Football final review 2008

The Beasts from the East met the Best from the West in the run to the state titles in Classes 6A through 3A and the East came out on top this December making gold rings a timely seasonal gift for many area athletes and coaches. Union defeated Jenks, 34-20 in 6A, Booker T. Washington defeated cross-state nemesis Carl Albert, 28-17 in 5A, Glenpool defeated western powerhouse Bishop McGuinness, 27-17 in 4A and Cascia Hall was victorious over district rival Claremore Sequoyah with a 28-21 win in Class 3A. Class 6A There was debate all season long whether this might be the year that the west comes out on top of traditional Eastern powerhouses Jenks and Union. Both of those teams had one-loss seasons coming into their semi-final matchup with unbeaten Mustang and Midwest City. All you had to do was listen to sports radio around the state to hear the sounds of debate. Was the west's schedule easier? Was the east ranked high because of tradition or did they earn it on the field this season? There was only one way to settle it and on Black Friday, after the post-Thanksgiving Day sales, football fans from across the state flocked to Broken Arrow and Sand Springs to see for themselves which of the top four teams would emerge for a chance to win the coveted gold ball. Jenks got off to a slow start in its battle with the Mustang Broncos. That had been a pattern for much of their playoff run, but so had the outcome. The Trojans physically wore down their opponents in the second half to come away with a 35-20 victory. Midwest City brought one of the most physically gifted teams and athletes with Gatorade's Player of the Year, Timothy Flanders and a supporting cast to Sand Springs to face the Redskins. Union opened the game with an 82 yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Boyea Lockett. The Bombers battled, but Union broke it open in the fourth quarter as Redskin standout Jeremy Smith ended up with four touchdowns on the night and the team won 49-17. This set up the showdown in Stillwater for the state title which both teams have held exclusively for the past 12 years. Union jumped out early as junior quarterback Chase Boyce helped engineer a seven-play drive that covered 72 yards and was highlighted by a Smith 44-yard run. Both Boyce and Smith had great performances. Smith, who has stated he will attend Oklahoma State University next fall, got a great warm-up at Boone Pickens Stadium by gaining 242 yards and rushing for three touchdowns. The junior signal caller calmly led his troops down the field after Jenks overcame a 20-3 deficit by tying it up in the third quarter. Boyce soon connected with junior receiver Thomas Roberson on a 40-yard touchdown pass. Boyce's second touchdown pass came in the fourth quarter as he found Anthony Foster who went 44 yards for a 4th quarter score that put the game out of reach. An interception of Jenks quarterback Sawyer Kollmorgen late in the game sealed the victory and the Redskins won their fourth state title in the era of Eastern dominance and their fifth state title overall. Head coach Kirk Fridrich won his first title as a head coach and looks forward to having Roberson and Boyce back next season for an attempt to go back-to-back. Jenks did not go quietly as senior standout Tramaine Thompson did everything he could to change the outcome. Thompson caught passes, returned a punt for a touchdown and even lined up at quarterback in the Wildcat formation where he rushed for 137 yards. The Trojans also look forward to the return and further development of Kollmorgen who made his first start as a sophomore late into the season and will surely be a figure in the future storied battles beaten these top teams. In Class 5A, Booker T. Washington was looking for its first title since 1984 although they had finished as runners-up six other times. The path to the title would bring about a match-up with Midwest City Carl Albert who had prevented them from achieving their goal several times in recent years. The Titans were powered by the running of David Oku and were looking to avenge their season starting loss to the Hornets by a score of 40-7. The Hornets were looking for vengeance of their own as they dispatched last year's state champion, Guthrie, with a triple overtime victory in the second round. They followed that up with a 28-7 semi-final win over El Reno. The score was tied 7-7 at halftime, but the defense stiffened against Oku in the second half and Hornet quarterback Eric Bennett had an important touchdown run on a 4th and goal to get the momentum rolling. Bennett ended up with four touchdowns and 206 yards on the ground to lead his team to victory. Head coach Antwain Jimmerson has won state championships as an assistant at Jenks, but this was also his first as a head coach. Jimmerson knows how important his assistants are to getting his program to the top. "Offensively, my coordinators, James Factor and Scott Gilkey did a great job of keeping defenses off balance. Defensively, we rotated a lot of players so, our assistants had to do a great job of getting kids ready to play. Jeff Bigger, Mickey Collins, Melvin Gilliam (the quarterback of the last gold ball team from BTW), Keith Sells and Jermaine Brown." Jimmerson felt like this victory was for the community and the alumni of BTW, but he also had a special passion for this season. Jimmerson lost his father at the end of July when most coaches are getting geared up for the first practices and he had to go home to Texas for a while. "The way that the players dedicated themselves to this season is unbelievable. My dad passed...and the players continued to work out on their own. The leadership on this team was great. Captains Justin Skillens, Ray Stovall Jr., Eric Bennett and Michael Doctor were great. It was a wonderful experience for my mom to be here for the championship. I was speechless. This community has rallied behind this team and a lot of the