Punt return gets Cache rolling; Owls turn away Indians

It never fails, when football district games begin, there is a totally different level of excitement and for several Southwest Oklahoma teams the news was good as they jumped to 1-0 in district action to gain some momentum moving forward.

There were big plays on offense and defense and we even witnessed some big special teams plays that got several teams going in the right direction.

At Cache’s Ulrich Stadium it was a punt return for a touchdown that helped the Bulldogs race past Woodward, 56-0, in a District 4A-1 battle.

The Cache defense had stopped Woodward’s first drive at the Boomers’ 13-yard line forcing 4th-and-7 and a punt. Logan Crawford fielded the punt near the Woodward 46-yard line and raced untouched to score with 10:13 left in the first quarter.

“Logan Crawford had a nice punt return for a touchdown that got us going and Ben Angiel kicked three field goals, one of those from 42 yards as we were able to make some big plays on special teams,” Cache Coach Faron Griffin said.

The Bulldogs also saw their offense have a solid game.

“We went into the bye week wanting to simplify our schemes and do a better job of executing,” Griffin said. “Tyler Harbin had a good game at quarterback with more than 100 yards rushing and he was able to make good reads and our offense had some long sustained drives that kept our defense on the sidelines.”

Cache’s second score came after an interception and nice return by defensive back Canden Hance. Hance picked off the overthrown pass at the Cache 32-yard-line and returned it to the Woodward 32.

Several plays later Harbin scored on a short run and the Bulldogs were on their way to a big victory. This week the Bulldogs go outside their district to host Oklahoma City Southeast.

Elsewhere the five Lawton-area schools got mixed results as MacArthur beat Duncan, 59-28, and Elgin beat El Reno, 54-21. No. 1-ranked Carl Albert had little trouble beating Eisenhower, 58-9, and Putnam City beat Lawton High, 49-20.

This week will start Thursday when Eisenhower hosts McGuinness for a 5A-2 battle at Cameron Stadium. That district includes No. 1-ranked Carl Albert along with Guthrie and Piedmont and those three are all unbeaten. The Eagles and Irish are expected to fight it out for the fourth playoff spot in that district and Thursday’s game will be important for both clubs.

In District 5A-1, MacArthur visits Altus Friday, Duncan is home to face Midwest City and Elgin makes the long drive to Ardmore.

Lawton High is home to face Ponca City in a game that will go a long way toward proving the Wolverines are capable of making the playoffs in 6AII.

In Class 3A, McLoud comes to Anadarko and Marlow travels to Lone Grove. The area’s two Class 2A teams will be busy as Frederick heads to Little Axe and Crooked Oak visits Comanche.

The interesting District A-2 race has several big games with Mangum visiting Walters in the biggest. Also in that district Hobart visits Apache, and Cordell visits Carnegie. Empire has an open date in A-2.

The eight-man feature this week has Ryan at Tipton, Grandfield at Temple, and Mt. View-Gotebo at Corn Bible Academy.

Central High and Cyril have open dates this week.

Apache gets big road win

After Mangum’s fast start that had them jumping to No. 9 in the Class A rankings, there was little doubt that the Warriors would have a challenge last week when they went to face the Tigers.

But the Warriors used a big offensive game including 218 yards rushing and two touchdowns from quarterback Houston Herrin. Herrin also had 92 yards passing and a touchdown for a solid evening.

Dom Scott added 67 yards rushing and two touchdowns, plus he caught a TD pass and added 52 yards receiving. Brother Dayton Scott rushed for 118 yards and two scores.

Big plays spark Owls

There is nothing more deflating for teams when they turn the ball over in the red zone and then see the opposition go on big drives to turn the tables.

Friday Elgin did just that, stopping an El Reno drive on a fumble at the 1-yard-line and then making a huge offensive play as Matthew Lund exploded for a 99-yard touchdown run for the first score.

Then right before halftime, linebacker Ritson Meyer intercepted an El Reno pass in the red zone and returned it 97 yards for another big touchdown.

“Those were two huge momentum swings for us,” Elgin coach Chalmer Wyatt said. “They fumbled at the one and then Matthew (Lund) goes 99 yards for a touchdown.”

The Indians then have another long drive where they are running the ball well but change things up in the red zone.

“They go right downfield and then they throw it and Ritson just makes a nice interception and takes it home for a Pick-6,” Wyatt said. “Our defense gave up some yards but we settled in and started controlling them a little better.

“We didn’t get a lot of snaps because they’d get the ball and go on long drives but we were able to get some big stops and slow them down later in the game.”

El Reno won the time of possession battle, 34:30 to 13:30 but the Owls made the most of their chances. Tres Lorah connected 11-of-12 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns, one an 89-yarder to Lund, another TD pass to Lund from 15 yards, and a 30-yard TD pass to Michael Adesola with 1:48 left in the game as the Owls were able to complete enough drives to seal the victory.

“Our defense had a pretty good game even though they gained some yards against us,” Wyatt said. “(Collyn) Donnelly played tough and Ritson did a good job with the interception and he had a big sack on a fourth-down play in the second half.”

El Reno did get within two TDs of the Owls when a long punt return made it 34-21 with 9:05 left in the third quarter.

“That was one time where the wind really affected the game,” Wyatt said. “It was a punt that was for negative yards and their guy caught it and was able to score as our coverage overran the play.”

But that’s when Elgin put the final three TDs on the board to pull away. Lund wound up with 185 yards rushing and one score and he caught two passes for 84 yards and two more scores.