Continuing the look back at 2022

As we begin 2023, we continue our look back at 2022.

The following stories are more of the top sports headlines in the Kingfisher County area from the last year.

The first part of this series appeared in the Wednesday, Dec. 28, edition: 6. Lady Raiders are state runners-up Speaking of historic girls programs in Oklahoma, no school has more state championships than Lomega.

The Lady Raiders, though, were denied a third straight Class B crown in a 53-51 defeat to Pittsburg at State Fair Arena in early March.

Pittsburg capped a 30-0 season and won the first state title of any kind for the school by shooting 50 percent (19 of 38) for the game, including 55 percent (12 of 22) from 3-point range.

Lomega shot just 38 percent (18 of 48).

“Sometimes it’s that simple,” Lomega coach Kevin Lewallen said after his team completed a 24-6 season.

Only two of those losses were to Class B teams, the second of those, of course, being Pittsburg.

The first was to Okeene in the first game after the Christmas break.

Lomega avenged it with a 64-52 win over the Lady Whippets in the state quarterfi nals. It was the 26th consecutive trip to state in which Lomega has won at least one game.

The Lady Raiders then thumped Whitesboro 65-40 in the semifinal round.

7. Cashion boys make basketball history If ever there was a slow build to a crescendo in sports, Cashion’s boys program was it.

In 2020 - which was coach John Hardaway’s eighth season with the program - the Wildcats won a 2A regional winner’s bracket game over Hobart.

What made it significant was it ensured Cashion a spot in the area tournament… for the first time in 23 years!!!

The Wildcats rode that momentum and later qualifi ed for state for the first time since 1996.

Unfortunately, state was never realized. Just a few days after the state-clinching win, the state and nation and world began to shut down due to COVID-19.

The Wildcats finally got to experience State Fair Arena in 2021. The battle-tested team, though, couldn’t find the bottom of the bucket at the right time and was upset by Howe in the quarterfi nals.

That led us to 2022. A group of Cashion seniors who played major roles in those 2020 and 2021 runs to state followed it up with the program’s most historic season ever.

Cashion not only qualifi ed for state for the third year in a row and just the fifth time ever, but its 50-28 quarterfinal victory over Latta put it in the semifinals for just the second time. Ever.

Still not done. Cashion thumped Morrison 57-37 in the semifinals to land a spot in the state championship game for the first time in history.

Those finals didn’t go the way Cashion had hoped.

Top-ranked Dale defeated the Wildcats 65-58 for the title. Cashion and the Pirates had split a pair of games earlier in the season.

Eventual state tournament MVP Dayton Forsythe, just a sophomore, scored 37 points in the championship game.

Still, Cashion was in it until the very end.

Afterward, Hardaway summed it up best: “I told them I was very proud of where we were. I knew it stung and if it didn’t, they should have a problem with that. Then I told them they’d be proud of it at some point. It wouldn’t be tomorrow or next week or maybe not even next month.

“I told them they were the best boys team (in Cashion’s history) and this (silver ball) says that. The two best teams in 2A played. Unfortunately, one of them got beat.

“That’s a part of sports and a part of life.”

8. Crescent’s Kinidi Taylor Kinidi Taylor tapped on track and field’s door as a sophomore in 2021.

She kicked it down in 2022.

Taylor won the Class 2A long jump state championship during her sophomore year.

But her follow-up campaign dwarfed that accomplishment and eventually landed her a scholarship from Oklahoma State University.

Taylor won three golds and a silver at the Class 2A state championships in May.

She not only repeated her long jump crown, but added golds in both the 400 and 800 meter relays.

She was the 100 meter dash state runner-up.

While her speed was eye-opening, her jump were eye-popping.

Taylor jumped 18 feet, 5 inches to win the 2A meet at Catoosa High School.

It was more than a foot further than the state runner- up.

At a field-only event at Chisholm in April, Taylor jumped 19-3 to best Kingfisher’s Ally Stephenson, who would go on to win the Class 4A title.

That jump was better than any female in the state for the entire season, regardless of class.

Then at the Meet of Champions in May, Taylor claimed the title with a jump of 19 4 3/4 to set yet another PR.

