QUID PRO GRID EXTRA: BHS loses in battle royale; WCS, CV, Barnsdall, Copan shine

For the second-straight week the Bartlesville High Bruin defense played with lobster-feisty snapping intensity.

But, in a fierce battle that hung on rugged and, at times, overcoming ragged breakdowns, the Sapulpa High Chieftains made handful of extra plays that made the different Friday, at Sapulpa.

The Chieftains took advantage of a late Bruin turnover and hung by their fingertips — literally — to beat the Bruins, 27-21, in a Week 2 non-district scrap.

Bartlesville’s record pulled even at 1-1 in the first two games of Harry Wright’s coaching tenure, while Sapulpa, which played a game in zero week, improved to 2-1. Sapulpa also downed Bartlesville for the fifth-straight season and improved its series lead to 11-8.

A handful of other area prep football teams claimed Week 2 wins, but most came up short.

In Barnsdall, the Panthers stopped a two-point conversion with 0:00 on the clock to pull out a 44-42 win against Summit Christian.

The Caney Valley Trojans snapped back from an 0-2 start to crush Wyandotte, 38-0.

Wesleyan Christian School pulverized Claremore Christian, 54-8, in an eight-man battle.

On Thursday, in another eight-man showdown, Copan spoiled Foyil, 44-32.

Other than those games, it turned out to be a winless Friday for six area teams, including Bartlesville.

In what could have characterized as the area Game of the Week, Hominy held off Pawhuska, 27-22.

Dewey had to settle for a night of growing pains at the hands of the Vinita Hornets, 44-6.

Nowata displayed gritty parity early but eventually succumbed to Chelsea, 50-20.

Caney Valley (Kan.) Bullpups suffered a rare shutout loss, 24-0, in a non-district dust-off against Humboldt. Caney Valley trailed only 8-0 heading into the final period.

Oklahoma Union, which has had to reshuffle its lineup after major graduation losses the past two seasons, endured a 28-0 loss to Commerce.

In this coming Friday’s action, Bartlesville will be home for the first time when it hosts Collinsville, Barnsdall will travel to Wesleyan Christian, the Caney Valley Trojans will host Chelsea, Copan and Dewey will both have byes, Caney Valley Pups travel to Eureka (Kan.), Pawhuska hits the road for Woodland to open a four-game road streak, and Oklahoma Union journeys to Colcord.

On Thursday, Nowata plays host to Hulbert,

Following are details from last weekend’s games. A follow-up is planned for the E-E’s Tuesday sports pages.

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SAPULPA 27, BARTLESVILLE 21: Sapulpa — or, rather the Bruin defense — left the door open several times for Bartlesville to take control.

But, the Bruins just didn’t make that one crucial play — or avoid that costly mistake — that would have changed the game around.

Sapulpa never trailed.

The Chieftains burst into the lead, 6-0, on a long opening-possession drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. Sapulpa scored on an odd 34-yard play — a catch, fumble and recovery in the end zone by Marco Smith. J.D. Atterberry blocked Sapulpa’s extra point attempt and the Sapulpa lead held at 6-0.

Sapulpa would go ahead, 13-0 — on a quarterback Colton Howard’s keeper — before the Bruin offense finally cashed in.

On a 36-yard drive — set up by P.J. Wallace’s recovery of a Sapulpa fumble — the Bruins broke up the shutout on a seven-yard zinger from quarterback Nate Neal to receiver Kaden Brown.

Following Amunuel Gordan’s extra point, Bartlesville trailed by six, 13-7.

Both offenses then went three-and-punt.

Midway through the second quarter, Sapulpa turned the ball over on a fake punt — but the Bruins three three-straight incompletions and had to punt from the Chieftain’s 42-yard line.

Sapulpa then drove the ball methodically for 87 yards and a touchdown to take a 20-7 lead into halftime.

Bartlesville outscored the Chieftains, 14-7, in the second half, starting with Wallace’s three-yard burst with 9:48 left in the third quarter, chopping Sapulpa’s lead to 20-14.

