Trey Reynolds, Memorial, Baseball: Reynolds came up huge in a 7-6 win against Southmoore last Tuesday, notching the game-winning hit.

Casey Distaso, North, Tennis: Distaso beat Union’s Logon Collins in a near three-hour match at the Edmond Tournament as Huskies are now ranked No. 1 in 6A.

Truit Gray, Memorial, Tennis: Bulldogs are a consistent bunch and Gray was able to break out for a victory at the Edmond Tournament.

Rachel Mitcham, North, Tennis: Been able to bounce back from early struggles as Huskies are right there in the race.

Ian Davis, Deer Creek, Golf: Another week, another great outing by the Oklahoma State signee. The 5A title chase will be intense.

Matt Helms, Santa Fe, Golf: The Wolves have been knocking on the door all season and Helms placed fourth at the Edmond North Tournament.

Allison Sell, North, Golf: Just a freshman, having brilliant season and won the PC North Invitational on Thursday.

Jacob Romig, Deer Creek, Soccer: Antlers clinched the district with the 4-0 win against Capitol Hill, Romig had two of the scores.

Miranda King and Hannah Helker, North, Track and Field: Each won an individual title at the Edmond North meet Thursday.

Gloria Mosely, Memorial, Track and Field: Continued her stellar season with a win in the discus throw at the North meet.

Tiara Roberts, Deer Creek, Track and Field: The freshman won the 300 hurdles at the North meet.

Adam Godwin, North, Track and Field: Distance runner extraordinaire won the 1,600 and 3,200 at the North meet.

Chase Sammons and Bryce Burget, Memorial, Track and Field: Each won an event at the North meet and give ‘Dogs a great chance at the field events.

If all Bishop McGuinness girls soccer player Alexa Gonce did was score the game-winning goal against Deer Creek last week, she would have been in the conversation for Player of the Week.

But she had two goals in that one AND added two more in a 4-0 win against Metro Christian on Thursday. And she’s been solid all season and easily gets this week’s honor.

The Irish are in great shape heading into the playoffs (that begin next week), having defeated No. 1-ranked Bishop Kelley and No. 2-ranked Deer Creek.

Paced by Gonce and Abbey Akin and goaltender Elyse Hight, the Irish might have all the components necessary to make that run this year.

Other Contenders

Ryan Shelley, Casady, Baseball: Shelley came up huge against rival Holland Hall. He had a home run and three RBIs. Might he top it Monday vs. Heritage? (I’ll be there)

Kyle Ahmad, Irish, Baseball: Ahmad busted out of his slump at the Deer Creek Classic, getting multiple hits in games and using his speed to get things going.

Nathan Bowker, Heritage Hall, Baseball: The Chargers are still rolling at 20-2 and Bowker has added pitching depth to go with Bob Kraft.

Levi Fisher, Heritage, Track and Field: Fisher was dominant in winning the discus throw at the Route 66 Classic at Chandler.

Sam O’Brien and Caitlin Farris, Irish, Golf: O’Brien has been consistent all season for McGuinness while Farris placed second at the Altus Invitational last week.

Jackson Ogle, OCS, Golf: Won the Enid Tournament last week and has been involved in three scorecard playoff ties for championships this year.

Collin Groves, Heritage, Soccer: Chargers blanked Bethany last week as Groves added a goal and has been a strong scorer all season.

Emily Conrad, Irish, Tennis: After three years of being in doubles, Conrad, an Abilene Christian signee, has done well at No. 2 singles.

Will Smith, Norman North

Boys soccer

Smith scored a combined five goals and added an assist in the T-Wolves’ last two games. The junior midfielder, who leads Norman North in scoring with 13 goals on the season, netted a career-high four against Lawton Eisenhower on Friday.

I swear this wasn’t planned that we just happened to pick the right week to write a big story on Santa Fe track star Walter Henderson.

Henderson had an incredible week on the track at both OBU and the Edmond meet, winning both the 100 and 200 in both events and setting personal bests times with each performance. And with that comes the honor of the Edmond Player of the Week.

Henderson said this year’s Wolves team is so focused to take that track championship. And when you add him to a group that includes Gunnar Nixon, Travis Hinton, Brian Mills, among others, and you start to see why.

Santa Fe has all the tools to make it happen, just have to show up on that weekend in May.

Other contenders

Drew Dahlberg, Memorial, Baseball: Is he ever going to slow down? He was sensational again as the Bulldogs are now 22-5 after being 4-3.

Clayton Blackburn, Santa Fe, Baseball: Good week on the mound (W vs. North) and at the plate at Stillwater Invitational.

Michael Fulmer, Deer Creek, Baseball: It was a personal gut-check for him and responded with 12 Ks in a 10-0 win against Guthrie.

Jared Benway, North, Baseball: Not too many bright spots for Huskies, but Benway did hit a three-run HR in a loss to Santa Fe.

Ian Davis, Deer Creek, Golf: A little quiet so far, Davis had a banner week that included a victory in last Monday’s Bishop Kelley Invitational.

Shelby Sewell, North, Soccer: Weather wreaked havoc on things this weekend but Sewell scored twice in a 2-0 win against Moore.

Edmond North boys tennis: Team keeps changing up its lineup but hasn’t mattered as Huskies are looking like the favorite in 6A.

Hannah Helker, North, Track: She’s been phenomenal all season and was once again, winning the 400 and 800 at the Santa Fe meet Thursday.

