TAMING THE 'CATS: BHS Bruins pounce on Ponca in cup clash

Trophy or not trophy?

In one way perhaps — when sized up against the main show Friday night in Ponca City — it doesn’t matter.

What happened was a half-game football scrimmage between spirited and intense rivals, Bartlesville and Ponca City.

In a display of maximum character and crunch-time golden performances, Bartlesville outpointed the host Wildcats, 14-13.

The outcome doesn’t matter officially — as mentioned this was a scrimmage.

Even so, ostensibly, at stake for the winner was custodianship of the ConocoPhillips Bowl Cup trophy, which Ponca City had won the previous two seasons.

But, it wasn’t made available after Friday’s game for Bartlesville to take home — perhaps due to a misunderstanding on whether the trophy was up for grabs, even though that had been the impression given Bruin head coach Harry Wright.

Regardless of the adjudication, if any, of the situation, nothing could deprive the Bruins of the satisfaction of a gritty victory, which came to a gutsy fourth-down decision by Wright.

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Some key Bruin plays

• Bartlesville running back Austin Zink makes runs of six and 13 yards on Bruins' first touchdown drive.

• Bartlesville lineman Cooper Wood chases Ponca City QB across the field, on backside pursuit, and forces a pass incompletion. Ponca City ends up punting.

• P.J. Wallace opens Bartlesville's second touchdown march on an 8-yard serpentine run on 1st-and-10 from the Bruin 31-yard line.

• Bartlesville defensive back breaks up a pass inside the 20-yard line on man coverage.

• Bartlesville avoids near turnover when Ponca City defender doesn't hang on to a potential interception out of double coverage.

• Bartlesville quarterback Nate Neal makes a 10-yard burst to take the ball into Ponca City territory and move the chains about halfway through second quarter.

• Bartlesville defense forces first-down fumble on Ponca City's final possession. Ponca City recovers the ball but ends up punting.

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With the Bruins clinging to a 14-13 lead and trying to run out the clock in the final three minutes, Bartlesville had the ball around midfield and facing fourth and short. Sophomore tailback P.J. Wallace got the call.

He grabbed the handoff, crashed into a mass of bodies on the interior left, got spun around, popped free and back pedaled for the first down and more. That set up the successful end play for the Bruins.

Next up, Bartlesville — led by Wright in his first year as head coach — eyes a bye this coming Friday night. The Bruins bolt into the regular season on Sept. 2 at Claremore. The Bruins’ first home game is scheduled for Sept. 16.

Wright and his retooled staff witnessed plenty of positives last Friday night on which to build on for the upcoming campaign.

The churning, explosive bursts by ballcarriers Austin Zink and Wallace, the laser-guided passing of sophomore quarterback Nate Neal, the powerful and coordinated play of the offensive line and the swarming, relentless play of the defense each played a role in the thriller against a very strong and determined Wildcat bunch.

The Bruins unleashed a thunderous offensive attack to score touchdowns on their first two drives and go ahead, 14-0. Down the stretch in the second quarter, the final result came down to tenacious toughness and dogged determination that forged a one-point difference in the half-quarter game.

Despite some scrimmage limitations — no kickoff or punt returns, no punt rush, or no tackling the quarterback on sacks — the battle exuded the feel of a real game.

Employing a combination of explosiveness and efficiency, the Bruin offense dominated on its first two drives — a five-yard pick-and-power touchdown run off an inside sweep by P.J. Wallace, and on a 45-yard scoring connection between Neal and Damien Niko. Nestled in the middle of a perfect pocket, Neal launched a shot to Niko while he streaked down the middle of the field like a sprinting buck deer flowing elusively through the broken terrain of a wilderness.

Meanwhile, Neal’s ball arched through the night sky and descended into Niko’s hands while he remained in stride and zipped the rest of the way to paydirt.

Wallace scored at the end of a 75-yard drive that opened up with a play-action pass good for 10 yards.

Zink gobbled up some key real estate on runs of nine and 13 yards to keep the chains moving. A 21-yard pass gain on a turn-in route took the ball down to just inside the five-yard line to set up Wallace’s scoring run.

On the play, Adyn Peugh made a key block to seal the inside and help Wallace stride into the end zone.

The Bruins led, 14-0, following the first 9:22.

Ponca City answered less than two minutes later on about a 58-yard touchdown pass. The quarterback hit the receiver on a right-to-left inside slant crossing route and he took it the rest of the way.

The score stood at 14-7 after one quarter.

In the second quarter, the Wildcats struck again through the air, this one on a go route down the outside in which the receiver simply got past two Bruin defenders, caught the ball and zipped past the goal line. However, the extra point failed and the Bruins still led, 14-13.

Ponca City got the ball back, but went three-and-out.

The Bruins started a drive on their 39-yard line with 3:21 left. Wright said the plan was to run the clock out.

Ponca City called timeout after three short running plays. The Bruins faced 4th-and-1.

Bartlesville opted to go for it. They picked it up and then drained the clock with Ponca City having no timeouts left.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville-High-football-team-knocks-off-Ponca-City-in-cup-challenge