Mac, Elgin get 5A road wins; Cache rolls

During his career as MacArthur’s head coach, Brett Manning has led his team against teams with less talent at times and he’s always stressed execution and avoiding mistakes as the keys to victory in those situations.

Friday the veteran skipper had to be upset with his offensive execution in the first quarter as Altus was in the Mac end of the field for most of the first quarter. But while the offense was sluggish, the defense was not as the Highlanders kept the Bulldogs out of the end zone and after the hosts missed two field goals, the momentum swung toward the Highlanders.

That’s when Mac’s two-quarterback system turned the tide for good. Dane Edwards came into the game on Mac’s first possession of the second quarter and immediately took his team to paydirt. The payoff was a 50-yard run by Xzavier Boothe who got to the Mac sideline and then made a great cutback move to score. Then Edwards converted the swinging-gate two-point PAT try and Mac was on its way to a 31-7 victory to go to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in District 5A-1.

This week the Highlanders will be at Cameron Stadium on Friday to battle Ardmore while also celebrating Homecoming.

Also in District 5A-1, Elgin had little trouble with Ardmore at Noble Stadium, taking a 42-7 victory by scoring two times in each of the first three quarters. Once again Elgin quarterback Tres Lorah had a hot hand, connecting on 12-of-15 passes for 183 yards and one touchdown, that on an 8-yard-pass to Michael Adesola with 8:45 left in the first quarter.

Matthew Lund led the Owls in rushing with 119 yards and two touchdowns. The Owls’ defense held the Tigers to just 166 yards total offense but much of that came in the second half when the Owls started clearing the bench. The Owls gave up just 50 rushing yards in the contest.

The Owls will return home to face Altus in another game in 5A-1 as the Owls go for a 6-0 start.

In that same District 5A-1, Midwest City nursed a narrow lead over Duncan at halftime Friday but the Bombers rolled to a 48-17 win with a big second half. The Demons will visit Noble this week needing a win to get into position to earn a playoff berth in that rugged district.

In other action, Lawton High School saw Ponca City throw for more than 370 yards in a 42-8 win Friday at Cameron Stadium. A night earlier at Cameron Stadium, Eisenhower jumped out to a 14-0 lead against McGuinness but the Irish turned the tide and held on for a 30-14 victory.

This week Lawton High School will host Northwest Classen Thursday as the Wolverines celebrate Homecoming.

Cache got a big win at home, routing Oklahoma City Southeast, 55-0, in a non-district game that was added when Western Heights folded its program before the season. That should give the Bulldogs confidence as they hit the road for a key 4A-2 battle with Elk City on Thursday. That game had to be changed to work out a schedule with officials.

The Bulldogs got on the board early in Friday’s Homecoming game at Ulrich Stadium as quarterback Tyler Harbin raced 31 yards to score and Ben Angiel kicked the PAT.

On the next defensive series the Bulldogs forced a Southeast punt and when the snap was high Cache’s Christian Bennett was able to block the kick and pick it up and return it to the 17. However, Harbin’s pass was intercepted in the end zone.

Once again the Cache defense slammed the door and after another short punt, Josiah Thomas took a jet sweep handoff and raced untouched from 28 yards out for the second score with 5:25 left in the first quarter. Angiel was true again and the lead went to 14-0.

The Spartans were unable to move on their next series and Nick Robinson stepped in front of a SE pass and intercepted just 30 yards from paydirt. Luke Montgomery got behind the Southeast defense and this time Harbin was perfect and it was quickly 21-0 after another Angiel PAT.

From there the Bulldogs totally dominated and coaches were able get valuable experience for a large number of reserves.

In Class 3A, Marlow edged Lone Grove in an important game while Anadarko lost at home to McLoud, 20-18.

Class 2A saw Comanche edge Crooked Oak, 14-13, while Frederick routed Little Axe, 37-12.

The big race in District A-2 continues to develop as Apache beat Hobart, 40-26, to go to 2-0 in district and 4-1 overall. Walters turned away Mangum, 14-7, Friday as the Blue Devils kept pace with the Warriors at 2-0. Also in A-2, Carnegie continued to show improvement, routing winless Cordell, 56-0. Cordell faces the tough challenge to visit Apache Friday.

The big game in A-2 this week will be Thursday when Empire and Walters battle for a share of the A-2 lead as both are 1-0 entering the contest.

The big eight-man matchup had Ryan visiting Tipton in a big Class C battle and the Tigers pulled out a 40-32 thriller in a battle of unbeatens.

Also in Class C, Mt. View-Gotebo decked Corn Bible Academy, 36-8, to keep pace in the race for a playoff berth.

Other games coming this week are: Dickson at Marlow; Purcell at Frederick; Comanche at Community Christian; and Carnegie at Snyder.

In eight-man action this week, the feature game matches talented Velma-Alma at Cyril in the first B-4 game for both clubs.

Also on the eight-man schedule are: Central High at Alex; Bray-Doyle at Grandfield; Temple at Mt. View-Gotebo and Tipton at Geary.