Tara Lewis, Emme Scott and Gloria Mosely, Memorial, Track: Each girl won an individual title at the Santa Fe meet as Bulldogs placed third.

Travis Hinton, Santa Fe, Track: Hinton gets a little lost in the shuffle with the Wolves’ stars, but he won the 400 at the Santa Fe meet.

Chase Sammons, Memorial, Track: Doesn’t matter what event, Sammons has dominated the discus and shot put and did so again last Thursday.

Chase Thackerson and Geoffrey Johnson, Memorial, Track: Each won an individual championship as Bulldogs placed second.

Courtney Walker, Santa Fe, and Elizabeth Donohoe, North, Basketball: The girls were rightfully picked for first team Big All-City and Super 5. They’ll be back next year.

It’s easy to get enamored with hitting in baseball. It makes for great highlights and sound bytes as we found out a long time ago ‘chicks dig the long ball.’

But you’re going to need some pitching if you’re really going to make a run, and that’s why I feel Heritage Hall has a great chance in Class 4A.

Leading that charge is Bob Kraft, who has been sensational on the mound all season and is a huge reason the team is 17-2 entering this week.

I’m hesitant to say Heritage is ranked No. 11 because I think it might move up a spot or two when the rankings are released here shortly.

Kraft has overpowered hitters, leading the team in strikeouts and has yet to face defeat and is earning the Private Schools Player of the Week. Though the offense deserves a nod as the Chargers scored at least 11 runs in all four wins last week.

For a look at how sophomore Barry Sanders came to love baseball, here is my story from Sunday’s paper.

Other contenders

Abbey Akin, Bishop McGuinness, Soccer: The Irish have a lot of deadly scorers but Akin might be the most feared one of the bunch. McGuinness hasn’t been challenged lately but will receive a big one Tuesday when Deer Creek is at the Irish (I’ll be there).

John Ratliff, Casady, Golf: Among all the top names in the state at the big events, his name keeps on sneaking up on the leaderboard. Would love to get a chance to see Ratliff in action one of these days.

(weather kept the list a lot shorter than normal, but if you know of anybody, let me know)

Parker Bowles, Norman

Track

The senior distance runner continued what has been a dominant season, winning a pair of golds at the John Jacobs Invitational.

Bowles placed first in the 800-meter run and the 1,600 meters. Bowles’ time in the 800 was 1:56.10, two seconds ahead of the field.

Others:

Greg Offenburger, Norman

Baseball

The standout linebacker showed he’s adept at two sports, helping lead Norman to a 13-1 romp past Edmond North on Saturday. The junior recorded a double and a triple as the Tigers avenged a 6-1 loss to Edmond North a day earlier.

Carmen King, Norman North

Track

The T-Wolves speedster placed first in the long jump and third in the 100-meter dash at the John Jacobs Invitational.

Cale Russell, Norman North

Baseball

After whiffing 11 Norman batters in a Crosstown Clash triumph a week earlier, the T-Wolves’ ace came back even stronger with 14 strike outs in a victory over Edmond North.

Alec Lee, Norman

 Boys soccer

Lee booted the game-winning goal in the Tigers’ 1-0 victory at Edmond North Friday night. Cal Cornwell assisted on the goal.

Michael Moore, Moore

One of the school’s best all-around athletes, Moore placed first in the long jump and second in the high jump (although no one cleared a height greater than what he did), leading the Lions’ field event athletes.

Moore logged a leap of 22-11.75 to edge Tulsa Union’s Luke Snider by less than a full inch in the long jump. In the high jump, Moore cleared 6-foot, four-inches, the same height as winner Atavian Blakely of Putnam City, but Blakely was awarded the gold by virtue of judges ruling.

Others:

Julian Wilson, Southmoore

Track

Wilson led Southmoore to the boys team title at the John Jacobs Invitational with a gold in the 200-meter run and a runner-up finish in the 100.

A football signee for Oklahoma, Wilson posted a time of 22.60 to win the 200 and ran a 10.90 in the 100, just five-tenths of a second off of the winning time.

Ethan Baker, Southmoore

Track

Baker, a standout safety for the SaberCats’ football team, won two goals and a silver at the John Jacobs Invitational. Baker placed first in the 200-meters and ran a led in the SaberCats’ winning 400-relay team. The senior also was runner-up in the 400.  

Derek Serowski, Southmoore

Track

Serowski took first place in the 100 meters for the second time in two meets. The senior posted a time of 10.85 at the John Jacobs Invitational to take the gold and edge teammate Julian Wilson, one of the fastest sprinters in the state.

Any other week, I mean ANY OTHER WEEK, and Drew Dahlberg’s performance for the Edmond Memorial baseball team would easily be enough.

But not this week. Not when Santa Fe junior Gunnar Nixon earns the second best decathlon score by a high school athlete EVER. EVER.

Nixon and Kevin Lazas of Brentwood, Tenn., had a battle for the ages with Nixon edging him out by 63 points at the Arcadia Invitational.

It’s not just how great Nixon is (though he really is unbelievable), but it’s what he’s done for the Wolves team and their attitude.

In talking to Walter Henderson and coach Carl Hawkins, they both have stressed just how much Nixon’s work ethic and attitude has spread to the rest of the team.

So even on a weekend made for track and field (John Jacobs at OU), it’s Nixon in California who is earning the Edmond Player of the Week.

Other contenders

Drew Dahlberg, Memorial, Baseball: He ignites the team, and they gave out MVP awards, easily would have won it as Bulldogs won Edmond Wood Bat Tournament.

