Elgin, Tipton primed for state semifinals

Every coach who has led a football team into the Oklahoma high school football playoffs knows that when the semifinals arrive, it’s time to bring your best or else pack away the gear Monday.

This season seems to have flashed past quicker than most; at least that is how it feels to this writer who has witnessed prep football playoff games for the past 53 seasons.

We’ve seen great teams win titles and we’ve seen great teams stumble at this junction when the four best teams are left to battle it out for the gold ball.

Elgin in Class 4A and Tipton in Class C are the only two survivors of the 20 teams in the Constitution coverage area. Both are unbeaten at 12-0 and both are ranked No. 1 in their respective classes, although at this point in the season that means nothing.

Both teams have had dominating seasons, scoring early and often in most of their games to stay unbeaten.

Elgin scored 28, 58 and 56 in three non-district games. In District 4A-1 the Owls scored 63, 49, 44, 56, 58, 42, and 48 points in those games to finish 10-0 on the regular season. They have shoved aside Ardmore, 43-0, and Sallisaw, 49-6, in the playoffs.

The only common opponent was Clinton which the Owls beat 42-7, while Wagoner beat the Red Tornadoes, 29-0.

The two teams are very similar, not just in how they manage their offense and defense, but how both suffered heart-breaking losses last year. The Owls lost to Claremore, 7-6, in the second round of the 5A playoffs to finish 11-1.

Wagoner reached the 4A title game last season where the Bulldogs lost to Blanchard, 19-14, in the title game thanks to some big plays from former Eisenhower athlete Carson Cooksey who led the Lions to the title.

The player Elgin fans will see often is No. 12, quarterback/linebacker Kale Charboneau. The Wagoner field general rarely comes off the field dominating at linebacker with 39 tackles for minus yardage among 114 tackles and 4 interceptions in addition to totaling 2,834 yard passing and 22 touchdowns plus 976 yards rushing for 16 scores additional scores.

The Bulldogs, however, did lose tight end/defensive end Alex Shieldnight to a broken fibula in their first-round playoff win. Shieldnight signed Wednesday with the University of Oklahoma. The powerful 6-2, 220-pounder registered 34 tackles for loss last season, 13 sacks and 83 total tackles.

With Shieldnight missing Friday’s game, the prime pass receivers are Anthony Coleman, a 6-2, 185-pound senior and Matson Swanson, 5-11, 160, senior. The top rusher on the team is Trenton Edwards who rushed for more than 650 yards last season.

Defensively the Bulldogs have been in a 3-4 set with Charboneau leading the linebacker group and 6-4, 285-pound Dax Griffin, a senior nose guard who played at Bixby before his family moved to Wagoner, leading the defensive line. Another strength of the Bulldogs is its secondary with Coleman, another DI prospect, and Matson being the ringleaders in that veteran group that played on Wagoner’s 2022 state championship team.

Tipton making long trip

After winning two home games, the Tigers are having to make a long drive to Woodward to play Tyrone in the Class C (eight-man) semifinals Friday.

Most of the coaches in Class C are expecting Timberlake and Tipton to battle in the finals next week, however, Timberlake still has to get past a really good Ryan team that pushed Tipton to the limit earlier in district action.

Tipton has looked strong in the playoffs, especially against Welch in the second round, a 46-0 victory to push the Tigers to 12-0.

Tipton and Tyrone have one common opponent in Geary. The Tigers beat Geary, 40-12, while Tyrone beat Geary, 50-6 in the first round.

We watched the Tigers in the Welch game and they were in complete control all the way with several players making huge plays for head coach Travis White. The Tigers have excellent speed at several key positions so it will be interesting to see what Tyrone brings to the table come Friday.

OK, enough stalling

Now that everyone knows a little more about these two matchups, it’s time to stick our neck out and make a couple of picks. Remember, Elgin and Wagoner are playing Friday at 7 p.m. at East Central University while Tipton and Tyrone will meet at the same time at Woodward High School.

Having seen the Owls play several games, the things that jump out at this writer are the big men up front. Elgin has as good an offensive line as we’ve seen in years, maybe since the Lawton High title team in 1987 with Will Shields leading that great unit. We also feel that with Ritson Meyer the Owls probably have the better running back that we will see Friday.

Both teams have veteran quarterbacks, Tres Lorah for the Owls and Charboneau for Wagoner. Both have started many games, Lorah taking over at the mid-point of his freshman season and Charboneau has been starting for the past three seasons. Both have re-written their school football record books with their arms.

We also believe the Elgin defense is capable of putting pressure on the Bulldogs with big Shay Spencer being one of the quickest defensive linemen we’ve seen in some time. Plus Jack Baker is a master at coming up with a good defensive scheme.

All those things considered, our pick is Elgin 28, Wagoner 14.

What else can you say about Tipton football that hasn’t already been said? Travis White has a great group and while there is indeed pressure as the Tigers go for their third straight Class C title, we see them taking this next step.

Johnny Fernandez, Roy Manriquez, Kaydence Sheffield, Dayton Stevens, AJ Gay; the Tigers just have too many players who can score from anywhere on the field.

We’ve stuck with the Tigers for three years and we aren’t finished yet: Tipton 48, Tyrone 14.