The Chieftains threatened to answer — but the Bruin defense made a goal-line stand for the second-straight game, forcing an incompletion on a fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line. A couple of plays earlier, Bruin defensive linemen Shaun Lickliter and Brody Shuman combined to make a tackle for a five-yard loss, which took some of the applesauce away from Sapulpa’s drive.

But, late in the third quarter, Sapulpa bumped its lead to 27-14 on a 41-yard pass play.

However, the Bruin offense made a few valiant efforts to twist the momentum in their favor.

They drove the ball to inside the 10-yard line — only to turn it over on downs.

However, the Bruin defense came to the rescue again. On Sapulpa’s first play following the stop, Bartlesville forced another Sapulpa fumble and Eli Lino recovered it at the 10-yard line.

A few plays later, Wallace bolted back into the end zone, followed by Gordan’s third extra point kick, and Bartlesville trailed by only six, 27-21, with 6:57 left in the game.

The Bruin defense got the ball back to the offense. But, Bartlesville gave it back when Sapulpa recovered a lateral toss inside the Bruin 30-yard line.

At this point, Sapulpa seemed poise to seal the game with short drive for a touchdown or field goal.

The Bruin defense responded one final time, holding Sapulpa without a first down and forcing a turnover on downs.

Bartlesville’s offense found new life again — only to be picked off on a tipped pass.

Sapulpa then ran out the final 2:25, sealing the victory on a fourth-down fingertip catch for a fresh set of downs and Bartlesville out of timeouts.

The Bruin offense amassed 130 yards of offense, led by Neal with 10-of-20 passes for 60 yards, Wallace with 58 yards rushing on 22 touches, Niko with four catches for 33 yards and Brown with six grabs for 27 yards.

Sapulpa quarterback Howard threw for 179 yards on 12-of-21 throws.

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VINITA 44, DEWEY 6: Freshman Brett Loudermilk tallied Dewey’s touchdown.

Hunter Catlin grabbed an interception for another Dewey highlight.

Dewey coach Ryan Richardson praised the defensive work of Zaiden Masters and Dixon Adams.

“It was a learning experience,’ said Richardson, who saw Dewey go to 1-2 in its non-district schedule. “We didn’t quite match their energy at the start. They got off to a fast start. … Vinita is a terrific ballclub.”

Richardson looks forward to the next two weeks of practice “to fix things,” prior to the district opener on Sept. 23.

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BARNSDALL 44, SUMMIT CHRISTIAN 42: Anyway one looks at it, this was the game of the week for the area.

Perhaps a candidate for the game of the decade.

First the numbers for Barnsdall — Running back Easton Malone, 19 carries for 180 yards and five touchdowns, and 10 tackles (including a sack) on defense; and quarterback Maverick Lanphear, 2-of-5 for 20 yards passing, 23 touches for 270 yards and a score on the ground, four 2-pt conversions, and eight tackles on defense.

In addition, Nate Harper, Christian Hernandez, Brock Townley, Blaine Gilbert and Ronald Weber each made eight tackles.

John Pease added two sacks.

Barnsdall led by two scores with two minutes left, but Summit Christian put on a flurry of scoring, the first one on a busted coverage.

Summit Christian then recovered an onside kick and scored with no time left to pull within two points, 44-42.

During the subsequent two-point conversion attempt, Malone and Townley hit the quarterback as he released the pass and Hernandez and Weber were in position to knock the ball way from the would-be receiver.

Barnsdall improved to 3-0.

The Barnsdall community turned out en masse, reportedly creating a food shortage crisis in the concession stand.

“This was one of our biggest crowds,” said Barnsdall coach Kylee Sweeney,

Cooper Hill and McKenna Bryant earned the Homecoming King and Queen honors, respectively.

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WCS 54, CLAREMORE CHRISTIAN 8: Freshman Archer Swisher turned in a monstrous effort — including a 40-yard touchdown burst off a trap play — to help fuel the Mustangs’ attack.

Swisher finished with two touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Tyrel Cloud zinged three touchdown passes — two to Kael Siemers and one to Carson Tennison.

