Jackets blanked by Red Tornadoes
Defense has strong showing, but offense sputters in opener
KHS LINEBACKER Jairo Velarde brings down Clinton quarterback Cooper Sulley during last Friday night’s game. The teams were scoreless in the first half before the Reds pulled out a 20-0 victory with a strong second half. [Photo by KHS Photography/www.khs
REDS DEFENDERS tackle Kingfisher’s Dallen Barton. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug.com]
When Jeff Myers says things will get better, he’s got precedence to fall back on.
Kingfisher was shutout 20-0 by Clinton last Friday in its football season opener.
The Yellowjackets unveiled their brand new artificial turf, but were unable to experience the end zone on either end.
It was the first time the Jackets have been shutout since Oct. 23, 2015, which was a 34-0 defeat at Perkins-Tryon, a span of 87 games.
It’s the first time a Kingfisher football team has been held scoreless in its season opener since losing 31-0 at Bishop Mc-Guinness in 2007.
“We had some good things happen,” said Myers on the loss to Clinton. “We just couldn’t string them together.”
Kingfisher’s defense was able to string together several stops as the first half ended in a scoreless tie.
The Jackets forced three punts and also turned away the Red Tornadoes on downs inside the 5 yard line.
Kingfisher’s offense just wasn’t able to be complementary.
After gaining two first downs on their initial drives, the Jackets struggled to put together consecutive productive plays.
All four of their first-half possessions ended with a punt.
Four more drives in the second half also saw the Jackets punt away the ball and their best drive of the night saw them get inside the red zone before fumbling it away.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s offense found some traction to start the second half.
The Reds marched 68 yards and got the first score of the game on a 2-yard run by Zaedon Collins at the 6:55 mark of the third quarter.
After KHS punted it back, Collins needed just one snap to break off a 75-yard scoring run and a 13-0 lead at 6:22.
“I thought the defense played well in the first half and we just made some mental errors in the second half which led to their big plays,” Myers said.
Mental miscues, he said, proved costly no matter which side of the ball.
“We need to get better at learning our plays and not making busts, which we did throughout the night,” Myers added.
After scooping up Kingfisher’s fumble, the Reds turned that into a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
Clinton finished the game with 370 total yards, all on the ground.
KHS had just 106 total yards. In his first start, Paytun Burnham was 10 of 23 passing for 49 yards.
He didn’t turn over the ball, but did take a couple of big hits when flushed from the pocket.
Kasen Blair was his best target with four catches for 39 yards.
Dallen Barton got Kingfish- er’s only rushing production with his 44 yards on 11 carries.
“We’ve got to be more physical up front, which we weren’t on a lot of snaps,” Myers said “And just overall we’ve got to get better so we aren’t going three-andout on so many series and putting all that pressure on our defense.”
The defense was led by Hunter Delozier and Diego Muñoz, who had 10 stops apiece.
Daniel Guerrero and Ryker Long both were in on seven tackles.
One bright spot for the Jackets would be on special teams.
Damien Haynes averaged 23 yards on three kickoff returns and twice was close to breaking off a big play.
Barton in his only return gained 36 yards while Blair averaged 36 yards a punt and twice pinned the Reds inside their own 5 yard line.
But none of that resulted in points for KHS.
“The good that came out of the game was that we as coaches and our kids got to see what things we still need to work out and the kids got to see on film what they did wrong,” Myers said.
It’s what comes with the territory, he said, in starting a relatively young group.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that we’re still really young and we’re playing a lot of kids who got very few reps last year,” Myers said.
“We will get better as the season goes on.”
Again, Myers has seen it before.
That Bishop McGuinness team that shutout the Jackets in 2007 went on to win its second consecutive Class 4A state championship.
That KHS team started the year 0-2…and then eventually played for the Class 3A state title.
“In 2007, we struggled early on because of the reasons I stated about this team on Friday night,” Myers said. “And then we found our rhythm and played for a state title.
“We are just going to go through those same growing pains.”