Thomas Rudd, North, Baseball: Rough week for the Huskies, but Rudd did throw a fine game in a 6-1 win against Norman on Friday.

Jordan Lopez, Santa Fe, Baseball: Had a great tournament minus the championship and is always a threat to make something happen.

Brian Anderson, Deer Creek, Baseball: In a three-hour marathon with McGuinness, Anderson was 3-for-4 with a home run in the 16-12 win.

Matt Helms, Santa Fe, Golf: Helms tied for second as boys earned the title at the Deer Creek Invitational.

Carly Yates, North, Golf: Sounds like a broken record, but this two-sport star continues to do it all for the Huskies.

Ian Davis, Deer Creek, Golf: A week old at this point but had good showdown with Carl Albert’s Talor Gooch and Chickasha’s Taylor Williams at conference.

Ann Pepper, North, Tennis: Making big strides and has played her way to earn the No. 1 singles spot during this last week.

Maddi Hillis, Memorial, Soccer: Notched two goals as Memorial took out Shawnee 5-0.

Brittany Soesbee, North, Soccer: Tallied huge goal as Huskies were playing w/out Britny Dike in a 2-0 victory against Norman.

Memorial, North, Santa Fe, Girls, Track: A collective effort as North placed second, Santa Fe third and Memorial sixth at John Jacobs. For full results, go here.

Memorial, North, Santa Fe, Boys, Track: A collective effort as Memorial placed second, Santa Fe fifth and North 11th. For full results, go here.

Josh Richardson, Santa Fe, Basketball: The junior was picked by Scott Wright for the boys Super Five. It’s possible we’ll be seeing him there again next year.

It’s tough for me to understand just what this senior year by these Casady kids has meant to the school. I start to get a much better understanding when I talk to them.

One of the boys leading the ‘redeem team’ has been Austin Katigan. And Katigan had a dream come true last week, being accepted into Dartmouth where he will play football.

Katigan is looking at either being a punter or wide receiver. That’s funny that they’re asking him to try out for both as they’re two very different positions.

Like I said last week, former Oklahoma receiver Jarrail Jackson has opened up the Dartmouth campus to Oklahoma recruits. Jackson is an assistant for Dartmouth.

Katigan won’t be going to Dartmouth alone as Bishop Kelley’s Joe Dowdell is also heading there.

Katigan and Dowdell will be heading to the campus in two weeks for the spring football game. For now, he’ll have to be content with being named the Private Schools Player of the Week.

Other contenders

Barry Sanders, Heritage Hall, Baseball: The Chargers have been one of the biggest surprises, entering the 4A rankings at No. 15 this last week. Sanders’ versatility is one reason why.

Dax Maroney, Bishop McGuinness, Baseball: The Irish lost a three-hour marathon at No. 1-ranked Class 5A Deer Creek 16-12, but Maroney had a great game.

Julie Labarthe, Heritage Hall, Tennis: The senior lost one game in the championship match, winning the Ada Tournament at No. 1 singles.

Mia Lancaster, Bishop McGuinness, Tennis: Lancaster has earned the No. 1 singles spot and has been dominant this season.

John Byrne and Jonathan Kraft, Bishop McGuinness, Tennis: This No. 1 doubles team might be the favorite to win the 5A championship.

Lizzy Whitbeck, Irish, and Narayan Naik, Heritage, Swimming: The swimmers were named Swimmers of the Year by me and deserved it for a great year. Good luck at Arkansas and Wyoming, respectively.

Caitlin Farris and Hannah Tubbs, Irish, Golf: The duo makes up one of the best one-two combos in the state and were solid in two tournaments last week.

Alexa Gonce, Irish, Soccer: The girls are taking care of business as Gonce had a big game in a 10-0 victory against Western Heights.

Quintaz Struble, Heritage, Track: Struble won the discus throw at the Bethany meet on Saturday. Levi Fisher placed third.

Foerster, Heritage, Track: My Heritage friends, need help with the first name as Foerster won the high jump at the Bethany meet.

Erin Gaffney, Irish, Track: Won the 3,200 at the Bethany meet while Swink won the pole vault.

Casey Coyle led the Putnam City North baseball team to a come-from-behind victory over Mustang on Tuesday with a big day at the plate. The Oklahoma signee was 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and five RBIs as the Panthers rallied from an 11-5 deficit in the final three innings.

At 12-5 for the season, the Panthers are holding steady in the Class 6A top 10, currently at No. 8 in the poll.

Other contenders

June Tigert, Mustang girls golf: Paced the Lady Broncos to a team tie with Jenks at the Jenks tournament, while winning the individual title with a 73.

Sawyer McKaughan, PC North boys golf: Shot a team-best 73 (tied for fourth individually) last week at the Edmond Invitational to help PC North to a third-place tie in the team race.

Kenny Awbrey, Yukon boys golf: Led the Millers with a 75 for a seventh-place finish as Yukon took fifth in the team standings.

Kollin Retter, Yukon boys track: Won the 110 hurdles and finished second in the 300 hurdles in a meet at Putnam City, helping Yukon to a team championship.

Yukon boys field athletes: Seven Millers finished in the top three in field events at the PC meet.

Putnam City girls sprinters: The PC girls finished second in the team standings at their meet behind Edmond North, but the sprinters took care of business. PC runners swept the top three spots in the 100-meter, the top two spots in the 200-meter, and they won the 400 relay and 800 relay, finishing third in the 1,600 relay.

