Oklahoma 6AI football championship: Jenks just kept up with its Joneses to rally to title game

SAND SPRINGS, OKLAHOMA – The running of Kaydin Jones and a stout defense were the key elements that brought Jenks back from a three-touchdown deficit to a 33-27 win against Tulsa Union Friday night in the Class 6AI state semifinals. 

Jones finished with three touchdowns and 158 yards on 22 carries. 

The game went down as another classic in the Jenks-Union rivalry. The Trojans (8-4) also beat the Redhawks (10-2), 31-24, in Week 2 of the regular season at Jenks.

While Union ends its season, Jenks advances to its fifth trip to the Class 6AI final in six seasons under coach Keith Riggs. The Trojans will meet Bixby (12-0), which beat Owasso, 56-14, earlier in the day, in the other semifinal game, at 7 p.m. this Friday at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

“It feels great. That’s what I moved here for (from Broken Arrow) and that’s what we’re doing right now,” said quarterback Owen Jones, who had one rushing TD in the game. “We got one left.”

It will be a battle of the last two state championship winners. Jenks won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021 before Bixby moved up to 6AI from 6AII last season, having won the 2022 trophy.

KAYDIN JONES' TOUCHDOWNS

After fielding a punt at its 41-yard line, with 9:17 left in the game, Jenks took its first lead. Kaydin Jones took the handoff and broke open down the sideline for a 59-yard run to the end zone for a TD, putting Jenks up, 25-24.

The Redhawks responded with a drive moving from their 20 to first-and-goal at the Trojan 9, but they could not get in the end zone. On third down from the 3, Jordan Schelling - who played at Jenks last year - was stopped by his ex-teammates for a loss of 2 yards.

Union eventually settled for a 23-yard field goal from Emerson Kiker, retaking the lead at 27-25.

The Trojans began what turned out to be the game-winning drive with a 20-yard run from Kaydin Jones from the Jenks 35 to the Union 45.

Faced with fourth-and-6 from the 41, Owen Jones passed to Semaj Stanford for 9 yards and Jenks had another first down.

Three plays later, on third-and-5, Kaydin Jones bolted 27 yards with 35 seconds left for the winning TD. Hudson Ball ran in the two-point conversion for the final score.

“It was amazing,” Owen Jones said.

Kaydin Jones - who also played at Broken Arrow last season as a freshman before transferring to Jenks - is the son of Kejuan Jones, who had a stellar career for Jenks as a senior 23 years ago and also had a miraculous run in a game against Union that year, then went on to play college football at the University of Oklahoma.

The younger Jones said after the game he intends to make his own name at Jenks and after last Friday night, he is doing it.

UNION'S SURGE

The Redhawks looked as if they were going to take off as the game got under way.

On the first play of the game, quarterback Shaker Reisig - who guided Jenks to the 2021 6AI title as a freshman before going to Union - threw a pass downfield that bounced off the intended receiver but was caught by Jino Boyd, who took it down to the Jenks 15 to complete a 65-yard reception.

That set up a 1-yard run by tight end Myles Davis and it was 7-0.

Owen Jones was sacked on the first play of Jenks’ first drive, then Kaydin Jones was stopped for a 2-yard loss, followed by an incomplete pass, and the Trojans were forced to punt.

Union drove again to the Jenks 23, but Cooper Shockley picked off a Reisig pass in the end zone.

However, Jenks still struggled against the Union defense, having to go three-and-out.

With the Redhawks starting at their 46, Reisig completed a 13-yard pass to Brendon McQueen to the Jenks 41. Two plays later, Schelling gained 27 yards to the 9 to give the Redhawks a first-and-goal.

Reisig then hit Davis who scored his second TD, this time on a reception, with 2:34 left in the quarter and it was 14-0.

At the start of the second, Lane Ward forced Ball to fumble after he gained 2 yards, and Isaac Covington recovered at the Trojan 41. Immediately, Reisig threw to Boyd from that distance for another TD and it was 21-0 with 11:47 left in the first half.

“Honestly, we weren’t worried,” Owen Jones said. “I just had a feeling. I knew if we stayed leveled and stayed calm, we would be fine and we would come back.”

From there, Jenks outscored Union, 33-6, the rest of the game.

THE TROJANS' RALLY

Jenks took nearly five minutes off the clock to score its first TD, a 2-yard run from Kaydin Jones, and it was 21-7 with 7:06 left before halftime.

Little did anyone know the Trojans were starting a comeback.

Union turned the ball over on its two drives with a fumble and an interception.

Taking over with 1:52 left in the half, the Trojans drive to the Redhawks' 10. But with third-and-goal and 1.3 to go on the clock, they settled for a field goal attempt, with Jack Franklin booting a 27-yarder through the uprights.

But the fireworks really began on the second-half kickoff, when Stanford took a kickoff back 91 yards to the Redhawks’ 1-yard line. Owen Jones then scored on a QB sneak, then passed to Jack McInelly for the two-point conversion, cutting Union's lead to three, 21-18.

“It was an easy play. It was just one yard,” Owen Jones said. “It was fine. It was a great game.”

LIGHTS OUT!

As Union lined up for Kiker to attempt a 42-yard field goal with 1:12 left in the third quarter, the stadium lights went out, causing a temporary delay.

Eventually, power was restored and the game resumed.

Kiker made the field goal and Union increased its lead to six, 24-18.

HISTORY WITH BIXBY

Jenks dominated Bixby for four decades before the Spartans won against the Trojans for the first time in 2017. Jenks won the next year, but BIxby won from 2019-21. At that time, the teams played early in the year during the non-district season when Bixby was in 6AII.

But last year, when Bixby was moved up to 6AI by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, they were placed in District 1 with Jenks.

Both teams have been scheduled to meet in the regular-season finale in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Jenks stopped a 58-game winning streak by the Spartans when they beat them, 38-35, before a nationally televised audience on ESPN2 last year at Lee Snider Field.

Both teams shared the district title in a three-way tie with Norman North as a result, with Bixby still getting the top seed. Three weeks later, they met in last year’s state semifinal, with Bixby winning 28-14.

They met for the district title in this year’s game as well at Allan Trimble Stadium in Jenks, with Bixby coming away with a 31-14 win.

Jenks is the only team that has played Bixby close the past two seasons.

Photo of Jenks running back Kaydin Jones by Michael Kinney

-- Mike Moguin | @SBLiveOK