Pouncing on their opportunity

With their playoff chances hanging in the balance, the Kingfisher Yellowjackets put together one of their best stretches of the season.

KHS erased a slim halftime deficit with 20 straight points in the second half Friday to earn a 26-13 homecoming victory over Purcell.

“This one had me worried,” said KHS head football coach Reagan Roof.

“It was a trap game for us. It was after (No. 4) Pauls Valley and before (No. 2) Heritage Hall. And it was against a pretty darn good team at that.”

It appeared Kingfisher had fallen into the trap.

The Jackets had just three first-half possessions and two of them resulted in a three-and-out.

While the defense gave up only one score, the Jackets were struggling to get off the field as the Dragons had nearly 18 minutes of possession.

To top it off, starting linebacker Brody Boeckman went down with a knee injury in the first half and didn’t return.

“We were just really flat in the first half,” said Roof.

The result was a 7-6 deficit.

Even Kingfisher’s score wasn’t all good as Jhett Birdwell scored on an 8-yard run near the end of the first quarter, but the Dragons blocked Jake Sisk’s extra-point attempt.

After Boeckman was injured, the Jackets inserted Jackson Willbanks at outside linebacker.

The junior has played almost exclusively on offense this season.

In fact, said defensive coordinator Stan Blundell: “I’m not sure he’s every played linebacker in his life.”

But it didn’t look that way.

Willbanks finished the game with a game-high 14 tackles, eight of them solo and two of them for a loss.

Kingfisher also made a change in how it lined up against some of Purcell’s overloaded sets in the second half.

The Dragons, who ran for 107 yards while chewing up the clock in the first half, only managed 51 yards on 21 attempts in the second half.

And the defense was getting off the field.

Purcell had the first possession of the second half, but had to punt after just three snaps.

A 24-yard run by Birdwell and a 31-yard pass from him to Santiago Ortega had the Jackets in the red zone.

They took advantage as Kasen Blair scored on a 15-yard sweep to give Kingfi sher the lead.

It wouldn’t lose it. The Jackets forced a fumble on the next Purcell possession and senior Jose Santoyo recovered it, a sign Ortega caught three passes for 88 yards to lead six different Jackets who had at least one catch. But it was the defense, said Roof, that allowed the offense to get going in the second half. “They got stops for us in the second half,” he said. “That allowed our offense to get in a rhythm it couldn’t get in the first half. The defense getting stops allowed us to do that.” Mauricio Valles had 13 tackles for the Jackets. Burnham, named the homecoming captain in a pregame coronation, added nine. Jairo Velarde added eight stops, which included one sack and another tackle for loss. Cale Reagan and Santoyo had seven tackles apiece. And then there was Willbanks.

of things to come.

Blair blocked a Purcell punt later in the third quarter and Santoyo was once again there to scoop it up for his second fumble recovery of the night.

That gave KHS possession at the Dragon 22 and Kingfisher made quick work.

Daxx Compton scored on a shifty 9-yard run at 2:10 of the third. Sisk’s extra-point made it 19-7 Jackets.

That rushing touchdown was the first by someone other than Birdwell this season.

Paytun Burnham forced another Purcell fumble early in the fourth and it was once again Santoyo there to pounce on the opportunity.

The Jackets appeared poised to have to punt from their own end zone on the ensuing drive, but a late hit penalty against Purcell on third down gave KHS an automatic first down.

The Jackets made the Dragons pay as Birdwell hit Ortega with a short pass and the senior outran everyone to the end zone for a 56-yard score and a 26-7 lead with 6:46 remaining.

Purcell got its second touchdown with 2:21 remaining, but Kingfisher was able to run out much of the rest of the clock.

Birdwell was 12 of 19 through the air for 153 yards and two touchdowns.

He ran 12 times for 54 yards while Compton added 29 yards on his six carries.

“That was an incredible performance,” said Roof. “He saved us, really. He came in and did a great job.”

The Jackets are now 2-3 overall and 1-1 in District 3A-1.

While they are still at least three more wins away from securing a playoff berth, a loss would have made the odds of that happening nearly insurmountable.

“A lot of times it’s tough to get teams out of the way we started,” Roof said. “So I’m proud of how we came out in the second half and responded. It was a big win for us.”