2020: Continuing the Year in Sports
COVID wrecked a lot - even decimated some seasons - but there were still some highlights
CASHION SENIORS Cedar Stewart and Kaitin Taylor embrace after their team was defeated 46-42 by Caddo in a 2A area consolation championship, which ended the Lady Wildcats’ season last Saturday. [Photo by Brad Stone/ www.bestone.shootprodcorn]
STATE CHAMPS...AGAIN - Lomega’s girls added to their state record collection of gold balls by defeating Vamum in Class B state championship in March, less than a week before the entire state and then nation began to shut down due to the coronavirus. [Photo Provided]
OKARCHE SENIOR Marlo Hunt (00) is guarded closely by Hydro-Eakly’s Raegan Klaassen during the first half of their Class A semifinal matchup. Hunt scored four points as the Lady Warriors’ season came to an end against the eventual state champions. IKT&FP Staff Photo]
We continue the look back at the year that was in sports for 2020.
The series began in our Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020, edition when we reviewed January
This edition takes a look at the remainder of the school year beginning in February
Unbeknown at the time, that would be the final full month of sports we would witness for the 2019-20 school year.
Still, there was some history made whether it was Kingfisher having one of the longest boys basketball win streaks ever, the Cashion boys breaking a hex that was over their program for more than two decades or the Lomega girls doing what they do best...win state titles:
February
Matthew Stone and Bijan Cortes both surpassed the 1,000 career point scoring mark in Kingfisher’s 75-63 win at Bethany, which was the Jackets’ 40th straight win overall. Both scored 24 in the game.
Cashion’s T.J. Roberts scored on a tip-in with four seconds left to lift the Wildcats to a 44-42 win at Hennessey. The victory gave Cashion the TRC regular season title, snapping a four-year run of dominance by the Eagles.
Lomega’s Adysen Wilson scored 17 points in a 72-42 win at Drummond. The junior needed 16 to reach 1,000 career points.
KHS defeated the OKC Storm 69-61 at home to finish the regular season 22-0, giving it a second undefeated regular season in three seasons. The 2017-18 team is the only other boys team in school history to accomplish the feat.
Four KHS wrestlers earned spots in the Class 4A state tournament: Isaac Long at 138 pounds, Bryce Hawk at 126 pounds, Jon Henry at 132 pounds and Blake Neal at 182 pounds.
Cashion’sboys defeated Hobart 58-29 in a Class 2A regional winner’s bracket game. Big deal, you say? Well, yeah. The victory locked up a spot in the area tournament for a program that hadn’t made it past regionals since 1997....a span of 23 seasons.
No. 1 Lomega defeated Paden 81-44 in a Class B area championship to advance to the state tournament for the 33rd time in the program’s history.
In Class A, Okarche slowed down Velma-Alma for a 30-16 win to capture an area championship and advance to state for the 29th time.
March
The month certainly started with a flurry...
Bethany upset No. 1 Kingfisher 54-42 in a Class 4A area championship game in Stillwater to advance to state. The loss ended the Jackets’ 47-game win streak that dated back to December 2018. It’s among the 10 best win streaks anyboys basketball program has produced in Oklahoma.
KHS bounced back the next night to defeated Metro Christian Academy 71-50 for the area consolation championship and a fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament.
On the same night the KHS boys advanced, the Lady Jackets saw their postseason run come to an end with a 46-37 loss to No. 4 Weatherford. After losing the district championship game to Elk City, KHS won five straight elimination games before falling one win shy of the state tournament.
The Cashion girls also fell one win shy as they were dealt a 46-42 defeat at the hands of No. 6 Caddo in a 2A area consolation championship at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center in Weatherford.
Cashion’s boys, however, weren’t to be denied. After losing 56-51 to Minco in Friday’s area championship, the Wildcats blasted Calera 61-26 for the area console tion title and a spot in the state tournament for the first time in 24 years.
The fourth-ranked Okarche girls knocked off No. 5 Vici 44-38 in the Class A state quarterfinals to reach the semifinals for the second time in three years under coach Kelli Jennings. The run came to an end there as No. 1 Hydro-Eakly held off the Lady Warriors 43 -29 before eventually winning the state championship.
No girls program has won more state titles in Oklahoma than Lomega and the Lady Raiders added to their legacy in 2020. Top-ranked Lomega beat defending state champ Varnum 69-54 for the Class B crown. It was Lomega’sfirst title since 2016, but the third in six seasons and 14th overall. Hensley Eaton, named MVP by The Oklahoman, scored a team-high 19 points. Lomega finished the year with a 30-2 record and 27 straight wins.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020. That’s the night Oklahoma City became the epicenter of the coronavirus nationally when the scheduled NBA game between the hosting OKC Thunder and the Utah Jazz was postponed after Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Not long after, the NBA suspended the season indefinitely. In the days that followed, collegiate basketball conferences canceled their tournaments and then the NCAA canceled its tournament. Soon the NCAA announced the cancellation of all spring sports.