Alex Shannon, PC baseball: Finished a single short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a homer, triple, double and two RBIs in a win over Edmond North last Monday.

Send West Metro POW nominations to swright@opubco.com

Shiloh Farris, Norman

Girls soccer

Farris scored the winning goal for the Tigers in a 1-0 victory over Yukon Thursday. Norman outshot the Millerettes 11-3, but could only break through once as Farris netted the second-half game-winner.

Others:

Cale Russell, Norman North

Baseball

Russell struck out 11 batters and had a pair of RBIs as the T-Wolves knocked off rival Norman.

Quincy Taylor, Norman

Girls track

Taylor, ranked in the top five in Class 6A among hurdlers, placed second at the Moore track meet on Friday. Taylor ran a 17.2 in the 100 intermediate hurdles, finishing less than a full second off of the wining time.

Al Maeder, Norman

Boys track

Mader ran a 10:05 in the two-mile run at the Moore Invitational last Friday, winning first place by seven seconds.

Taylor Painter, Westmoore

Girls track

Painter took first in three events at the Moore track meet Friday. The senior won the 800-meter run in 2:30, the 1,600 in 5:32 and the 3,200 in 12:02.

Others:

Lauren Vabolis, Westmoore

Girls soccer

The junior forward recorded a hat trick in the Jaguars’ win over Putnam City West on Thursday to raise her teamleading scoring total to five goals.

Vabolis led Westmoore to a win over Putnam City as well, scoring a goal and helping the Jags snap a two-game losing streak.

Derek Serowski, Southmoore

Boys track

Serowski placed first in the 100-meter dash at Friday’s Moore track meet, breaking the tape in 10.38. The senior also took second in the 200.

Heritage Hall had a couple of really good choices this week. But since I’m going to write a feature about her for Thursday’s paper, figured I’d go with tennis player Sarah Bowen.

I love the confidence of this sophomore. Even when she was a freshman, she wasn’t bashful or anything like that.

Now with some experience under her belt, she is definitely on her way to becoming the next great tennis player for Dick Villaflor and the Chargers.

At the Heritage Hall Tournament of Champions, Bowen came up with one of the biggest singles victories in her career. She defeated Jenks’ Gabrielle Siegler (a great player as well) to earn the No. 2 singles title and Private Schools Player of the Week.

For more on Bowen, check out Thursday’s paper.

Other contenders

Julie Labarthe, Heritage, Tennis: Bowen’s partner in crime as Labarthe was dominant at No. 1 singles in earning the title.

Bob Kraft, Heritage, Baseball: The pitcher has been a huge reason for the tremendous start for the Chargers. He enters this week with a 4-0 record.

Cooper Cloud, Heritage, Baseball: Cloud’s bat (especially in a win against Perry) has helped Heritage to a fantastic start.

Andrew Murphy, Bishop McGuinness, Baseball: A light week for the Irish squad, but coach Bryan Wade has said Murphy’s leadership has been one of the reasons for the recent roll.

CC Guzman, Bishop McGuinness, Soccer: This team is absolutely loaded, and Guzman came up big Tuesday. Soccer guru Justin Harper named her the Player of the Week last week.

Matt Silver, Casady, Baseball: Silver is incredible. I’m really hoping I can find an excuse to see the Cyclones play because Silver’s stats are amazing.

John Ratliff, Casady, Golf: In a loaded field featuring some of the best players around, Ratliff placed second last Tuesday.

Tiatjah Johnson, Casady, Track and Field: Johnson easily won the 200-meter dash at the Kingfisher meet and was the only girl to run under 28 seconds.

Bobbe Chafin, Casady, Track and Field: Also at the Kingfisher meet, Chafin placed second in the 100 and the long jump.

Victoria Vaughn, Mt. St. Mary’s, Tennis: Vaughn was impressive in winning the No. 2 singles title at the Central Oklahoma Classic at Harrah.

For now, the honor goes to Mustang golfer June Tigert for her 81 at Rose Creek, leading the Lady Broncos to the team title and earning herself a second-place finish.

Most impressively, Mustang had three girls in the top 10, despite its top player, Karson Bizzell, finishing with a rough outing and a double-snowman in the blustery conditions. It shows that the Broncos are a team to be feared in the state tournament mix. They’ll play at Jenks Wednesday, so we’ll see how they fare against their top competition in the Lady Trojans.

Other contenders

Casey Coyle, PC North baseball: Went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBIs in an 8-7 win over Edmond North last Tuesday.

Garrett Crain, Mustang baseball: Crain pitched four solid innings and had four hits at the plate, driving in three runs in a win over Norman North.

Jake Disney, Yukon baseball: In back-to-back games wins over Putnam City North and Edmond North, the sophomore was a combined 3-for-6 with two doubles and four RBIs.

Atavian Blakeley and Johnny Smith, PC West boys track: Blakeley high-jumped 6 feet, 6 inches and Smith long-jumped 20 feet, 6 inches, each winning gold at the Gregg Byram Track Classic in Norman. Smith also had a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash.

Aliyah Nolan, PC West girls track: The sophomore logged three top-five finishes at the Byram Classic in the 100, 200 and 400, taking second in the 100.

– Send West Metro POW nominations to swright@opubco.com.

