Ike decks Altus; Elgin rolls in Battle of Wichitas

There were some impressive outings for Lawton-area teams Friday including a big road win for Eisenhower and an impressive Battle of the Wichitas victory for Elgin.

Eisenhower used some nice offensive schemes using Kingston Tito and a clinching Pick-6 by Jermaine Veu to deck Altus, 26-10, Friday at Hightower Stadium in Altus.

At Elgin the Owls had too many weapons for Cache to control and the result was a 55-6 victory as the Owls get off to a 2-0 start on the season and pull within one win of tying the Bulldogs in the Battle of the Wichitas rivalry as Cache leads 21-20.

Elsewhere around the area there were some big wins and tough losses. Frederick rolled to a 40-6 victory over Hobart; mighty Guthrie routed Duncan, 65-0; Marlow beat Comanche: 42-6; plus Minco invaded Apache and beat the Warriors, 33-23.

In eight-man action: Tipton had little trouble beating Central High, 56-6; Mt View-Gotebo handled Cyril, 38-6; Grandfield crushed Fox, 58-8; Dewar blanked Snyder, 60-0; and Thackerville decked Temple, 61-12.

This week’s feature game has Eisenhower meeting Lawton High Friday at Cameron Stadium with the Eagles seemingly playing well enough to get their second win over the Wolverines in the past three seasons. LHS won last season but in 2021 the Eagles coasted to a 59-23 victory to end 12 years of losing the oldest intracity battle.

Several teams will have open dates this week including MacArthur, Cache, Altus, and Frederick, teams which will face their first district games on Sept. 22.

No. 7-ranked Elgin should get its toughest test of the season when it heads to Weatherford to take on Class 4A’s No. 8-ranked Eagles. Duncan faces a tough test Friday as it faces Piedmont which is ranked No. 6 in Class 5A. Another area team that faces a big challenge is unbeaten and No. 8-ranked Marlow going to Perkins-Tryon to face the No. 4-ranked Demons.

There will be another big rivalry game Friday as Chickasha and Anadarko renew their series at Warrior Stadium. In Class A there will be an interesting battle at Apache where Coach Tanner Koons and his Warriors host Ringling which just happens to be coached by Phil Koons, his father. The elder Koons got the win last year and his club is ranked No. 5 this season.

In other 11-man games this week Comanche visits Plainview, Walters treks to Cashion, Hinton goes to Carnegie and Empire visits Healdton.

The eight-man schedule includes these games: Wilson at Temple; Burns Flat at Snyder; Cyril faces a big challenge at Tipton; Central High at Ryan; Waurika at Grandfield; and Mt. View-Gotebo travels to Hollis.

Eagles get clutch road win

Altus took an early 7-6 lead over Eisenhower in the first half but the Eagles got their offense cranked up and Jabari Sheppard got the drive going with a 33-yard run for a big first down. Jalen Jones then bolted to the Altus 17-yard line and Tito ran the final 17 yards for the score out of the “Wildcat” set. Quarterback Charlie Trachte scored the two-point PAT on the “Swinging Gate” to arrange a 14-7 Ike lead with 5:50 left in the first half.

Altus was trying to make it a game in the final minutes of the half but the Eagles blocked a field goal attempt and Serri Sheridan returned it deep in Altus territory. Trachte then hit Davion Bailey for a big first down to the Altus 11 and Tito followed with a TD run where the big senior wasn’t touched. The Eagles didn’t complete the PAT attempt but were in control at 20-7 entering halftime.

In the second half the Eagles’ defense sealed the deal when Jermaine Veu intercepted a flat pass and returned it 51 yards to paydirt.

Owls have big game

Elgin’s offense is about as explosive as any team in Southwest Oklahoma and it didn’t take them long to set the wheels into motion against Cache.

On the first play of the game Matt Lund took a handoff and bolted 80 yards to score with 11:47 still on the scoreboard clock. Gabe Dittmeyer added the first of six PAT kicks and the Owls were on their way to another victory.

Treyvon Crabtree is continuing to make an impact on offense after playing mostly defensive end in the past. The big, strong senior tight end caught three touchdown passes from quarterback Tres Lorah from 13, 68 and 14 yards out.

Lorah, a junior, also threw TD passes of 10 yards to Adam Eaton and 12 yards to Lund before the Owls started to clear the bench. Sophomore Ritson Meyer added TD runs of 7 and 2 yards to round out the scoring for the Owls.

Cache was able to avoid the shutout when Josiah Thomas ran 17 yards to score with 4:54 left in the game.

The Owls finished with 574 yards total offense; 369 of that on the ground and 205 in the air as Lorah hit 11-of-16 passes with one interception.

Elgin’s defense allowed 159 yards total offense and limited Cache to just 3-of-13 passing for 21 yards.