Ike strikes early, often to rout Southeast

OKLAHOMA CITY—Eisenhower wasted little time Thursday, putting nearly half-hundred on outmanned Oklahoma City Southeast in the first half en route to a 68-8 victory in the season finale at C.B. Speegle Stadium.

The Eagles finish the season at 5-5 overall and 2-4 in District 5A-2 behind four ranked teams, Carl Albert, Guthrie, McGuinness and Piedmont.

The Eagles knew going into Thursday’s game that they had much superior talent and it was just a matter of executing. Ike failed to do that on its first series on an interception but then Javon Harris and his team put the pedal to the metal, scoring on their next eight possessions to take total command.

And the great thing, Ike’s coaches were able to start getting reserves into the game early as the Spartans had no answers for the Ike offense.

The early interception didn’t affect Ike quarterback Charlie Trachte who got the hot hand and helped spark the early barrage.

However, it was the defense that got the scoring started as big senior Kingston Tito tackled the SE quarterback in the end zone for a safety at the 6:50 mark of the first quarter.

After De’Andrea Williams returned the free kick to the Southeast 27, junior Serri Sheridan got the scoring going as he bolted around right end to score and when Bryan Frias tacked on the PAT it was 9-0 and Ike was in business.

Special teams provided the next score as Jalen Jones returned a Spartans’ punt 62 yards to paydirt just a couple minutes later and Frias added the 16th point.

The Spartans actually had something going before they suffered key penalties and Ike wound up with the ball at midfield.

It took a pair of Trachte to Tito passes to cover the 50 yards and oddly enough, both were of 25 yards. That shoved the lead to 22-0 with 2:12 still left in the first quarter.

The defense set up the Eagles again on the second play of SE’s next series as one of the Ike defenders stripped the ball from a Spartans’ runner at the SE 44.

Five plays later Trachte fired an 18-yard TD pass to Jordan Coppage on the first play of the second quarter and Frias added the 29th point.

Then came the best SE drive of the first half as they moved to the Ike 4-yard-line before getting two straight penalties that sent them backward. One was a 5-yard penalty for having 12 men on the field and when the SE coach argued, he was hit with a 15-yarder.

That forced their kicker to try from 49 yards instead of 29 and the kick was well short.

It was short enough that Ike’s Amorion Hale grabbed the short kick and returned it the SE 43. Eight plays later Rashard Elzey scored from two yards out for a 36-0 lead with 5:25 left in the half.

The Spartans once again got inside Ike territory before Tito got a big sack and the Spartans mis-fired on a 4th down gamble that was overthrown.

Trachte found his favorite receiver, Sheridan, on the third play of the next series from 45 yards out and Frias added another point to make it 43-0 with 42.8 seconds left in the half.

A quick Ike interception gave the Eagles the ball back at the SE 22 and Trachte hit Jones for the TD. That PAT missed but Ike had plenty of points and after half the youngsters got to take over.

It wasn’t long into the second half that freshman David Baker scored on a short run as the score moved to 55-0.

Trachte wound up completing 11-of-17 passes for 232 yards and four touchdowns before leaving the game at halftime.

Ike’s season not only included a brutal schedule, the Eagles lost starting tailback Rashaud Hurt to a knee injury and star defensive end Jermaine Veu to a broken collarbone as well as several other season-ending injuries.

With Trachte and Sheridan returning among others, the Eagles are excited about the future.