Track and field

Johnson took gold in two events, the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters. The sophomore, who placed second last year at state in the mile and is the two-mile state champion, paced the Norman girls to a dominating victory in the team competition Saturday at the Gregg Byram Track Classic.

Other standouts:

Parker Bowles, Norman

The senior took twin titles in the 800 and 1,600 meter runs at the Gregg Byram Track Classic. Bowles is the No. 1 ranked runner in Class 6A in both events.

Kevin Boyd, Norman North

Boys tennis

Boyd topped Norman’s Jarrett Ferguson 6-1, 6-1 in No. 1 doubles as the T-Wolves blanked their Crosstown Clash rival Tigers 6-0.

Dylen Brammer, Moore

Track and field

Brammer capped a three-event medal showing by anchoring the Lions’ 1,600 meter relay team to a first-place showing. The victory in that race gave the Lions the boys team title at the Gregg Byram Track Classic at Norman High School Saturday.

In cold and seriously windy conditions, Brammer excelled in a trio of races, but sealed the team crown for Moore by overtaking race-leader Del City in the final lap.

Other standouts:

Victoria Svetgoff, Westmoore

Track and field

Wind curtailed top performances and kept heights down in the high jump and pole vault competition at the Gregg Byram Track Classic, but Svetgoff topped all challengers in the pole vault, winning her second gold of the season.

First full week of spring sports is in the books, and it was an eventful one. It’s always interesting to see who will start to be among the common names you’re going to see throughout the season.

Definitely have one at Casady in Matt Silver, who is this week’s Private Schools Player of the Week. Whether it’s with the bat or on the mound, Silver has been huge for the Cyclones.

He had three hits in a big win against Oklahoma Christian and on did a little bit of everything in a 4-1 win against All Saints on Saturday.

He was the winning pitcher and added three hits with an RBI.

Other contenders

Ryan Shelley, Casady, Baseball: A warrior all year battling that wrist injury, Shelley had two hits and a home run in a loss Friday.

Barry Sanders, Heritage Hall, Baseball: Not too bad with a bat in his hand as he is with a football. Sanders had three hits and a home run in a big win against Bethany.

Cooper Cloud, Heritage Hall, Baseball: Guess it’s a natural transition from being a quarterback to a pitcher as Cloud was solid on the mound in a 9-1 win against Kellyville.

Brendan Dye, Bishop McGuinness, Baseball: Dye is off to a great start on the mound for the Irish as Bryan Wade’s team is coming out of the gates fast.

Alexa Gonce, Bishop McGuinness, Soccer: The Irish girls team was involved in a fun, tight Bishop Kelley Invitational, but Gonce gets it for his six-goal outing against Capitol Hill.

Abbey Akin, Bishop McGuinness, Soccer: A dynamite player in her own right, Gonce and Akin are an electrifying duo for Sally Cole’s team.

Jake Peace, Mt. St. Mary’s, Baseball: Peace had two hits, including a home run as the Rockets rolled Oklahoma Christian 16-4.

Carissa Villaflor and Sarah Bowen, Heritage Hall, Tennis: The Chargers, led by Julie Labarthe, could sweep once again and this No. 1 doubles team is one of the best, regardless of class.

He’s set the bar early for Player of the Week honors during the spring as Edmond Memorial soccer star Stuart Turnipseed had a tremendous outing in a win against Broken Arrow.

In a showdown of two of the best teams in the state, the Bulldogs made an early statement with a convincing 6-0 victory.

Memorial scored five goals in the second half. Turnispeed notched three of them in earning the first hat trick of his brilliant career.

There’s going to be a great showdown Thursday with Memorial and Norman North, should be fun.

Other contenders

Jacob Romig, Deer Creek, Soccer: The Antlers are one of the best teams in 5A and Romig scored the game-winner in a thrilling 2-1 victory against Lawton MacArthur.

Allie Glazner, Santa Fe, Soccer: It’s been a rough start for the Wolves, but Glazner got things going by scoring two goals in a 2-0 victory against Putnam City.

Austin Place, Santa Fe, Soccer: The Wolves have had to battle this year at 3-3, but Place notched two goals in Santa Fe’s 3-0 win against Moore and Santa Fe ended with two wins in the Bronco Cup.

Alec Heinen and Austin Fuller, North, Golf: The boys tied for second place and the Huskies won the team title at the Timberwolves Invitational.

Carly Yates, North, Golf: Welcome back to the course, Yates. She finished tied for second in her first tournament of the year.

Arial Ruffin, Haley McDaniel and Courtney Walker, Santa Fe, Track and Field: All three girls earned individual titles while the Wolves earned team honors at the Memorial Invitational.

Gloria Mosely and Tara Lewis, Memorial, Track and Field: Each girl won an individual championship as Bulldogs placed second.

Haley Hammond and Nicole Underwood, North, Track and Field: Outshined by Santa Fe and Memorial, the pair of girls also won individual titles.

Gunnar Nixon and Matt Leavell, Santa Fe, Track and Field: Nixon won three titles while Leavell added one as Wolves placed second.

Chase Sammons and Isaiah Duke, Memorial, Track and Field: Sammons won two titles and Duke pitched in with one as Bulldogs won the team competition.

Adam Godwin, North, Track and Field: Godwin took first in the 3,200 run at the Memorial Invitational.

Jon McNeill, North, Baseball: Huskies had a rough week at Tiger/Trojans Invitational, but McNeill has been solid.

Tyler Price, Deer Creek, Baseball: One of the more overlooked contributors, Price has been most consistent performer for Antlers.