She was officially on the radar of college coaches.

Taylor talked to the likes of Clemson, Wichita State and North Carolina.

After a recruiting trip to Stillwater in September, Taylor was convinced that was the landing spot for her and committed.

She signed with the Cowgirls in November.

Before she gets back to Stillwater, Taylor still has a senior season to compete at Crescent.

“I hope to be a three-time state champion in the long jump,” she said. “And I have my eye on the 2A state meet record.”

That record is 18-10 3/4 set by Mooreland’s Kayla Wilson in 2013.

There are also some team goals she’d like to see through.

“Our relay team is positioning to make a run at the 4x100 and 4x200 relay championship again,” she said. All four runners on last year’s gold medal teams were underclassmen.

In fact, all five Crescent athletes who scored points at state last year return this year.

“We got within a few points of the overall team championship despite only having five girls earning points,” Taylor said. “We came up short. We are hoping to earn enough to place at the top this year.”

9. Kingfisher’s Ally Stephenson It’s a fact that Madi Surber is one of - if not THE - greatest hurdlers in Oklahoma high school history.

It’s also a fact that Ally Stephenson had never competed in the hurdles during her track career.

So it only made sense that Stephenson - who had her choice of a multitude of events in which to compete - would tackle the hurdles during her senior season at Kingfisher High School.

Long story short: No, Stephenson did not beat Surber in either the 100 or 300 meter hurdles during the season, including at the Class 4A state track and field meet.

But the fact she was able to push the Tuttle legend in either event was a testament to the kind of athlete Stephenson was - and remains.

A quick look at Stephenson’s career: As a freshman, Stephenson broke the school record multiple times en route to winning the high jump competition at the Class 4A state meet.

Her sophomore season was derailed by COVID.

She came back as a junior to “repeat” as the 4A high jump champion in 2021. There, she cleared 5 feet, 8 inches, breaking her own school record (she added eight inches to the record during her career) and tying a 36-year-old state meet record in the process.

Oh…and before the season, Stephenson decided to give the long jump a try. She broke the school record in her first meet. She eventually was state runner-up and missed gold by just over two inches.

She was also the state runner-up in the 400 (behind Surber).

Fast forward to 2022… Stephenson’s senior year.

During the season, Stephenson broke school records in both of the hurdle events (again, this was her first year to compete) on Good Friday at Chisholm. One of them had stood for 39 years.

She also set the school record in the 100 meter dash. A miscue on her part in the finish line marking kept her from doing the same in the 200.

So, to keep track, Stephenson is the school record owner in the high jump, long jump, 100 dash, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles.

She opted to go with the two jumping events and the two hurdles events (again, she had choices) entering the regional meet.

Stephenson captured regional gold in all four.

The state meet was full of drama.

On the meet’s first day, Stephenson trailed defending long jump champ Madisyn Crandall of Cache (the one who edged her the year before) going into the finals.

On her very last jump, Stephenson topped Crandall’s best jump to that point. Unfortunately, the defending champ still had three more attempts.

Fortunately for Stephenson - who couldn’t stand to watch and left the long jump competition area - Crandall scratched on all three of those attempts.

On the next day in the high jump, Stephenson barely cleared 5-6 on her third and final try.

That dramatic jump gave her another gold.

Later in the day, Stephenson finished behind Surber in both hurdles events. Surber owns the state record in both.

An OSU signee, Surber won four golds at the meet for the second year in a row and never lost a hurdles event in three years at the state meet (she also was denied her sophomore season due to COVID). In all, Surber owns 10 gold medals.

Stephenson is now preparing for her freshman season in the OU track and field program.

As for her time at Kingfi sher, she may very well be the best female athlete in school history.

You just read the proof.

10. Kingfisher boys basketball How do you follow up one of the most prolific four-year runs in Oklahoma high school boys basketball history?

Completing a 28-1 season with a gold ball will do the trick.

And that’s exactly what the Yellowjackets did in the 2021-22 season.

Nary a starter and very few meaningful minutes were returning last year from the team that won the 2021 Class 4A state title.

That previous group had a trio that had just gone 1074 and played in three state title games (here’s where we bring up COVID yet again ruining a chance at more glory).