However, we woke up Thursday, March 12, still thinking we were going to play the 2A-6A state basketball tournaments. However, at around noon, the OSSAA announced it was postponing them. Locally it affected the Cashion (2A) and Kingfisher (4A) boys teams.
KHS alum Mason Overstreet finished seventh overall in the McKenzie Tour Qualifying Tournament in Dothan, Ala. The finish secured Overstreet, a senior at the University of Arkansas at the time, a spot in at least half of upcoming season’s events in the McKenzie Tour of PGA Canada. Not long after his fourth and final round of the tournament, Overstreet learned of the cancellation of his senior golf season at Arkansas (the NCAA later ruled that athletes like Overstreet could retain an extra year of eligibility).
Lomega juniors Adysen Wilson and Noah Snowden were named MVPs of the Cherokee Strip Conference after a vote of its coaches.
The OSSAA board of directors unanimously voted Thursday, March 26, to officially cancel the 2A-6A state basketball tournaments. The vote came one day after the state Board of Education voted to shut down school buildings and extracurricular activities for the remainder of the school year.
Kingfisher’s Bijan Cortes and Matthew Stone, both juniors, were the top two vote getters when the Western Athletic Conference announced its all-conference teams. Jared Reese was named the coach of the year and Jarret Birdwell was named to the second team. For the girls, Jenni Beebe was a first-team selection and Rayland Garner a second-team pick. This was the first year for the expanded conference, which now includes 12 teams.
To cap the bad news for the month, a local runner saw her dream be put on hold. Brandi Parker, a speech language pathologist from Kingfisher, qualified for the 2020 Boston Marathon in September 2019. It was to be contested April 20, but was postponed to Sept. 14...a date that never saw the marathon competed in Boston either.
April
Rachel McDowell of Okarche and Jacob Woody of Cashion were voted the Three Rivers Conference players of the year by the conference’s coaches. Both were seniors who led their teams to conference tournament titles and their respective state tournaments. Locally, the conference includes Okarche, Cashion, Crescent and Hennessey.
Kingfisher’s Riley Myers was named the Oklahoma Coaches Association Region 1 male athlete of the year. The region covers 76 schools in the northwest portion of the state. Lomega’s Kevin Lewallen was named the region’s girls basketball coach of the year, Kingfisher’s Jared Reese the boys basketball coach of the year, Cashion’s Erik Robinson the region’s assistant coach of the year, Kingfisher’s Derek Patterson the junior high coach of the year and Kingfisher’s Jay Wood the athletic director of the year.
The Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association announced Cashion’s Kaitin Taylor, Okarche’s Rachel McDowell and Kingfisher’s Jenni Beebe as selections to its all-state teams.
Bijan Cortes of Kingfisher was named the Northwest Oklahoma player of the year and Cashion’s John Hardaway the boys coach of the year after a vote of the area coaches. The winners are annually announced by the Enid News & Eagle.
Cortes the following week was named to the “Super 5” team by the staff at The Oklahoman. The team includes all classifications across the state. It was the second year in a row for a KHS boys basketball player to earn the honor as Jett Sternberger appeared on the 2019 team. Prior to that, no KHS boys basketball player had been named to the team.
Jacob Woody of Cashion and Rachel McDowell of Okarche earned spots on the Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State basketball teams.
More postseason honors: Kingfisher juniors Bijan Cortes and Matthew Stone earned spots on Tulsa World’s all-state basketball team. Tulsa World presents the honor annually to 15 males and 15 females regardless of classification and age.
May
KHS alum Mason Overstreet was named the University of Arkansas Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2020. A senior golfer, Overstreet carried a cumulative GPA of 3.886 in business finance at the time of the honor.
KHS senior Harrison Themer was named to the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association Super 5 team, an honor for achievements both on and off the court. Themer was among the top-five of 46 statewide selections to the OBCA’s academic all-state team. Those selections included Kaden LaFortune and Alex Nabavi of Cashion as well as Connor Walker of Lomega.
Kingfisher’s Colby Campbell didn’t get a senior golf season, but he still earned a spot on the Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State team, the 14th KHS male golfer to do so.
Mason Overstreet added to his honors as he was named the SEC Men’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Recent KHS graduate Riley Myers was named the 2020 Oklahoma Coaches Association Male Athlete of the Year. Kingfisher’s Jared Reese was named the boys basketball coach of the year by the OCA.