INSTANT CLASSIC

In the frantic moments following yet another unbelievable play in a game in which they’d become the norm, Stuart Purintun calmly spoke into his headset.

“Are we going for two after we score?” he asked from the Kingfisher High School football field press box to head coach Jeff Myers down on the sideline.

Without hesitation, Myers answered in the affirmative.

Moments later, an exhausted Cade Stephenson busted through the Weatherford defense to score on a 38-yard touchdown run to pull Kingfisher - which trailed by 14 points with 2:14 to play in the game - within a single point with 1:36 showing on the clock.

Time for that two-point play.

“Our guys had given everything they had. They’d battled for four quarters and literally left it all on the field,” Myers said. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure we could handle overtime and to be even more honest, I don’t think they (Weatherford) wanted it either.”

The Jackets sent Caleb Dick in motion from the left side of the formation to the right.

Jax Sternberger took the snap and rolled left, which is where a majority of his receivers - and Weatherford defenders - drifted.

Under pressure, Sternberger tried to thread a needle that proved just a bit too tight and his pass was picked off in the back of the end zone as Dick stood all alone - wide open - back on the right side of the field.

Weatherford, Class 4A’s second-ranked team, had survived Kingfisher 50-49 in a high school football game that was classic in every sense of the word.

“It was a great game,” Myers said. “You had two teams who made a lot of big plays. There were a lot of momentum swings and a couple of really good comebacks. It had it all.”

It truly did.

The Jackets were paper underdogs to a team that returned several key cogs from last year’s 4A state runner-up.

However, it was Kingfisher that made the plays early and late in the first half to lead 28-16.

It started - literally - on the opening kickoff when the Jackets forced a fumble that senior Camden Foster wrestled away from everyone to give the Jackets instant possession.

That turned into a 39- yard scoring drive that saw Sternberger hit Jarret Birdwell for a 4-yard touchdown pass.

“That was a great start, obviously,” Myers said. “I felt our guys sent a message early that they weren’t intimidated about who they were playing.”

After the Jacket defense forced a stop, a quick kick by Weatherford pinned KHS deep. That resulted in a safety and then a short field for the Eagles after Kingfisher’s free kick.

They capitalized as Sam Hoffman scored on a 4-yard run to give Weatherford a 9-7 lead at the 4:12 mark of the first quarter.

The Jackets quickly faced third-and-long as Weatherford’s defense was energized.

That’s when Sternberger stepped up and delivered a strike down the seam to Stephenson for 25 yards. Two plays later, he floated a 37-yard completion down the sideline to Birdwell on another third-down play.

He then fired a missile into Dick’s hands for a 14- yard completion.

Eventually, the sophomore found senior Dynton Townsend for a 5-yard touchdown pass as Kingfisher regained the lead.

“That pass to Cade and the drive as a whole were huge,” Myers said. “Weatherford had sort of taken back the momentum and was really threatening to keep it, but we made a couple of huge third-down plays to keep the drive alive.”

And the momentum stayed with Kingfisher.

Dick stepped in front of a Gunnar Gaunt pass on Weatherford’s next possession. He picked it off, sidestepped Gaunt’s would-be tackle on the sideline and scored from 26 yards out for a 21-9 lead.

The Eagles closed the gap to 21-16 before Stephenson struck for one of several big plays.

This time it was as a running back as he broke loose then outran everyone for a 48-yard touchdown run to give the Jackets a 28-16 lead.

“I think we surprised some people,” Myers said. “The guys in the locker room weren’t surprised because that’s what we’d been working for. But I’m not sure a lot of people outside of it expected us to be up by 12 at halftime.”

That included Weatherford, which established the biggest stretch of dominance in the third quarter.

The Eagles outscored KHS 27-0 to turn its deficit into a 43-28 advantage.

It started on the initial drive as Ethan Downs literally took the ball away from running back Alan Munõz and ran 46 yards for an Eagle touchdown less than 90 seconds into the half.

“You always have to protect the ball,” Myers said. “But you have to be extra strong when someone like him is in the area.”

Downs is listed at 6-foot- 4 and 240 pounds, is considered the state’s No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2021 and has committed to play at the University of Oklahoma.

“That was a big-time play by a great player and it started their big run,” Myers said.

The Eagles got a short TD run from Malachi Johnson and then scoring jaunts of 47 and 36 yards by Hoffman as Kingfisher’s offense sputtered.