Siemers and Mason Jensen each ran for a touchdown.

“WE had a big night offensively,” WCS head coach Curt Cloud said. “We shared the wealth.”

The Claremore squad scored its lone touchdown as a result of WCS busted past coverage in the fourth quarter.

On the play, WCS checked into a different defense, but the cornerback didn’t hear the change, coach Cloud explained, adding, “defensively, we were most disappointed we let them score.”

The WCS coach praised Claremore’s group as “not a bad group of athletes. They have four seniors who are pretty good athletes. They were probably more physical than Webbers Falls (which outlasted WCS, 78-55, last week). We executed very aggressively on defense to the football.”

WCS improved to 1-1.

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CANEY VALLEY 38, WYANDOTTE 0: After starting at 0-2 — in a grueling two-week schedule, including Class 2A title contender Pawhuska — the Trojans crashed back like a sledgehammer in search of mountain to drill a cave through.

Zak “Curly” Wallis — the Trojans’ fourth-year starting quarterback — opened up for six touchdowns.

He ran for three — on journeys of 36, four and 28 yards — and threw for two scores — 51 yards for Cooper Fogle and 15 yards for Seth Perkins.

Wallis also returned a punt 41 yards to the house, which paint Caney Valley’s first touchdown on the board.

“We just kind of kept going,” said Trojan head coach Stephen Mitchell. “Our defense did a great job.”

He estimated Wyandotte recorded only about 50 yards of total offense, including negative-yards rushing.

Caney Valley racked up 10 sacks, led by defensive end Clane Norman with five.

Wallis’ scoring punt return relied on a bit of serendipity — he normally doesn’t line up to field boots, but because of Caney Valley’s punt-block formation, Wallis was shuttled to the back end, where his hands and legs combined with destiny to compose a sweet tune.

Mitchell praised the energy source provided by the student section and added: “We give all glory to God and the blessing that he gave us.”

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CHELSEA 50, NOWATA 20: Nowata (0-2) displayed plenty of fight, scoring after Chelsea had gone up by two touchdowns.

But, Chelsea then recorded a pick-six — off a tipped pass — that Nowata coach Chance Juby characterized as “a kind of momentum breaker.”

But, the Nowata players kept battling valiantly, he said, pointing to Keyshawn Verner’s end zone interception to prevent another Chelsea touchdown.

Nowata quarterback Treaver Emberson passed for 250 yards, including touchdown tosses to Bear Savala (two) and Peyton Trotter.

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COMMERCE 28, OKLAHOMA UNION 0: All things considered, OUHS Cougar head coach Steve Trammell praised the effort of his largely green and maturing crew.

“We have six or seven kids that are experienced; we have a bunch without experience,” he explained. “Our kids have a hill to climb.”

He praised the work of Conner Pierce in running the offense, and the eclectic contributions of young Jacob Harris.

“He’s a sophomore who plays wherever we need him to play,” Trammell said. “He’s done a great job of understanding the offensive and defensive side of the ball.”

Easton Brennan has performed well on the defensive side of the ball, Trammell said.

Eason and Pierce kept the Commerce quarterback under pressure all game.

The previous week, Oklahoma Union led Wyandotte 14-8 with six minutes left but fell, 22-14.

“We went out and did what we needed to do, extend drives,” Trammell said.

Austin Harris broke loss for a 45-yard touchdown run to power OUHS ahead of Wyandotte, he said.

But, this past week, Harris moved to the offensive line — a decision Trammell made regretfully but out of necessity.

“That’s where we needed him,” Trammell said. “He said, ‘You know, Coach, if that’s where I need to be that’s where I’m going to be.”

Trammell also singled out Levi Hicks for mention.

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HOMINY 27, PAWHUSKA 22: The Pawhuska Huskies will have to wait until next year to gain some payback.

The Bucks (3-0) outlasted Pawhuska for the second-straight season, in what probably ranked as upsets, even a little toward the mild side, both seasons.

In last Friday’s meeting, “We didn’t play great the first half,” Pawhuska head coach Matt Hennesy said. “They’ve got a pretty good football team, they played super hard. We had the ball three or four times in the red zone and didn’t score. We had our chances to win it.”

