Bobcats battered

There wasn’t much of a chance for Kingfisher to look past last week’s opponent.

That’s because the Jackets had nobody to look forward to at the time.

KHS opened District 3A-1 play last Friday with a 52-12 road win against Bridge Creek in a game that went mostly according to plan.

While the Jackets were heavy favorites on paper, there was no looking past the Bobcats.

That’s because, just before kickoff, it was learned the Jackets had no opponent this week.

Douglass, the team’s scheduled opponent for homecoming, fell prey to Oklahoma City Public Schools’ order to shut down all activities this week.

So in the final minutes before kickoff, Kingfisher coaches were searching for an opponent this week while the team was warming up for the Bobcats.

“We had some leads in our heads, but we were hitting dead ends,” coach Jeff Myers said. “Then we had to put that on hold because we had a game to take care of.”

(Ed. note: See story to the right on how that process worked out.)

And the Jackets did just that.

The team scored on all six first-half possessions and led 45-0 at halftime.

That included a 61-yard catch-and-run by Cade Stephenson on one of the final plays of the first half as the Jackets appeared to be trying to run out the clock.

“No, we’re always trying to score,” said Stuart Purintun, co-offensive coordinator.

Jax Sternberger found Stephenson after checking down from other pass options. Stephenson broke a couple of tackles, hit the sideline and outran everyone to the end zone for his third touchdown of the game.

It was Stephenson who put the Jackets on the board initially.

After Sternberger converted a third-down pass to Tate Taylor, Stephenson busted through the line virtually untouched for a 39-yard scoring run.

Taylor caught a thirddown pass on Kingfisher’s next possession to extend the drive. That turned into a 24-yard touchdown pass from Sternberger to Caleb Dick for a 14-0 lead less than halfway through the first quarter.

Dick’s 47-yard punt return set the Jackets up at the Bobcat 6 and Stephenson needed one play to getting a rushing TD at the 4:50 mark of the first.

Taylor was rewarded for his drive-extending catches in the second quarter when he hauled in a 6-yard pass from Sternberger to put KHS up 28-0.

Sophomore Harrison Evans bulled his way in from 5 yards out just three minutes later to push the lead to 35-0.

Kingfisher’s defense, which had surrendered only one first down at this point, forced a turnover on Bridge Creek’s next possession.

T.J. Parker’s fumble recovery led to a 31-yard field goal by Aaron Delatorre, who made all seven of his extra-point attempts as well.

“It was a good half,” Myers said. “Our defense didn’t give up much and that was despite us not being sure what they were going to try to do offensively.”

Bridge Creek was mostly a spread team its first two games of the season, but went with a full-house backfield and two tight ends in its win the previous week over Lexington.

“We were prepared for both, but they’re just two totally opposite concepts,” Myers said.

None of it worked, especially in the first half. Bridge Creek had 120 total yards in the game.

Taylor led the team in both receptions and tackles.

He caught seven passes for 95 yards and also had eight tackles, two of them for a loss.

Slade Snodgrass added seven tackles and Kyle Borelli, who got the start at linebacker, had six.

Jarret Birdwell capped Kingfisher’s scoring with a 34-yard reception down the seam at 3:51 of the third quarter.

That play came directly after Myers called a timeout, which was preceded by a rather sloppy stretch of penalties by the Jackets.

“We weren’t very clean in the first half and that was one of the things we discussed at halftime,” Myers said. “And then we were continuing it in the third quarter, so I felt it necessary to have a discussion with them.”

The TD to Birdwell was the fourth of the game for Sternberger, all to different receivers.

The sophomore was 17 of 24 for 318 yards.

On top of Taylor’s efforts, Stephenson caught five passes for 114 yards and Dick three for 57.

Stephenson added another 87 yards on 11 carries.

The Jackets improved their overall record to 3-1 and are now 1-0 in district games.

They return to district action Oct. 9 at McLoud.