Eric Olson, North, Tennis: Olson won the No. 2 singles title and Huskies won team title at Muskogee Tournament.

Rachel Mitcham, North, Tennis: Senior still going strong, winning No. 1 singles title at Muskogee Tournament.

It seems like every sports season there is a name or two that might always be in the running for player of the week. You could have made a real argument for Xavier Smith of Edmond North and Kameron Doolittle of Edmond Memorial in football.

The same could have been said about Santa Fe’s Courtney Walker and North’s Elizabeth Donohoe in girls basketball.

Definitely have candidates in the spring, especially in track. I have a feeling I’ll be typing Isaiah Duke of Memorial and Gunnar Nixon of the Wolves over and over and over.

When I typed last week’s winners, I had no idea about what Nixon had done at the Nike Indoor event in Boston. So it’s a week late, but he still deserves the honor. And since there was such little action because of spring break, it’s a combined award for the Edmond and Private Schools Player of the Week.

Nixon was phenomenal at the Indoor meet in Boston last week, setting a junior meet record in the Pentathlon.

Nixon scored 4,141 points in the event, helped by a high jump of 7-feet, 0.5 inches — the best by a prep athlete indoors this year.

In addition to his high jump, Nixon won the 1,000-meter run, finished second in the 60 hurdles and fourth in both the long jump and the shot.

Going to be fun to ‘track’ (get it? I’m hilarious) all the success of the spring athletes here in the next couple of months. Excited for the seasons to really get going (despite the snow). I’ma try to make it out to as many events as I possibly can.

But I’m throwing it out to you guys as well. Spring is so busy that it’s tough to make sure everyone gets included that deserves a mention. So if you have suggestions, send ‘em this way whenever you can.

Other contenders

Michael Fulmer, Deer Creek, Baseball: The Antlers and Wolves headed out to Alabama last week, and Deer Creek went a perfect 4-0 on the trip. Fulmer was sensational on the mound in one of the big wins.

Jordan Lopez, Santa Fe, Baseball: Cody Rosecrans should probably get this nom, too, but Lopez had a great ‘Bama trip as well, proving to be the most consistent hitter and scored a bunch of runs.

Tyler Smith, Mt. St. Mary’s, Baseball: Another diamond hero as Smith was fantastic in a 9-1 win against Oklahoma Christian on Friday. Smith struck out 11 in a complete game victory.

Kamra King, Norman

Girls basketball

The Tigers’ leader all season, junior Kamra King took it up another notch in the state tournament. On the strength of her career-high 33 points in the Class 6A semifinals against Edmond North, King and Norman played for the 6A championship Saturday.

That’s where the good news ended for Norman as the Tigers fell four the first time this season to Midwest City in the final and King left early due to an injured knee.

Lauren Vabolis, Westmoore

Girls soccer

Vabolis booted a goal in the final minute to force overtime against perennial power Norman. Westmoore fell 2-1 in a shootout, but Vabolis’ score gave the Jaguars a chance at the upset and raised the junior’s team lead in goals.

Sometimes you try to ‘save’ certain stories for just the right time. That’s exactly what I was trying to do with Santa Fe senior Mahlon Jones.

He’s such a good kid – intelligent kid, that I was hoping to give him the spotlight at last weekend’s state tournament.

The Wolves, of course, were eliminated in overtime in the semifinals against eventual-champion Putnam City, but it wasn’t because of Jones.

Jones made a dramatic leap from his junior to senior year. And to go with Drew Hall, the two were the unquestioned leaders of the team.

Coach Shawn Schenk is absolutely baffled as to why more schools aren’t taking a look at Jones. What impresses me more than anything else for Jones is the tenacity he shows on defense. He shows up every night on that side of the ball.

So while he didn’t get to be the ‘focus’ of a championship story and the Wolves didn’t win the title, he earns the Edmond Player of the Week.

Other team contenders

North girls basketball team: Just couldn’t overcome that blazing start by Norman in the semifinals, but the Huskies return a solid group, anchored by Elizabeth Donohoe and TaNita Dewberry. Out in the first round last year, semifinals this year. Old adage ‘learn to crawl before you can walk.’ Sometimes you have to learn how to lose to make you want to win that bad.

Memorial girls basketball team: Team wasn’t in the conversation at 9-9 but won seven straight games to reach the state tournament. Good battle with Norman before bowing out 40-34. Coach Shane Coffey does a great job of getting what he can out of his players, and with Alie Decker leading the charge, imagine we’ll be talking about these girls a lot next year.

Santa Fe girls basketball team: If ever a team was a year away, this is it. Daisha Gonzaque, Courtney Walker, Arielle Cooper – sophomores. Cameerah Graves – freshman. Jasmine Hinton is going to become something special, too. Sophia Mahmoodjanloo was huge in the post this year but Tori Lanier is no slouch, either. Don’t want to dwell too much on what this team could have done with Jimi Blagowsky, but….yeah, you know.

Deer Creek girls basketball team: Back-to-back appearances with Totsy Manning and an outstanding cast of characters coming back should have Antler fans excited. From Kelsey Glover to Ashley Gibson to Jalyn Gibson, strong in all facets of the game and should be battling it out for another appearance next year.

Memorial boys basketball team: Flew under the radar all season and had a great battle with Midwest City in the first round. It’s going to be a battle between Obi Emegano and Santa Fe’s Josh Richardson as to who will be the most sought after prospect in Edmond.