Quarterback Todd Drummond tossed two touchdowns for Pawhuska (2-1), both to Traven Richardson. Richardson finished with 9 catches for 139 yards.

Drummond also rushed for a touchdown. He has thrown for multiple scores in each of the team’s first three games.

Linebacker John Reed continued on pace to set a new single-season Pawhuska record for most tackles.

He racked up 14 to bring his season total to 50 through three games. The school record is 160-plus, set last year by Jack Long.

But, despite Pawhuska’s gritty defensive effort, Hominy “moved the ball pretty well,” Hennesy said. “Their quarterback is extremely good. They have three or four players who are super fast. All their kids played super hard. They’ve got a shot to win it all in Class A.”

Pawhuska, meanwhile, will look to snap back in its next meeting when it takes on Woodland.

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HUMBOLDT (Kan.) 24, CANEY VALLEY (Kan.) 0: Caney Valley Pups coach Criss Davis is one to give credit where it is due.

He praised the effort of the Humboldt players, but also didn’t shy away from giving a thumbs-up to his players.

Caney Valley trailed only by a touchdown, 8-0, heading into the final quarter before Humboldt caught a spurt of fire to put the non-district game away.

“Hands down, I’m not disappointed in the way my kids played,” the veteran Caney Valley head coach said.

Caney Valley’s pass defense held Humboldt to just three yards passing, although Humboldt dominated on the ground, 33 carries for 211 yards, compared to 30-for-92 for the Pups.

Two lost fumbles by Caney Valley proved to be a costly key for the Pups.

“In the first (scoreless) quarter it was a battle royale,” Davis said, noting the teams had run for a total of only 40 yards.

Humboldt scored in the second quarter on an unlucky Caney Valley play — on a pitch off the option, a Humboldt defender named Sam Hull stuck his hand out, tipped the ball, caught it and rumbled 28 yards for a score.

Caney Valley held Humboldt without another point the middle two quarters. In the fourth, Humboldt’s Trey Sommer broke off a 45-yard scoring run.

“We hit him three times but didn’t bring him down,” Davis said.

With less than two minutes left, a Caney Valley turnover resulted in a 23-yard touchdown scamper by Sommer.

For Caney Valley, Jackson Griffin gained 42 yards on 14 carries, followed by Afton King at 11-for-26 and quarterback Garrett Watson at 2-for-11. Seth Hedges added six yards on two totes.

Watson connected on 6-of-11 passes for 45 yards, split between two catches each for Tyler Cunningham, Gavin Stimson and Ben Matthews.

On the defensive side, Griffin amassed 8.5 tackles, followed by Hedges and Watson with 4.5 each, and Dillon Thompson and Tucker Garden with four apiece.

“It was a great ballgame,” Davis said. “I thought we played extremely hard. As a coach, I’ve got to do a better job of getting our kids ready. … We’ve all got to keep working to get better.”

Caney Valley is now 1-1 on the season.

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COPAN 44, FOYIL 32: After having started the season at 0-2, the Copan Hornets stormed back Thursday to crumple Foyil in a non-district shootout.

Copan freshman quarterback Kane Foreman connected on 18-of-32 passes for 272 yards and five touchdowns (and four two-point conversions), all career highs.

Three different Hornets hauled in touchdown catches — Teegan Caron (4-for-78, 2 TDS), Karson Woodworth (5-for-98, 2 TDS) and Weston O’Rourke (3-for-44, TD). Jarrett Shambles added 4 catches for 41 yards, and Shooter Brewington hauled in a two-point pass.

O’Rourke also broke loose in the rushing game (4-for-133). Foreman ran for a score as well.

Woodworth, Brewington, O’Rourke and Jarrett Shambles all scored 2-pt. conversions.

O’Rourke, Caron, Brewington and Foreman are all part of Copan’s talented freshman class.

Woodworth and Shambles both are sophomores and Cobb is the team’s lone senior.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Area high school football roundup for Week 2 2022