One Saturday afternoon. One Saturday night. Two football games. Another season will be history.
Basketball and wrestling aren’t waiting, of course. They’ve already begun, and this week is the first big week of tournaments for both.
Just as it was last December, the Class 2A football championship will be played between a private school and a public school. But the private school is from the east – once-beaten Lincoln Christian. And, unlike last year, the public school foe will not be unbeaten. Kingfisher has lost twice. There will be no unbeaten state champion from that class when the last second ticks off the clock at OSU’s Boone Pickens Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Tonkawa coaches (from left) David Ellis, Mike Kirtley and Kurt Kirtley (Not present for the photo was Russell Martin, another Buc grad) (Photo by Kevin Bishop)
Class A, on the other hand, has a guaranteed unbeaten king in the wings. Both top-ranked Tonkawa and No. 3 Stroud go into the 7:30 p.m. contest at Boone Pickens Stadium with perfect 14-0 records. The only other 11-man football team to finish without a blemish this season was Cascia Hall, which makes a habit of that. Both of the 8-man champions – Timberlake and Garber – were 14-0.
Union, Cascia Hall and Garber are repeat champions. Star Spencer won its first title ever last Saturday in 4A and should be even tougher next year in 3A. Carl Albert returned to the throne room it vacated a year ago for Booker T. Washington. Heritage Hall and Morrison failed to repeat in 2A and A, while the big news, of course, was Shattuck having its steak(s) ended in Class C by Deer Creek-Lamont.
Last year Heritage Hall finished unbeaten in 2A, but Morrison (13-1) prevented Okeene from doing the same in Class A. Cascia Hall and Glenpool were both unbeaten. It’s doubtful the Commandoes’ streak will have ever faced the kind of challenge it will take on next fall. Heritage Hall is moving up to 3A, as is Chandler. And Star is moving down a class.
A couple of things about that Class A matchup:
Tonkawa has absolutely one of the best high school sports websites you will find anywhere. Take a visit at www.tonkawabucweb.com and see for yourself. Keep in mind, this is a Class A school.
Mike Kirtley's office at Tonkawa High School is loaded with reminders of tradition, including this photo of former Northern Juco coaches George McCoy, Clane Kirtley and Leo Canaday
Another little item about the Bucs: four of the football coaches are Tonkawa grads who have returned home – including head coach Mike Kirtley and his brother Kurt. Mike has been coaching there since 1985, moving up to head coach when another former Buc left – Steve Love. David Ellis came back last year and also coaches baseball, while Russell Martin is another former Buc and the wrestling coach for a program which is a perennial power in the small school class. Mike Anderson is the fourth assistant on the staff to Mike Kirtley and the “lone man out” when it comes to Tonkawa High ties.
Tonkawa won the 2005 state championship, adding to a pair of back-to-backs: 1952-53 and 1999-2000.
One of the eyebrow-raising features of the website is a roster with mouse-over photos of the individual players. There are links to stories about the team from newspapers and other websites. It’s simply an incredible package of information done very professionally.
And Stroud? Like Tonkawa, this is a school with a proud tradition in athletics. You can find out just about any details you want about that tradition in the Stroud football game programs which were published throughout the season. “Stroud Athletes Are Living The Dream & Continuing The Heritage,” is one of the messages on the cover of the program. “Tigers Are Relentless In The Quest For The Gold Ball” proclaims another. Athletic Director Bob Wood makes many points in his introduction letter on the first page of the program. One which is particularly noteworthy is: “It is important to note that athletes generally have better attendance, cause fewer behavioral problems, and have higher grade point averages during the season.” Another point of import: “Everything that we do in athletics has or should have an educational component. It isn’t just about winning games, as some would lead us to believe.”
The Stroud program is loaded with color photos of not only football players, but band members, athletes from other sports, cheerleaders, and more. There’s a list of Stroud All-Staters, ranging from Carl Harris and Jim Patton in football in 1943 to Danae McGee in cross country in 2008. It’s almost a certainty that the list in football will have at least one new addition this year.
The program points out that the Tigers have won football state titles in 1969, 1970, 1974 and 1981 and were named Academic State Champs in football in 1993 and 1994. It also lists the state title teams in other sports and All-Americans in football, baseball, track and field, cheerleading, basketball and dance. Casey Bookout is one of those All-Americans, and he made it in football and baseball. Not only was he a Parade All-American in football in 1994, he was the Oklahoma Baseball Player of the Year in 1995. Brother Kyle was the Oklahoma male track Athlete of the Year in 1998 and Kevin Bookout the 2002 Oklahoma Athlete of the Year after earning track and field All-American honors four straight years and U.S.A. Parade Basketball All-American and Oklahoma Basketball Player of the Year in 2002.
Those are just a few of the great athletes who have contributed to the proud tradition of the school over the decades.
Stroud also produced a Tiger Spirit Calendar loaded with photos and important dates for school events….
