Area’s largest schools face tough playoff tests

Make no bones about it, the area’s largest schools that qualified for the state football playoffs face some tough challenges in the first round including Elgin which is the only area school in Class 6AII to 3A that will be at home.

Today we will look at the area teams in the playoffs in Class 6AII (Lawton High); Class 5A (Elgin and MacArthur); Class 4A (Cache); and Class 3A (Marlow).

Here is a brief look at how the coaches see their playoff games shaping up and even Elgin Coach Chalmer Wyatt is concerned with the test the Owls will have tonight against Piedmont.

Piedmont at Elgin

(Class 5A)

Wyatt is not about to overlook anyone as the Owls learned a tough lesson last year losing to Guthrie, 17-0, in the first round. However, the Owls weren’t alone in suffering that disappointment as all four teams in District 5A-1 that made the playoffs lost in the first round.

“Piedmont runs the Flexbone and they are good at what they do,” Coach Wyatt said. “They are somewhat similar to El Reno so we’ve had some experience against that offense. It is a good challenge for our defense. We just have to keep playing hard like we’ve played all season.”

The Owls enter the playoffs with a 10-0 overall record, joining Carl Albert and Del City at that mark.

Elgin clinched the perfect regular season by beating Midwest City, 13-3, last week but the offense was not as sharp as it had been at times.

“After watching the video we felt like we were two or three plays away from getting in rhythm and moving the ball better,” he said. “That was really a game we needed; being pushed until the end.”

That sure woke up the Owls.

“We came back over the weekend and then Monday we came in ready to refocus and we had great practices all week,” he said. “We just want to execute, spread them out and do the things we do best.”

The Owls are eager to get back on the field and test the Piedmont defense that has given up plenty of points at times. The Wildcats allowed 35 to Guthrie, 26 to Eisenhower, 19 to McGuinness and 38 to No. 1 Carl Albert so the Owls are counting on being able to set an early pattern with their big offensive line and get the running game going behind Matthew Lund and Ritson Meyer.

MacArthur at Guthrie

(Class 5A)

We mentioned Guthrie above and this week the Highlanders will journey north to face the No. 3-ranked Bluejays.

“Their defense is really good; probably the best we’ve faced,” Mac coach Brett Manning said. “On offense they run schemes with a great deal of motion and shifts and just try to run the football with their back (Jaylen Harper). He’s their go-to guy most of the time.”

Harper gained 181 yards on 221 carries against Eisenhower.

Manning said the Highlanders have enjoyed a good week of practice and are ready for the challenge.

“Our guys have always turned it up when the playoffs get here,” he said. “We are going to have to be able to mix things up offensively and keep their defense on the field and make them get plenty of snaps. We can’t drop passes this week; that really hurt us the last couple of weeks.”

Lawton High at Sand Springs

(Class 6AII)

The Wolverines are happy to be in the playoffs but with 24 out of the 32 6AII teams making the playoffs, their are going to be some games that appear as mismatches on paper.

“Sand Springs is really good with solid offensive and defensive lines,” LHS coach Ryan Breeze said. “They will rotate two backs and they are different. One is a big, physical kid and the other is more their speed back. They are using a sophomore quarterback and he throws the ball well when he has time.”

That’s why LHS wants to shake things up and bring pressure.

“We have to pressure this QB and force him to make quick decisions,” he said. “If we sit back and let him throw, that line will protect him and he will burn us. They do like to push it well downfield, which takes more time, so that’s when we have to have our blitz packages ready. They don’t really have any glaring weaknesses.”

While this will be a rare matchup of Sand Springs and Lawton High, the drive is not as long as Bartlesville or Ponca City.

“I think we can make it in less than three hours,” Breeze said. “We’re going to stop on the north side of Oklahoma City and let the guys stretch their legs and get some lunch.”

The Wolverines will once again have Pene Vasiagote at quarterback, a position he’s held for much of the last half of the season after the starting QB suffered a concussion and then quit the team after returning to action.

Nate Jones is the workhorse back for the Wolverines and he and Vasiagote also are key members of the secondary which will get challenged tonight.

Cache at Blanchard

(Class 4A)

The Bulldogs were able to hang on for a 21-16 victory over Chickasha last week to clinch fourth in their district and now they have a much tougher opponent in Blanchard which is ranked No. 3 in 4A.

And while most of the teams in Cache’s district are run first, pass second, Blanchard is going to throw the ball and the guy throwing it is Carson Cooksey who played against the Bulldogs during their youth football days and also in middle school. Cooksey has thrown for more than 2,700 yards this season and 24 touchdowns.

“He’s really good back there in the pocket and he can hit his windows,” Cache coach Faron Griffin said. “And he has good receivers and a couple of them are fast. Those coaches are good and they have the right concepts with a good passing quarterback. They still run the ball; it’s probably a 60-40 ratio run to pass. They have him run a good deal of RPO (Run-Pass-Option) stuff for him.”

To limit the Lions’ offense, Griffin said his offense needed to put together some long drives that get first downs and take the clock down.

“We are going to have to manage the clock,” he said. “We have to keep the ball and when they have it we have to make him uncomfortable back there in the pocket. We’re going to bring people because if you let him sit back there all day he’s going to burn you.”

Marlow at Tulsa Metro Christian

Class 3A

The Outlaws may have had the toughest three-game stretch of any Class 3A team in the playoff field after facing Sulphur, Plainview and No. 1 Heritage Hall over the final three weeks of the season.

Marlow lost all three but all were close. Sulphur edged the Outlaws, 14-13; Plainview edged them 24-21; and Heritage Hall beat Marlow, 35-28, coming from behind to just nip the Outlaws. The loss to Sulphur ended a 19-game winning streak for the Outlaws.

But with a group of players, so who have been here before, this bunch doesn’t seem phased of the challenge.

“They are a tradition-rich program that will be a real challenge,” Weber told the Marlow Review. “They are the returning runners-up and have been in the finals three out of the past four. We need to continue to improve and give our best effort on Friday,”