Meanwhile, both teams were struggling with the humid September weather.

Players fell prey to cramps multiple times beginning early in the third quarter and it continued for the remainder of the game.

Weatherford had full command of the contest until a Kingfisher sophomore swung the momentum back in his team’s favor.

After the Jacket defense forced a stop, Harrison Evans broke through to block the Eagle punt.

But he didn’t stop there.

Evans scooped up the ball and hurried 15 yards for a touchdown to get KHS within 43-36 with 7:34 to play.

“We really needed something big to happen there because we hadn’t had any positive results since the first half and it was starting to wear on us,” Myers said. “Harrison’s play seemed like it plugged us back in.”

The Jacket defense got yet another stop on Weatherford’s next possession, but the Eagle defense made its own big play when Beck picked off Sternberger’s pass with 4:41 left.

The Eagles were set up at Kingfisher’s 16 and used more than two minutes of game clock to go up 50-36 with 2:14 to play on Johnson’s 1-yard plunge.

“That put us in a hole and we were worn out and not even at full strength,” Myers said. “But we also weren’t ready to quit.”

With Stephenson garnering a much-needed breather on the sideline, the Jackets were still able to march down the field.

Dick caught a 35-yard pass from Sternberger to put the Jackets in Weatherford territory.

Just a few plays later, Sternberger threw it up for Birdwell and the 6-foot-4 senior out-leapt the Eagle defense for a 27-yard touchdown haul.

The extra-point by Aaron Delatorre pulled KHS within 50-43 with 1:53 left.

Kingfisher didn’t properly execute an onside kick, giving Weatherford the opportunity to run out the clock.

The Eagles went to Downs…and it didn’t pay off.

Slade Snodgrass swiped the ball away from the senior and sophomore Kyle Borelli came out of the pile with it to set up KHS at the Weatherford 38.

“We have to count on a lot of underclassmen this year and that was another example of some of them combining to make another big play for us,” said Myers. “We needed a play and they made it happen.”

As the sideline went crazy, Purintun and fellow co-offensive coordinator Derek Patterson went to work, both on the next snap and thinking ahead to a potential two-point play.

That became a reality sooner than most thought.

Stephenson, who earlier in the week picked up an offer from Southern Illinois, fought off his share of cramps to deliver a touchdown in just one play.

While it was a great individual effort, Purintun said the receivers made great downfield blocks much of the night and Kingfisher’s inexperienced offensive line – Wrigley Kennedy, Omar Ramos, Noah Friesen, T.J. Parker and Grayson Bromlow – has shown tremendous growth in just two games.

“The line had a huge challenge with the size of Weatherford’s front three,” Purintun said. “Our guys didn’t back down from that challenge and performed.”

The Jackets managed 164 rushing yards against the Eagles.

Stephenson delivered 154 of them and two scores on just 13 carries.

“I think he proved there was a big-time player on Kingfisher’s side of the ball, too,” Myers said. “In fact, I think we had a few kids play that way.”

But, still, Kingfisher had one more play to execute to pull off the improbable.

“We knew we had a good one ready to go,” Patterson said of the two-point call. They’d used a form of the same play to get a two-point pass to Stephenson after Evans’ big punt block.

Weatherford was prepared for the overload, however, and defended it.

“Yeah, Caleb was open but there was a lot going on there,” Myers said. “That’s a play that comes with gaining experience. We know we’ll get that in the future and it’s fair to say Jax made a lot more plays than he missed.”

In his second career start, Sternberger was 16 of 28 for 261 yards and three touchdowns.

Birdwell caught five passes for 107 yards (and two scores) and Dick four for 82.

“They both made some huge catches for us,” Myers said.

Stephenson added another 46 yards on three catches.

He also led the team with 13 tackles.

“He did a little bit of everything for us, which is what we ask him to do because he’s capable,” Myers said. “He was everywhere for us.”

Snodgrass, Evans, Birdwell and Borelli had seven tackles apiece.

While Weatherford had just 45 passing yards, the Eagles did mount 297 on the ground.

Hoffman was the biggest gainer with 175 yards on 15 carries. Johnson had 61 yards on 14 attempts and Downs 36 on eight totes.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons and definitely a lot more size than us,” Myers said. “I’m not going to sugar-coat a loss because we got beat.

“But I also think we made a statement Friday night.”