Former ‘Cat aids Cashion in Pawhuska preparation

Coaches will tell you it’s one thing to try to prepare for a certain type of standout player, but another to actually face them in a game.

How do you prepare for a quarterback who’s thrown for more than 3,800 yards, 59 touchdowns and guides an offense that averages 66.4 points a game?

That’s what Cashion faced last week in Pawhuska’s Bryce Drummond.

Luckily for the Wildcats coaching staff, they could call on one of their own.

Matt Harman.

All Hannan did during his high school career was start four years, guide the Wildcats to state title games in 2014 and 2015 and throw for 11,208 career yards and 142 touchdowns.

He had a shot at claiming all of the state’s career passing records had a finger injury not derailed part of his senior season.

As it stands, he’s just the fourth player in Oklahoma high school history to surpass 10,000 career passing yards.

Currently a junior on the Pittsburg State Gorillas, Harman was in town last week.

“I called him and told him what time to be at practice,” said Cashion defensive coordinator Tony Wood.

“He didn’t seem so sure about it, but I told him I wasn’t asking. I told him what time to be there. He said, ‘Alright coach, I’ll be there”

Harman is listed at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, quite similar to Drummond, who is signed to play at the University of North Texas.

“There aren’t too many people you can bring in who can throw it 60 yards,” Wood said. “But Matt is one of those people.”

So Harman, the older brother of current Cashion QB starter Ben Harman, spent last week running Pawhuska’s offense in practice trying to prepare the Wildcats - namely the secondary - for what they were going to face on Friday night.

Did it help?

The Huskies were held 60 points below their average in the 7-6 Cashion victory.

Drummond averaged 320 passing yards a game, but threw for 174 against the Wildcats.

He entered the night completing 76 percent of his passes. Against the Wildcats, he was 24 of 47 (51 percent) and didn’t have a touchdown pass.

In short, yes it worked.

“Having Matt work with us was the absolute best thing we could have done,” said Wood. “It’s great that we have people like him that we can always rely on, because he made us a lot better.”