Muskogee goes after No. 1 mat rating
Muskogee's Marselle McVay (top) didn't get the pin in the state finals, but he got it at Broken Arrow last Friday to win the match (Photo by Kevin Bishop)
It didn’t take the high school wrestling season long to come up with some big, big matchups. Top-ranked Broken Arrow of 6A journeyed to No. 1 Claremore of 5A last Thursday and won the final three matches to escape with a 30-28 victory. The next night the Tigers were at home against 6A No. 2 Muskogee and had a 28-14 lead with four matches left. The Roughers won them all, including pins by Marselle McVay at 145 to break a 28-28 tie in the final bout. Dylan Fields had a pin at 135 for Bobby Jefferson’s talented team, and Matt Viera contributed a big win at 130 over Dustin West, 3-1. Keithen Cast, who’s victory at 171 against Claremore provided the winning points in that dual, was beaten by Vann Beard. Quincy Mondaine of Muskogee had a tech fall in the dual.
This weekend Muskogee can stake its claim on the No. 1 spot when it heads the field in a double-tough field at Perry. Among the top state teams there will be Blackwell, Catoosa, Choctaw, Edmond Memorial, Midwest City, Kingfisher, Yukon, Stillwater, Ponca City, Woodward and the host Maroons.
Perry is one of the oldest and most prestigious early-season tournaments in Oklahoma. Another is at Bristow, where the field includes Ada, Bartlesville, Berryhill, the host Purple Pirates, Cushing, Glenpool, Jenks, Norman, Del City, Collinsville, Sand Springs, McLoud, Elgin and Sapulpa.
Muskogee's Bobby Jefferson has his Roughers primed for a state title run (Photo by Kevin Bishop)
But the biggest collection of individual talent may be at Union, where the Mid-America Classic will bring in several teams from Texas and Kansas, in addition to Oklahoma toughies like Barnsdall, Bixby, Claremore, East Central, Edmond North, El Reno, Geary, Grove, Inola, Southmoore, Mustang, Noble, Sallisaw, Tuttle, Westmoore and the host Redskins. This writer first met Kelly Gregg when he won the heavyweight title at Union as a freshman before going on to a great football career at OU and now with the Baltimore Ravens.
All of those tournaments run Friday and Saturday. Broken Arrow will be competing in the tournament regarded in most prep circles as the toughest in the nation – the Ironman Classic in Ohio. Also in the field there will be Christian Bailey of Davis, who was a 3A state champ last February.
Following this first big weekend of wrestling tournaments, Coachesaid.com will release its first power list of the top state matmen regardless of class or weight. It will be based on a combination of last season, career records and early showings this season…
Bixby's Jacob Parker, Preston's Shakayla Love post big numbers
One of the top individual basketball performances in the young season was turned in by Bixby junior Jacob Parker. The 6-foot-6 performer missed all of his sophomore season with an injury, but didn’t take long in establishing himself as a difference maker. He scored 22 points in the season opening win (69-64) over Sand Springs, and then exploded for 45 94-72 rout of Coweta. Sophomore guard Austin Wright had a break-out night in that one with 26 points.
There are tournaments being held this week in Adair, Afton, Braggs, Inola, Mannford, Sperry, Vinita, Welch and Tahlequah in this part of the state. Chelsey Stricklen, who stepped up last season and the season before when celebrated Adair teammate Kevi Luper was sidelined early with injuries, has done well with the load squarely on her shoulders this winter. She scored 27 in a 64-40 breeze past Chouteau last Thursday – the fourth straight win for the Lady Warriors, who have their own meet going this week. Adair won’t be in the Oklahoma’s Best, which starts Thursday at Tulsa University’s Donald W. Reynolds Center. It lost in the finals to Booker T. Washington last December.
Fort Gibson will be back at OB when it starts Thursday, and the Class 4A Lady Tigers bring one of Oklahoma’s brightest stars in Carissa Crutchfield, who will be continuing her career at OSU. Luper is now one of the nation’s top freshmen while averaging nearly 30 points a game for Oral Roberts.
Memorial got off to a quick start and won easily the first week of the season against Edison, despite some fine play by Lady Eagle Leslie Ware (23). (Photo by Kevin Bishop)
Memorial and Edison, two Tulsa 5A teams which squared off the first week of the season (Memorial won it), are on different sides of the bracket at OB, with the Lady Chargers opening against Class B Cyril and the Lady Eagles taking on defending 2A state champ Pawnee. Fort Gibson meets Apache of 2A Thursday, and in one of the headline contests Claremore (5A) closes the first day of action against Kansas (3A).
Preston, which won two of three games in Oklahoma’s Best a year ago on its way to the Class A state crown, has moved up to 2A and has lost all but one starter. Three graduated and one (Talor Ward) moved to Beggs. But the lone returning starter has become an impact player. Shakayla Love (6-2) scored 38 points in a 78-50 win over Henryetta last Friday – the fifth straight win for Preston.
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