Perry’s 95-yard pick-6 gives LHS wild 37-29 win

Amari Perry came up with a huge 95-yard pick six Friday to lift Lawton High School to a wild 37-29 victory over Noble to give first-year head coach Lorenzo Williams his first win with the Wolverines.

It looked as if the Bears were going to march downfield for a chance to win in the final seconds and one of the big plays of the drive was a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on Perry that gave Noble a first down at the LHS 14-yard-line.

But on the next play Noble quarterback Jackson Steely dropped back to pass and was quickly under pressure from the LHS front. He tried to hit a receiver in the right flat but Perry stepped in front of the intended receiver, caught the ball and outran the last couple of Bears to the end zone with 2:13 remaining. Conner Duffy tacked on the important PAT to arrange a two-possession 30-21 lead.

That pretty much sealed the outcome and when Steely was trying to make something happen after the ensuing kickoff, he fumbled the ball and the Wolverines recovered in the end zone to tack on seven more points.

The Bears were able to make it interesting by marching downfield to score with 26.1 seconds remaining in the game but the Wolverines recovered the onside kick attempt to seal the outcome.

Lawton High School went into Friday’s game at Noble with a good deal of optimism after having a bye week and working on some changes to the offense, including breaking in a new quarterback Nijuon Polk.

LHS got on the board first on a 70-yard touchdown run by Nate Jones. The Wolverines missed the PAT pass on the conversion but they were on the board first and that was a huge boost of momentum.

The Bears did come back to take a 7-6 lead but the Wolverines weren’t about to let anything detract from their goal of winning the district opener. Noble pulled out to a 14-6 lead but the Wolverines were able to score twice in the final five minutes of the first half to leave the host fans grasping for answers after seeing a 21-7 lead vanish in a hurry.

Jones scored on a 5-yard run at the 4:35 mark but the PAT run was stopped just short.

The Wolverines’ defense was able to stop another Noble drive and the offense went to work starting at its own 20. The payoff came when Polk found Tavarious Deans on a 37-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds left in the half. Noble was called for a penalty on the PAT try and Jones lined up in a Wildcat set and scored over the left side for the 2-point PAT that arranged a 21-20 Noble halftime lead.

The third quarter was a stalemate as neither team could score as the defenses took command. However, there was plenty of fireworks left for fans in the final 12 minutes.

Elgin made sure it’s No. 1 ranking will remain intact as the Owls jumped out to a quick 28-0 lead and there was little outmanned Woodward could do to stem the tide, even when the reserves got their chance to get valuable experience.

Pick you poison trying to stop the Elgin offense as four different players were able to get touchdowns in that early surge. Braxton Antuna ran four yards for the first Elgin TD but a bad snap ruined the PAT try.

But on this night, it wouldn’t matter as quarterback Tres Lorah fired a 26-yard touchdown pass to Kason Meyer and Ritson Meyer tacked on the PAT run for a 14-0 cushion.

Another defensive stop set up a R. Meyer TD pass from Lorah and then Lorah threw his third scoring pass, this one to Josh Adesola from 25 yards out and it was never any closer down the stretch.

In the end the Owls had a 63-0 victory and a 1-0 record in district.

It was a long night for Eisenhower as the Eagles were unable to stop Stillwater as the Pioneers raced out to a 45-13 halftime score in the District 6AII-1 opener for both teams. It never got closer as the Pioneers claimed the win, 66-20.

Cache had a similar first half as the Bulldogs found themselves facing a 23-7 deficit in the second half before Christian Bennett got a good rush on an Elk City punt attempt and blocked the boot and sent the ball bouncing toward the end zone. Several Bulldogs had a chance to fall on the ball but eventually linebacker Ben Angiel picked up the ball and took a couple steps into the end zone for the touchdown.

Another big defensive stop gave Cache a chance from its own 24 and the Bulldogs marched smartly downfield on several nice plays, including a couple of runs from freshman Kenny Sweat, one that arranged a 3rd-and-1 at the EC 31 and the second that produced a first down at the 20.

Quarterback Canden Hance dropped back and found a wide-open Luke Montgomery who took the ball to the 2-yard-line. Hance took took the snap and bulled his way into the end zone with nine seconds left in the half. Angiel tacked on the PAT kick and the Elk City lead was cut down to 23-21 at the break.

In the second half the size of the Elk City line started to wear down the Bulldogs and when Cache did get possession it was unable to get anything going as penalties and turnovers continued to dash the hopes of the Bulldogs.

The Elks put the game away, stopping the Bulldogs and taking over in Cache territory and by that time the hosts were just wanting to kill the remaining time off the clock to preserve a 36-21 victory.

Cache did get one final chance to pull closer as the Elks fumbled the ball and the Bulldogs took over at its own 28 in the final three minutes. As was the case in the second half, the Bulldogs were unable to get any chunk plays as the Elks backed up their safeties to keep everything in front of them and just work the final couple of minutes off the clock.