A dramatic sixth: Wagoner adds another title on walk-off field goal

Dec. 4—EDMOND — Wagoner came into Saturday's Class 4A championship game determined to settle a score — and if not, at least flatten the curve — from a 42-0 loss to 4A-3 rival Cushing at midseason.

Instead, the seventh-ranked Bulldogs flattened the No. 1 Tigers with a foot in the final seconds.

In a game that had seen 42 points split between the teams, Wagoner's Ethan Muehlenweg split the uprights with a 36-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Bulldogs their sixth — and most improbable — state title, 24-21, at UCO's Chad Richison Stadium.

That's six, all since 2011.

Muehlenweg, who sat out all but one kick last year after a major knee injury, got the call over Logan Bloxom, who he had split kicks with all year.

Call it a senior privilege.

"Coach didn't tell us until right up at that point. He came up to me and said I was the man," said Muehlenweg.

But Dale Condict, the coach for all six of those championships, had that gut feeling.

"Ever since he kicked a 41-yarder in the driving rain in the ninth grade at our place, I knew he could handle pressure well," said Condict. "It seemed like I saw about six guys trying to block it."

For Muehlenweg, it was all about "staying calm" and getting it through the storm of the Cushing rush.

"Knowing my team's going to block for me, and I'm going to get a good hold," he said, "I wasn't going to be the one who messes it up.

"Now, my brain is freezing. I don't know what to feel."

Wagoner went 76 yards in the final 5:09. The play that ultimately set it up was senior running back Gabe Rodriguez's run for 18 yards to the 15, his longest run of the game. Rodriguez avoided Cushing's Brody Berlowitz on the outside, cutting back to the middle, and a hand tackle on his ankle kept him from possibly scoring.

"It's amazing," said Rodriguez, who might have helped topped some dramatics from the second of three straight state championships when his middle brother Malcolm guided Wagoner on a length-of-the-field game-winning fourth quarter drive in 2015. "When you're young you dream for these moments."

Trailing 21-7 at one point in the first half, Wagoner scored right before the half to get close, then tied it in the third quarter.

These things were key in limiting the Tigers from scoring a repeat performance.

Cushing quarterback Blaze Berlowitz, who was 23-of-32 for 400 yards and three passing touchdowns in the first meeting, saw that yardage sliced by a little more than half (162 on 17-of-25 with two scores).

Wagoner's run game, led by quarterback Kale Charboneau, kept possession for 32:04 to Cushing's 15:56. He had 110 yards on 26 carries. His 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter made it 21-all.

"You give them enough snaps, they'll eventually score," Condict said of the Tigers' offense. "We also changed our coverages and the second half we went straight nickel concept of daring them to run, and if you notice they were taking the run. It gave us a better chance to get them into some third downs and get them off the field."

Charboneau, a sophomore, was 16-of-33 passing for 147 yards and two touchdown tosses.

Wagoner attempted first blood on its opening possession, marching from its own 16 to a fourth-and-6 at the Cushing 21. The Tigers' Riley Matheson stopped Charboneau for no gain on a second and 7 then two plays later, Bloxom attempted a 38-yard field goal, but the junior missed to the left.

Witt Edwards' interception put Wagoner back in business at the Cushing 29, but after Charboneau just missed a completion to Rodriguez out of bounds in the end zone, a toss to Brayden Skeen was incomplete, turning the ball over at the 33.

Cushing then went 67 yards in 7 plays, Berlowitz hitting Matheson for 26 yards and a 7-0 lead.

Wagoner came back, Charboneau hitting Skeen up top down the middle of the field for 48 yards on the first play of the second quarter, capping a 5-play, 66-yard drive that tied it at 7.

It wouldn't stay tied long.

Boosted by a targeting call against Tres Thornton on an 11-yard run by Berlowitz, Cushing set up shop at the Bulldogs' 36. Berlowitz hit Camden Crooks for 11 to the 19 then hit Lane Yaunt for 11 and a first-and-goal at the 4. Noah Jones' 3-yard touchdown made it 14-7.

On Wagoner's next drive and a second-and-13 at the Tiger 41, Charboneau was hit by Kiowa Tate, jarring the ball loose. Matheson made the fumble recovery at the Wagoner 47. Berlowitz hit Crooks for 22 yards to the 25 and then the senior signal-caller and New Mexico State commit found Brody Berlowitz in the end zone with 5:08 to play, making it 21-7.

Wagoner drove from its own 28 to the Cushing 6 after Charboneau found Rodriguez near the sideline at the 6 for a first down with :06 left. Wagoner used its last time out, then after lining up and getting a timeout from Cushing, Charboneau threw to his left, finding Edwards on a fade in the back corner of the end zone with :01 left on the clock, The 12-play, 72-yard march got the Bulldogs back within a touchdown as the half expired.

"To go score right before the half was big," Condict said. "If you'd have given us overtime at the start of the game, we'd have taken our chances."

But this, as it turned out, was a far different team than the one that fell by six TDs in October and did not lose after that, finishing 11-3. Cushing, ranked No. 1 most of the season, dropped its first of the year and ended at 13-1.

"We talked about it during the week, it's not where you are at the middle of the season," Condict said. "If our goal is to win state championships, which is what we're about, we want to be our best at the end of the year."

Mission accomplished.