former players have been here for support." The Hornets from the 2008 squad will be remembered as a special group for overcoming adversity in pre-season and during the season and for their 13-1 record. Their only loss came to 6A's Broken Arrow after Bennett suffered an injury that kept him sidelined for much of the season. He returned to peak at the right time and the gold ball has returned to the trophy case to sit next to an older relative from 1984. In Class 4A there was a question as to whether or not anyone could truly put the Glenpool Warriors to the test. Coming into the state title contest, the Warriors' offense had averaged 37 points per game for a total of 482 while their defense had only given up 33 points in 13 games. The semifinal matchup with Broken Bow was their closest game as they achieved a 12-7 victory to make it to the state championship game against traditional powerhouse from Oklahoma City and the team who defeated the Warriors in the 2007 title match, Bishop McGuinness. Head coach Steve Edwards knew his team would not fly underneath anyone's radar and that his players would have a target on the back of their blue jerseys all season, but that didn't seem to be a focus of the team and they handled that pressure all year. "It's very rare when a team can come in at number one and leave at number one and the kids understood that," Edwards said. "We also went 14-0 in 2002 when we won it, but we developed a mission statement early on that every member of the staff and team understands. We want to make better players, not better plays. We focus on competing against ourselves and the other things come into line." McGuinness led the game at halftime by a score of 7-6, but the Warriors did what they do best in the second half and delivered punishing blows with a physical ground attack powered by junior running back Marco Nelson who had three touchdowns and a career high 245 yards. Nelson scored on a power run of 3 yards, a medium run of 15 yards and an electrifying game-breaker of 82 yards with four minutes left. Nelson got lots of ink in the papers all year, but in true Glenpool fashion realized the guys up front were getting him the opportunities to eat up chunks of yardage. "One of the players that probably goes unnoticed is our fullback, Alex Rice. He is a dying breed because he is a wrecking ball and most teams don't have a true fullback anymore. He's also our leading receiver coming out of the backfield, so he is senior that would make someone a good player next year. On defense, Taylor Fowler and Deshon Williams started for three years for us at corner and Seth Giles played safety. Seth is a dream punt returner and took an important one for us in the second round. He has a cool heart and secures the ball to help us win the field position battle." If teams hope the Warriors relax a little in the offseason, they may be surprised to hear there isn't much of an offseason in Glenpool. "We lift and do things the other teams do, but really, we require them to play another sport. We know that they get better in wrestling and basketball or track and baseball. It's interesting because when we finally get them back in the spring or summer, they are really hungry and they're better athletes," Edwards said. The good news for other teams is that they graduate 24 seniors. The bad news is they have 27 juniors. "In my mind, our JV linemen blocked the best defensive line in the state every day all year long." With junior offensive standouts Nelson and Drew Molencupp back again, the Warriors will continue to carry that bullseye on their back for another season as well...but we don't think they'll mind. Cascia Hall found themselves in new, yet familiar territory. The post-season rode to the title game was well-traveled, but this year they were doing it in 3A instead of 2A after moving up a class this year. For head coach Joe Medina, the change wasn't too much of an obstacle. "We have a formula here that has proven successful for over 10 years, so there were no real changes in our routine. That routine breeds confidence as the players feel comfortable with everything from the practice structure, to the in-season lifting program, etc." The opponent for the Commandos was also familiar as they faced district foe. The Commandos defeated Sequoyah during the regular season by the margin of 34-14. After that defeat, however, the Eagles offense racked up scores of 41, 35, 34 and 34 in their march to the championship game. They were led by senior quarterback Cody Richardson, who watched his older brother Levi lead the Eagles to the title in 2006. Cody made magic of his own as he tied the score at 21-21 with a five yard run with five minutes left in the game. Commando quarterback Sam Clancy who had an incredible season, capped off his career with a brilliant performance on the biggest of stages. The game on the line, the final game, for the championship, the Hollywood screenwriters dream. Cascia Hall marched 69 yards for the final score of the game and the ending of a perfect 13-0 season. The team also became the first Cascia team to win back to back state championships and Clancy ended his career with a school record of 47 touchdown passes. Coach Medina said, "We had solid play from the standbys that everyone knows about, but also key performances from juniors A Z Moyer (WR), Daniel Zabenski (FB/DL), Mikey Sutton (Inside LB), and Alex Willson (OL)." Before teams begin to celebrate the graduation day for Clancy and the other Cascia seniors, Medina stated the cupboard isn't quite bare. "We even had two freshmen start the championship game (Connor Sherwood and Hunter Hart). The freshman team is 32-0 and has never lost a game in a Cascia uniform since they put one on in 6th grade." The mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen next year will leave an opportunity for next year's team to do something again that no Cascia team has done. Can you say, "three-peat?"