Mac, LHS will hit road to launch playoffs

For a time last week there was a distinct possibility that Lawton High and MacArthur might face each other in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs but all of that changed in a flash and with both finishing third in their respective districts, they will both hit the road.

And ironically, as things worked out, MacArthur will be heading to Guthrie to face the Bluejays, who beat Lawton High last week, while the Wolverines will be going to Oklahoma City to face Bishop McGuinness which beat the Highlanders. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. kickoffs on Friday.

While Guthrie showed a great deal of offensive power last week against LHS, in terms of where the Highlanders landed on the playoff bracket, Manning sees upside.

“It’s a bit of a double-edged sword,” Manning said. “This makes for a difficult first round, but if we can beat Guthrie, we’re looking at a very favorable bracket moving forward. “

In preparation for the opening round, Manning knows what his team needs to focus on. Guthrie will have a tough defense, but he’s been impressed with his team’s play as of late. He sees advantages his team holds over its opponent even in a matchup where they are the lower seed.

“We’re going to have to stop the run and figure out some ways to establish our run and move the ball,” said Manning. “Defensively, our safeties have done a good job in run support. Offensively I think we have an advantage against most people we play on the edge with our receivers. Winning some of those battles when we put the ball in the air will be important.”

Last Friday, MacArthur’s turnovers were the driving factor in its loss to McGuinness. Now if the Highlanders are to win this week and continue in the post-season, Manning says they can’t have the same mistakes and costly turnovers that turned the game around last week.

“Now that you’re in the playoffs every team is good, so if we’re going to win these games against good teams, we can’t have those mistakes that are essentially the difference in winning a game,” said Manning.

If Mac can prevail, it will advance to the second round it will face the winner between Collinsville and Tulsa Washington.

Lawton High knows that facing McGuinness on the road will be a tough first-round matchup, however, head coach Lorenzo Williams is fine with where the Wolverines are on the bracket, as any team they play from this point on will be a good opponent.

“McGuiness is a good opponent and no matter where we landed in the bracket we’d have a good opponent,” Williams said. “We have to go out there and play good football.”

Williams sees some advantages his team has over McGuinness despite the Irish having good size on both sides of the ball. Friday Williams wants to see his players showcase their speed as he thinks that will be a big factor in their offense producing points.

“We feel like we have a bit of an advantage in the speed aspect so if we can move around and get guys outside the box and into open space, I think that’s our best chance to beat them,” said Williams.

Williams is counting on his team being focused Friday, not looking ahead or letting one bad play affect their mental sharpness.

“I think I’ve been trying to come up with ways to get the kids to focus since the beginning of the year,” Williams said. “They’ve gotten so much better at a lot of things, but they can’t get tired of doing things the right way. We’ll have stints where we’re perfect for a quarter and one bad thing happens and all of a sudden, we’re down two touchdowns. . .I’m trying to get them to focus on being elite and making it one day at a time.”

Going into this week’s high-stakes game, Williams says the plan will be to put his best plays and leave it all on the field.

“As a coaching staff, we’re trying to focus on things we’ve done really well this year and amplify those plays,” he said. “If we run the ball well in this play or if this blitz has worked well all year, we might look to do it more.”

Williams has nothing but praise for his team and if the Wolverines stick to the game-plan and there is trust between players and coaches, he believes they have a chance at success.

“They come ready to play every week. . .they don’t have a problem being ready for games,” Williams said. “The issue, at times, is focus and if they can keep that focus the entire game, I think we’ll do well. That’s why we coach, though, to help keep them headed in the right direction.”

If Lawton High can pull off the road upset, the Wolverines would face the winner of Friday’s Del City-Shawnee game.