Oklahoma football notebook: I-40 Class 4A squads working through miscues in non-district slate

By Collin Wieder

The following is a football notebook on the Class 4A schools alongside the Interstate 40 corridor in western Oklahoma.

Clinton

The 4A No. 3 ranked Red Tornadoes (1-1) saw their record evened out in a brutal 46-14 loss at longtime 5A power Bishop McGuinness (1-0) Friday night. 

Clinton moved the ball decently at times on offense, but saw a few drives take points off the board due to multiple fumbles, while its defense struggled with the potent spread attack of McGuinness.

Ever a perfectionist, Clinton coach John Higbee said he’s not happy with where his team is at right now.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do and that’s what I’m taking away,” Higbee said about Friday’s loss. “We’ve only got X amount of days to get better until we’re done, and I personally think we're behind right now. We’re behind on where we should be on improvement.

"We’re not holding onto the football. We’re still making very fundamental mistakes, and we’re adding to our repertoire of mistakes we can make right now that shouldn’t be accruing.”

CHS has fumbled numerous times in each of the first two contests, which is uncharacteristic of Clinton’s ball-control, efficient, I-formation attack.

The team has flashed moments of brilliance with multiple ballcarriers like Garrison Rhoads, Kyn’Tavion Hill, Caleb Edwards, Trey Bennett, etcetera, but multiple players have put the ball on the ground.

Higbee isn’t letting his team make any excuses for its struggles either, even though it’s missing multiple key players due to injury. Junior active leading receiver Jeremiah Barker, junior starting tight end Parrish Blackwolf and opening-game leading rusher and senior starting running back/linebacker Edwards are currently all out.

Clinton’s coach believes they’re capable of better no matter the adversity. Luckily for the defending 4A state champs, building back from a tough loss isn’t unknown territory.

The Red Tornadoes regularly schedule tough, non-district opponents, so they’re over-prepared when district play begins.

CHS wraps up its non-district schedule Friday, returning to Oklahoma City for a second straight private school battle - this time against 3A No. 2 Heritage Hall (1-0).

The Reds and Chargers have matched up 12 times, and Heritage Hall holds a 10-2 advantage, including eight straight wins, according to the website www.IWasAtTheGame.com.

Heritage Hall comes in battle-tested, beating Oklahoma City Millwood, 35-28, in last week’s opener. It wasn’t the cleanest of offensive performances for the Chargers on a rain-soaked field, but quarterback Andy Bass accounted for 328 yards of total offense, including 114 on the ground.

Elk City

It’s been two weeks and two blowout wins for the No. 9 Elks (2-0) and first-year head coach Zac Maynard, as they thrashed Bridge Creek, 51-0, last Friday at home.

The program continues its upward ascent, picking up right where last year’s 10-3 semifinal team left off.

“We’re playing hard, getting better, but by no means have we made it or arrived,” Maynard said about his team’s performance over the first two weeks. “We got a chance to get there. So far, the defense has been really good.

"We’ve turned the ball over a lot more than we would want to. We've got to fix that and get that cleaned up and quit putting the ball on the ground. The effort has been great and the attitude has been good, so that’s where we’re at right now.”

Both wins came against two teams (Altus and Bridge Creek) that struggled in their respective classes last year, but any time a team can boast a point differential of 87-7, that’s something to build off of.

The Elks continue to use a bruising, multiple run game and a swarming defense to overwhelm opponents. Senior slot receiver Cooper Patton (five carries, 142 yards, two touchdowns), senior fullback Levy Owens (eight carries, 73 yards, two touchdowns) and senior quarterback Austin Jones (seven carries, 67 yards, two touchdowns) grouped up to do the bulk of the damage on the ground against Bridge Creek.

Elk City will need them and a defense that held Bridge Creek to minus-25 yards to continue its strong play as they match up against top-notch competition over the next few weeks.

The Elks will host Texas program and five-time state champ Canadian, currently ranked in the top 10 in 3A (according to Dave Campbell's Texas Football), at 7 p.m., Friday.

Elk City then closes out non-district play at 16-time state champ Midwest City Carl Albert, ranked No. 7 in 5A, next week. EC will have its hands full, but Maynard said he and the team knows what’s ahead of them and are ready to meet the challenge.

Weatherford

A tight season-opening contest fell to the wayside late for the Weatherford Eagles (0-1), as they lost, 38-21, at Kingfisher Friday. The Eagles kept the score close for most of the game, before a 24-21 third-quarter deficit for Weatherford ballooned into a 38-21 final.

Just like its Custer County rival Clinton, the Eagles struggled with ball security in the loss. The Eagles turned it over three times (two interceptions and one fumble).

Sixth-year Weatherford head coach Reagan Roof said his offense made too many miscues, and despite the Yellowjackets scoring 38 points, he said his defense performed better than the box score displayed.

“Well, overall, we saw some good things, and we did some things that we feel like we can build on,” Roof said after the loss. “In the end, we made too many mistakes and had a couple of costly turnovers. Offensively, we were just horrible and couldn’t get anything going.

"We’re just kinda still searching for our identity on offense but didn’t play very well up front on that side of the ball. Defensively, we did some good things and played well enough to win the game. Offense couldn’t put us in good field position, so the defense was always fighting field position and time of possession.”

Despite the struggles with turnovers, Weatherford’s coach was pleased with a few things from the game.

He gave props to a trio of sophomore players. He praised linebackers Steele Chism and Jackson Blackmon and wide receiver Nick Jett for their play in the loss.

Jett shined in a big way, scoring all three TDs for the Eagles. He caught two long passes for scores and returned a kickoff for a TD, so it was a good showing for the young playmaker.

Jett is a part of a sophomore group that features nine players seeing significant time for the Eagles. That’s something to keep an eye on as the year progresses, because that class is going to progress more with each snap it sees over the course of the season.

Weatherford returns home this week to host El Reno (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Roof sees a fast, athletic 5A squad in El Reno that uses multiple schemes on both sides of the ball. He said they’ve got to clean up their mistakes quickly, while continuing to adapt and play without starting offensive/defensive linemen Cutler Rollins and Cole McCurdy, who suffered injuries in practice last week.