So, it goes without saying that although expectations were still high for the 202122 Yellowjackets, a dropoff in success wasn’t just expected, it was inevitable.

But it didn’t happen. The wins weren’t all by the large margins to which we’d become accustomed over the years…and they certainly weren’t all pretty.

But they kept piling up. It took a couple of breaks and a nice putback late by El Reno to give the Indians a 45-43 win over the Jackets on Jan. 25 to end Kingfisher’s unbeaten season and a 34-game win streak overall.

Danger lurked after that loss as Kingfisher’s schedule certainly was set up for more setbacks considering they had to go to Anadarko, Weatherford and Blanchard within the next couple of weeks.

The Jackets won them all…by double figures.

They capped the regular season at the Paycom Center and held off a late Bethany rally to win 51-50 and complete a 21-1 regular season.

When the playoffs hit, Kingfisher hit its stride.

Harrah, Woodward and Mannford were disposed of on the Jackets’ home court as they won district and regional tournament titles.

That set up a rematch with Weatherford, a team that was coming off a 24-point shellacking of No. 6 Tulsa Central in its own regional final.

The Jackets were nothing short of astounding at Enid’s Stride Center as they manhandled the Eagles 6035 to advance to state for the sixth year in a row.

That was a Weatherford team that went on to beat Heritage Hall in the first round of the state tournament and nearly bested Victory Christian in the semifinals.

Once there, it was another rematch against a stubborn Blanchard team. The Jackets pulled away for a 41-28 victory.

In the next two games, it came down to which team made the plays down the stretch.

It was Kingfisher. In the semifinals against Crossings Christian - the previous year’s 3A state champ - the defense got key stops down the stretch and key buckets (and free throws) to maintain their lead on the Knights.

They forced Reid Lovelace into a tough 3-pointer at the buzzer that was well off its mark and returned to the title game with a 39-36 victory.

Speaking of victory… it was Victory Christian awaiting the Jackets on championship Saturday.

Though not deep, the Conquerors were considered more talented than the Jackets and were pegged by most to eventually win the title.

A span of just 1:31 in the fourth quarter assured that would not happen.

KHS turned a two-point deficit into a 44-37 lead and got big plays from nearly every Jacket on the court in the process.

The Conquerors never recovered.

They were tired and Kingfisher - constantly rotating eight players all tournament - was fresh.

The Jackets never let the lead go and won their fourth gold ball since 2017, 51-43.

Again, this was a team that didn’t return a single starter, AND… 1. It was without Mason Snider all season. Snider was someone the coaching staff had pegged for a major role in his senior season, but tore his ACL in a preseason scrimmage.

2. Saw another senior, Chase Davis, quit the day before the first game of the season. Upon reflection, Davis changed his mind. Down the stretch, nobody hit more big shots than Davis, who was named state tournament MVP.

Each title is special and takes on his own identity.

The 2017 crown was a brand-new experience.

Though the Jackets were highly-ranked going in, winning a 4A title in a standalone community seemed almost inconceivable at the time.

Then came 2019 and the chance to avenge the previous year’s title game loss to Heritage Hall.

The way the Jackets shut down the Chargers and ruined their perfect season in such convincing fashion (59-39) had the state - pardon the pun - buzzing for weeks.

In 2021, Heritage Hall was practically foaming at the mouth for its chance at redemption considering it was forced to wait two years (again, COVID in 2020). The Jackets played the role of the fisherman in the old State Farm commercial. He would dangle a dollar from a fishing pole in front of people, then pull it away at the last second as they reached for it. “Ooh, you almost had it.”

Kingfisher saw Heritage Hall build an 11-point lead, but then roared back late in the third quarter and took control in the fourth, all the while shutting down Trey Alexander (who is having a SUPERB sophomore season at Creighton, by the way).

And although the 2022 gold ball was the fourth one in six years, in no way had the experience become stale…or old news.

Again, it was a brand new cast of characters… guys who had never played meaningful minutes on the State Fair Arena floor.

Yet, somehow, they matched the accomplishments of the teams of the recent past.

Truly remarkable.