Walters slams door on Stratford, 46-27

WALTERS—Walters ground out 288 yards rushing, however, in the end, it was the Blue Devils’ defense that shut down Stratford’s final three offensive series to seal a tough 46-27 victory Friday in an important District A(II)-2 contest before a large Homecoming crowd at Elmer Graham Stadium.

The win runs Walters’ district record to 4-1 and leaves the Blue Devils in a tie for second with Wynnewood and a game behind Christian Heritage which is now 5-0 after routing Okemah Friday. Faron Griffin’s Blue Devils have a road game at Frederick Friday and a regular-season finale at home against Wynnewood.

Stratford and Walters traded hard hit all evening under calm conditions and on numerous occasions those one-on-one battles ended up on the turf and they resulted in a barrage of penalties on both sides.

The game almost got out of hand for the Blue Devils after they built a 27-13 lead with 7:49 left in the third quarter on a 9-yard jet sweep from BJ Palmer.

But the Bulldogs raced right downfield to score on a 50-yard pass from Lincoln Hall to Joseph Smith to make it 27-20. Until that point Walters had played turnover-free ball but on its first play after the kickoff the Blue Devils fumbled and Stratford recovered the ball at the 42.

Four plays later Smith scored on a 1-yard-run and when Taylor Arriaga kicked the PAT the game was knotted at 27-all with 4:00 left in the third quarter.

“We had scouted them and they hadn’t shown an ability to throw the ball but they came out and showed us they could get the ball in there on some of those deep routes,” Griffin said. “So, we had to go back to our base defense and make a few adjustments and we finally got them stopped there late on some important possessions.”

Walters wasted little time regaining the lead, driving 57 yards on six plays, the payoff coming on a Palmer 1-yard run with 2:02 still remaining in the long third quarter. Tucker Teakell toed the PAT to push the margin to 34-27 and set the stage for the late defensive stops.

The Bulldogs picked up one first down on their ensuing possession but they wound up coming up short while trying to complete passes on third and fourth down. The third-down play saw a Walters lineman bat down the pass and on fourth down Hall’s pass sailed out of bounds after the Blue Devils forced him out of the pocket and pressured him hard in the backfield.

Walters took over at the Stratford 48 and this time it took Griffin’s club six plays to score, the payoff coming on a Camden LaPierre quarterback draw. The PAT was wide but the lead had grown to 40-27 with 9:48 remaining.

The next Stratford possession faced a 3rd-and-20 from its own 25 and when Hall tried to throw a deep pass, Walters’ Teakell was in perfect position and grabbed an interception and returned it to the Stratford 22.

“That is a situation where our guy had watched a good deal of video and knew that route was coming on that play,” Griffin said. “It just came down to him recognizing the route and making a great play to stop that drive.”

While that drive came up empty for Walters, it did help drain some of the time off the clock and force the Bulldogs into an up-tempo attack that was not productive. That series wound up with Stratford facing a 4th-and-20 and once again the Blue Devils’ coaching staff turned up the pressure and forced an incomplete pass that gave Walters possession with 3:52 remaining.

Griffin’s offense struggled on that drive with a couple of penalties for delay as they tried to milk the play clock but in the end John Jones scored on a dandy 22-yard run that sent most of the fans heading home.

Griffin said he and his coaches expected the type of hard-hitting game that played out Friday.

“That bunch has lost just three games and they lost to very good teams,” he said. “They are well coaches and they are very physical. This district is loaded with good teams. One thing about it, these close games are more fun to coach in than those where you blow people out.”