Fry of the Tiger: Bartlesville Bruin gridders singe Tahlequah; playoffs next
Next up, Bartlesville opens the 6A-II playoffs with trip next Friday to Lawton
Bartlesville High’s clutch football win last Thursday was the result of a anatomical composite — the slicing shanks of P.J. Wallace, the steel-nosed crunch of the defense, the roving eyes and thunderous thighs of Mason Manley, the massive chest of the offensive line, the educated toe of Braxton Decker and the whirling hips of Austin Zink.
The visiting Tahlequah High Tigers just didn’t have an answer against a Bruin team determined to make its regular season finale a happy memory.
Bartlesville rolled off the field with a 28-16 victory — a deceptive margin because the Tigers didn’t score their final touchdown until the final minute. But, Bartlesville also had to overcome some major mistakes of its own making — three interceptions, a fumble and a turn over on downs near the red zone.
It was a victory with many sparkling sides — Bartlesville (4-6, 3-4) won four games for the first time since 2018, beat Tahlequah for the first time since 2006, and earned the No. 5 playoff seed in District 6A-II-1, while Tahlequah (4-7, 2-5) fell to the No. 6 seed.
In addition, first-year Bruin head coach Harry Wright joined Lee Blankenship and Rich McGuire to win at least four times in their rookie season at Bartlesville.
(McGuire’s Bruins finished 5-5 in 2000; Blankenship checked in with a 4-6 mark in 2018).
Fittingly, the Bruins boasted a plethora of heroes — from Decker, making his first-ever appearance with the Bruins to defensive lineman Gavin Pullins, who pulled down an interception to help squash any Tahlequah hope of a comeback.
But, Bartlesville warriors still have more football to play. They are slated to travel Friday to Lawton High to open the Class 6A-II playoffs. It’s a long shot scenario for the boys in Blue & White — Lawton comes to the battle with a 7-3 record and homefield advantage. The Bruins are 2-3 on the road and Lawton 4-1 at home.
Bartlesville will be hoping to ride some of the volcanic vibes from the performance against Tahlequah.
The offensive attack starts with Wallace, the human momentum machine.
An inexhaustible resource, Wallace lugged the ball 34 times for 220 yards, unofficially, and also caught a pass for 12 yards. Even though he didn’t score, he was instrumental in setting up both of Zink’s touchdowns and Neal’s one-yard plunge into the end zone.
Wright and his staff decided early to feed Wallace like a a malt joint jukebox in the 1960s during an after school melange of antsy adolescents.
On Bartlesville’s second possession, Wallace carried the ball on nine straight plays for 37 yards and three first downs. Zink ran it the final 10 yards into the end zone for the Bruins’ first touchdown, followed by Decker’s first extra point.
Mason Manley, whose nickname could have been the mangler, then added to the Bartlesville defenses collection of pick-sixes this season.Earlier in the drive, Manley had tackled a receiver to force fourth down. After two offensive penalties, the Tigers faced 4th and 15 at the Bruin 30 yards line.
Tiger quarterback Brody Younger tried to force a pass into the right corridor, but Manley was there to pick it off and storm approximately 75 yards to the touchdown and a 14-0 Bruin lead with about 10:10 left in the first half.
Tahlequah then put together a gritty scoring drive of 63 yards, mixing together the run with short passes. Josh Munoz, Younger and Darryn Spahr did a lot of the heavy ground work on the march, with Spahr finishing off with the score.
Bartlesville answered very, very quickly.
With the ball on the Bruin 27-yard line — following a reverse run gain by Kaden Brown — Bartlesville called on Wallace again. He broke free up the middle, seeming to leave would-be tacklers behind like shedding autumn leaves.
But, a determined Tahlequah chaser managed to get an angle and push Wallace out of the bounds at the one-yard line — that’s the way the official saw it — making it a 72-yard gain by Wallace.
Neal spun into the end zone on the next play, which stretched Bartlesville’s lead to 21-7.
Tahlequah continued to gamely scrap and finished off the first half with field goal by Bodee Jimerson. The drive went backward temporarily on a sack by Bartlesville’s Adyn Peugh.
The Bruins appeared to keep the Tigers out of field goal range — but were called for roughing the passer which set up the 39-yard three-pointer.
The second half proved to be a battle of physical conditioning and miscues.
Early in the third quarter, Bartlesville fumbled the ball away. But, the Tigers failed to cash in and Bartlesville got the ball back on a punt.
However, the Bruins also failed to get the ball out of its own end on its next possession.
That set up a weird, fan-agonizing sequence — the next three possessions ending in quick turnovers, including interceptions by Bartlesville's J.D. Atterberry and Cameron Hightower.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville wins season finale, playoffs next