Now we turn the page to the spring season.

All year long sophomore Matt Christiansen was making strides for the Bishop McGuinness basketball team. An injury at a tournament in New Mexico was going to slow him down, I thought.

Once fully healthy again, Christiansen started to become that force again. And at the state tournament, he and fellow sophomore Joe Edmonds showed why the Irish will once again be knocking on the door.

McGuinness lost to Douglass in the Class 4A finals but just about any team in the state would have lost to that Douglass. Heck, maybe EVERY team in the state would have lost to that Douglass team.

Christiansen has really developed a solid low post game and is a beast on the glass. Going to be interesting how comfortable he feels as he becomes even more of option 1A or 1B with Edmonds.

Despite the setback, Christiansen’s performance easily gives him the Private Schools Player of the Week.  Wonder if he is going to get any taller?

Other team contenders

Mt. St. Mary’s boys basketball team: Had an unexpected loss to Hugo in the quarterfinals, but Hugo ended up reaching the finals so that was more a case of not realizing how good that team was. Losing some tremendous seniors on this team that did represented the school well. Injuries hurt as well as we never got to see what they truly could have done, but Lenny Hatchett will have this team back in the conversation next year.

CHA girls basketball team: Heartbreak Hotel on Day 1 had a room for the Crusaders as Washington beat CHA with a 3-pointer at the buzzer. CHA had a tremendous season, going undefeated heading into the playoffs. Going to be tough to replace Meagan Henson, the CHA star headed to Texas Christian. But this is the type of season you can build on and start to develop your own tradition – just like a school with the reputation of Washington. Gonna take a while to get that experience.

With the winter season officially in the books, time to turn to the spring season.

Basketball

Beal scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds as Norman North beat Broken Arrow 61-50 to claim a Class 6A area championship and a berth in the 6A state tournament. The win sends the T-Wolves to state for the first time since 2006.

Baseball

Symonds hit .571 and had six RBIs, seven runs scored and two walks as Southmoore went 4-1 last week. The senior also made his mark defensively, including a diving catch in the outfield.

Josh Kennedy, Norman North

Wrestling

Kennedy became the first state champion in the history of the Norman Noreth wrestling program, taking the 125-pound title Saturday at State Fair Arena.

Kennedy upset Tulsa Union’s Brian Crutchmer 6-2 in the final. Kennedy picked a perfect time to peak  —  it was his first win over Crutchmer in three tries this season.

OTHER STANDOUTS:

Patrick Schaefer, Norman North

Boys basketball

Schaefer led the Timberwolves to a regional championship over the weekend with a pair of strong games.

In Thursday’s opening-round 73-60 win over Sand Springs, Schaefer scored a team-high 18 points. Two days later, he led the T-Wolves to the title and into the area final with a 63-59 victory over Putnam City North. Schaefer scored 22 in the win over the Panthers.

 Zac Damico, Southmoore

Wrestling

Damico not only won a state championship at 103 pounds, he did it in grand fashion, beating No. 1-ranked Josh Lindsey of rival Moore. Damico took the title with a 2-1 triumph.

OTHER STANDOUTS:

 Sidney Cook, Southmoore

Girls basketball

The sophomore standout guided the SaberCats to the biggest upset of the Class 6A regional opening round last Thursday, scoring a game-high 17 points in a 54-50 overtime win over Lawton.

Then, on Saturday in the regional championship game against Edmond Santa Fe, Cook again played terrific, scoring a team-high 16 points in a 61-51 loss to the fourth-ranked Wolves.

Southmoore is still alive in the playoffs and will face Del City Thursday. A win in that game would pit the SaberCats against the loser of the Norman-Midwest City game. The winner of that contest will advance to the state tournament.

Deer Creek's Nolan Boyd had a sweet celebration after winning his title. Photo by Bryan Terry

I know Deer Creek wrestling coach Andy Howington was banking on the Brothers Boyd leaving State Fair Arena with state championships.

When Heath Boyd lost, it deflated the air in the Antlers’ balloon a little. But the win and the celebration by Nolan Boyd may have made up for anything.

Seriously, take a look at that great photo (by photographer Bryan Terry)? How cool is that? Boyd earned his state title with a 5-2 decision victory over Max Adair of Lawton MacArthur. And to the victory goes the spoils as he is the Edmond Player of the Week.

Sparked by the Brothers Boyd’s contributions, the Antlers placed fourth in the team race, which was about what the best the team could have hoped for.

Heath Boyd ended up placing fourth after losing in the semifinals. And at 119 pounds, Zac Dunlop worked his way to a fourth-place finish.

In these kind of sports, the Antlers never have the most depth of some of the big shots, but Deer Creek never ever sells itself short and gets everything it can from its kids.

Other Contenders

Alec Warren, North, Wrestling: As a freshman, came ‘this close’ to a state championship, placing second at 135 pounds.

Sam Eccles and Josh Durham, North, Wrestling: Eccles placed third at 112 while Durham placed fourth despite losing his first match of the tournament.

Courtney Walker, Santa Fe, Basketball: These next two weeks she is going to put herself on the national map, I guarantee it. She had 29 points in the regional win against Southmoore.

Paige Locke, Memorial, Basketball: The Bulldogs went east and came back with a regional championship at Union. Locke had 14 points in the OT win.

Jared Jobe, Memorial, Basketball: A fun shooter to watch, Jobe had 14 points as the Bulldogs earned the regional championship with a tough win against Jenks.

