Cooler weather brings thoughts of playoffs

While fans were bundled up Friday night, for the city-area players and coaches the cooler temperatures were a welcome happening after weeks of sizzling temperatures that forced later start times and lots of water or any sports drink of your choice.

Don’t look now but this will be Week 7 with four more weeks of district competition before the playoffs begin. Last week some teams padded their district records but for others they may be getting closer to “must win” time which is never easy for any team to have to endure.

MacArthur and Elgin both handled their assignments in District 5A-1 with ease as the Highlanders routed Ardmore, 52-13, and the Owls blanked Altus, 57-0.

This week the assignments get tougher for both as Mac visits Midwest City on Friday while Elgin hosts Noble on Thursday. Mac’s task may have gotten tougher after El Reno beat Midwest City, 27-14, which should leave the Bombers angry and at home at Walker Stadium, one of the toughest places to win for any visiting team. Noble also comes to Elgin Thursday with momentum after a 41-31 victory over Duncan.

Elgin had another big offensive night against Altus as Matthew Lund rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns, those coming on runs of 62, 38 and 48.

The Owls also had another strong effort from quarterback Tres Lorah who completed 7-of-9 passes for 112 yards and three touchdowns. Adam Eaton caught a 36-yard TD pass, Brody Morrison hauled in a 9-yard pass for a score and Peyton Christensen caught a 17-yarder from Lorah.

Even the reserves got into the battle as Kason Meyer caught a 7-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Cayden Belletto.

And for good measure the defense also scored when Josh Adesola returned an interception 38 yards for the final Elgin points.

“We were really proud of our guys,” Elgin coach Chalmer Wyatt said. “We didn’t send a single starter out in the second half and our young kids really stepped up and played well. I think we got in everyone except maybe a handful. The thing I liked was we had three interceptions and considering the last two weeks we hadn’t faced teams that pass much, it showed our secondary was still playing assignment football and getting around the football went it arrived.”

Wyatt said that Lund’s effort was impressive.

“I’m not sure but that might be his high for the season,” Wyatt said of the 195 yards and three TDs for his talented back. “We had a couple of good schemes to run at them and it turned out to be a perfect storm. On a couple of those runs Matthew wasn’t even touched. Obviously our offensive line blocked really well and Tres had another good game at quarterback, being patient and finding the open receiver.”

Like most 5A fans, Wyatt was somewhat surprised by the Midwest City loss.

“We’ve seen what El Reno can do with that big offensive line and I’d expect that (Bombers) didn’t match up well to El Reno’s offense,” he said. “I haven’t seen the video but somebody said El Reno got just enough stops to make a difference. We also heard that Midwest City’s quarterback was hurt but I’m not sure if that was the case.”

The Thursday matchup against Noble shouldn’t be an issue for the Owls to get excited about.

“Our kids still remember them beating us last year so that’s good motivation this week,” he said. “I was more worried about being flat the past two games but this group does a great job staying focused and practicing hard.”

In District 5A-2 Eisenhower’s bid to make the playoffs got tougher as the Eagles lost a 43-26 battle on the road Friday against Piedmont. The good news for Javon Harris and his Eagles is they now have two home games against Shawnee on Friday and in two weeks they will host powerful Guthrie. The final game for Ike will be on the road at OKC Southeast. The first order of business is to beat Shawnee Friday at Cameron Stadium.

Lawton High School had little trouble with Northwest Classen last week, rolling to a 55-26 victory. This week the Wolverines face their own tough road test at Deer Creek-Edmond which is leading District 6AII-3.

In Class 4A Cache was blanked by Elk City which puts the Bulldogs’ playoff hopes in limbo with a home game against a good Weatherford team on Friday.

Elsewhere around the area, in Class 3A Marlow continued its winning ways by blanking Dickson, 40-0. The other area 3A team, Anadarko, ran into Perkins-Tryon and was slapped with a 62-13 loss. Both area 2A teams lost last week as Purcell beat Frederick, 27-0, while Community Christian turned aside Comanche, 35-13.

In Class A the top teams, Apache and Walters, continue to push forward in impressive fashion as the Warriors routed Cordell, 61-6, and Walters handed Empire a 24-6 setback. Walters visits Carnegie Thursday while Apache has an open date. Those two schools should decide the A-2 title on Oct. 20 at Elmer Graham Stadium in Walters.

Eight-man teams in the area saw some big scores last week. Class C’s top-ranked Tipton Tigers routed Geary, 40-8, while Mt. View-Gotebo decked Temple, 58-8.

Other eight-man scores were: Grandfield 52, Bray-Doyle 6; Alex 50, Central High 0; and Velma-Alma 64, Cyril 14.

Fans of area teams need to be sure and double-check game nights this week since many schools will be on fall break and that means a large number of Thursday games.

These are the Thursday games according to the schedules we received before the season: Duncan at Altus; Anadarko at North Rock Creek; Marlow at OKC Douglass; Frederick at Comanche; Walters at Carnegie; Cyril at Central High and

Mt. View-Gotebo at Bray-Doyle

Friday’s games are: Mangum at Empire and Grandfield at Tipton.