Elizabeth Donohoe, North, Basketball: A real shocker here, huh? She was as solid as ever, leading the team in scoring in both regional games as North rolled to regional title.

Daniel Emesiani and Mike Menzel, North, Basketball: Senior leaders of the club that just couldn’t duplicate last year’s crazy run.

Jalyn Jackson, Deer Creek, Basketball: Proof that once again it could be any girl for Totsy Manning’s club. Jackson had 23 points in the regional title win vs. Southeast.

Hayden Wagner, Deer Creek, Basketball: Has helped laid the foundation down for what should be a fun and more experienced bunch next season.

But since Jan. 19, PC North has won nine of 11 games, with the only losses to top-five teams Putnam City and Edmond Santa Fe.

Devin Harris put together one of his better weeks to earn POW honors, averaging 21.5 points in wins over PC West and Mustang to close the regular season.

Harris, an outstanding leaper who plays an important role in the Panthers’ rebounding efforts, scored 24 against the Patriots — including four 3-pointers — and had 19 against Mustang.

Other contenders

Jade Hardy, Yukon: Coming on strong lately, Hardy had 21 points as Yukon knocked off Choctaw 57-54 on Friday night to send the Millerettes into the playoffs on a high note.

David Glidden, Mustang: His 18 points led the Broncos to a win and season sweep of Yukon in Canadian County Bedlam. Not a bad week, culminating with a scholarship offer and the acceptance of that offer to play football at Oklahoma State in 2011.

RonQuis Lewis, Putnam City: His numbers weren’t daunting (12 points) but the 6-foot-6 junior was clutch at the free throw line and on the boards in PC’s upset of top-ranked Edmond Santa Fe on Friday.

Amric Fields, Kevin House and Kyndall Dudley, PC West: House and Dudley each came through with their best games of the season, scoring 19 and 22 points, respectively. But Fields was an offensive monster in picking up the slack for the absent Tyler Neal. Fields averaged 26.3 points per game in three games during the week.

Danielle Bounds, PC West: A solid week ended with a 21-point effort on Saturday as PC West nearly pulled off an upset over Choctaw.

Swimmers of the Week
(Courtesy of our resident swimming expert, Robert Przybylo)

Aimee Creger, Mustang: A freak of nature as Creger had less than 60 days of in-pool training and qualified for state in two events, placing seventh and eighth.

Carli Wentworth, Mustang: Placed seventh in the 100 Breaststroke at the state tournament.

Madalyn Reeves, Jaime Rateliff, Mustang: Teamed with Creger and Wentworth in the 200 Free Relay to place seventh.

Hailey Atkinson, Ana Srbovska, Amy Fair and Autumn Thomas, Putnam City North: The quartet placed seventh in the 200 medley relay and sixth in the 200 free relay at the state championships.

James Healy, Chris Covey, Chad Stephens and Brendan Allen, Putnam City North: The relay team placed fifth in the 200 freestyle relay and eighth in the 400 free relay. Stephens placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke and Allen placed eighth in the 50 freestyle at the state tournament.

Jessica McDaniel, Yukon: Being the first and only Yukon swimmer to qualify for state wasn’t her only accomplishment as McDaniel, a freshman, placed 16th in the 50 Freestyle and 100 Breaststroke.

Greg Penny, Mustang: Scored all of Mustang’s team points at the state championships by placing 15th in the 100 Breaststroke.

Clinton Alonzo, Seungyoen Han, Dylan Matthews, Tyler Westeler, Putnam City: Quartet swam more than a second better in the consolation final of the 200 Free Relay, placing 15th.

Send West Metro POW nominations to swright@opubco.com

OTHER STANDOUTS:
Bradley Quy, Norman
Swimming
Only a sophomore, Quy was second in the 200 and 500 freestyle events at the state championships.

Jacque Medina, Norman
Swimming
Also just a sophomore, Medina was third in the 200 free and second in the 500 free at state.

Mariah Turner, Norman North
Girls basketball
Turner led the T-Wolves in scoring as they closed out the regular season with three games last week. The standout post player scored a combined 43 points, including a game-high 18 points against Moore.

Madison Marquardt, Norman North
Girls basketball
Like Turner, the senior point guard had a tremendous week in the scoring column. Marquardt, who is peaking at the perfect time for the T-Wolves and who has been on a serious hot streak the past two weeks, scored 43 points in three games with a high of 17 against Moore.

Hayley Scott, Norman North
Girls basketball
Scott, a junior with a penchant for coming through in crucial moments, scored 22 points as the T-Wolves played back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday.

Payge Wilson, Norman North
Girls basketball
Wilson scored a season-high 16 points in an overtime loss to Edmond Friday.

Kamra King, Norman
Girls basketball
King scored a combined 27 points in a pair of games against Midwest City and Westmoore.

Chelsea Key and Gwen Nelson, Norman
Girls basketball
Key and Nelson each scored 10 points last week: Key against Midwest City and Nelson against Westmoore.

Patrick Schaefer, Norman North
Boys basketball
The T-Wolves star and leading scorer had 41 points in three games last week, including a game-high 22 against Moore.

Gabe Bonzie, Norman North
Boys basketball
The junior scored 32 total points in the T-Wolves trio of games last week.

Jarrod Boersma, Norman
Boys basketball
The Tigers’ best player and leading scorer on the season scored team-highs in points in both Norman games last week. Boersma had 16 against Midwest City and 17 against Westmoore