Ringling getting defensive in quest for title

Nine weeks.

In the grand scheme of things, nine weeks isn’t a lot of time.

In football terms, it’s 90% of a high school regular season.

That’s also how many weeks Cashion’s next opponent went without giving up a single point this season.

Nine weeks.

The Class A state football championship will be decided Saturday when No. 1 Cashion puts its 13-0 record on the line against No. 5 Ringling, which is 12-1 and on a 12-game win streak.

The two will battle it out for the gold ball at 1 p.m. at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Wantland Stadium in Edmond.

“It’s been what we’ve wanted to do all year,” said Cashion senior running back T.J. Roberts of playing on the final day of the football season. “It feels great to get that chance.”

Roberts and the rest of the Cash-ion offense have run roughshod over opponents all season long.

They’ve averaged 43.5 points and have been able to beat opponents whether they’ve needed to use quarterback Ben Harman’s arm or the legs of Roberts, Caden Harrell, Alex Nabavi or any other of a host of Cashion weapons.

However, it’s unlikely Cashion has seen on the other side of the ball this season what it will face Saturday afternoon.

“The first thing that stood out to me when I watched their fi lm was how dominant they were on the defensive side of the ball,” said Cashion coach Lynn Shackelford. “It’s impressive what they’ve done this season.”

Ringling’s season started with a 22-20 loss to Mangum.

The bad news for the Blue Devils ended there. After surrendering 13 points the next week against Dickson, opponents’ scoring also ended. Ringling went all of October AND November – and then some – without giving up a single point. Marietta, Walters, Healdton, Dibble, Rush Springs, Elmore City, Apache, Watonga and Frederick? All were shutout victims.

Nine weeks.

The last two of those were playoff games.

In the Class A quarterfi nals, Ringling matched up with Pawhuska, a team that averaged 48.9 points a contest and was coming off a massive second-half showing in a come-from-behind win at Stroud. Pawhuska managed just 12 against Ringling.

Last week’s performance against Rejoice Christian at Noble was perhaps more impressive.

The second-ranked Eagles were the pick of many pundits to “win it all" this season.

They entered the semifinals undefeated while averaging a state-best 53.7 points a game.

They were held fi ve touchdowns under their average in a 28-19 defeat.

Of course, success is nothing new in Ringling.

The program owns more than 500 wins and four state championships, the last coming in 2012.

The Blue Devils have been to the title games 10 previous times, the most recent of which was 2013. Cashion ended what was projected to be a run to the state title game for Ringling in 2015 when the Wildcats shocked it 32-6 in the semifinals at Noble.

Although the style of play is quite similar - mostly unchanged for generations in the southern Oklahoma town - it’s still a “different” Ringling team.

For starters, the Blue Devils are now coached by the legendary Phil Koons, a name familiar to football fans in Kingfi sher.

Koons was at Tuttle for 21 years, during which time he won 205 games and the 2005 state championship.

Upon leaving Tuttle after the 2013 season, Koons made a couple of stops before landing at Ringling prior to the 2018 season.

“It was a marriage made in Heaven,” Shackelford said. “He’s a hard-nosed coach with a physical brand of football and that’s what they have done down there for years and years.”

Koons coached Ringling to a 10-0 regular season last year before being upset by Christian Heritage Academy in the first round. CHA eventually reached the state title game.

There has been no playoff letdown to this point.

“They give you multiple looks on defense, which is different than the last time we saw them,” Shackelford said. “They’ve obviously done a great job coaching them on that side.”

In true Koons fashion, the Blue Devils tend to line it up and barrel over teams on offense.

“They’re coming downhill and basically say ‘stop us if you can,’” Shackelford said.

Few teams have as Ringling averages 36.9 points a game.

That’s while giving up just 5.1 points.

“They’re in the finals for a reason,” Shackelford said.

But so is Cashion, he’ll point out. The Wildcats are coming off a 34-16 victory over previously-unbeaten Pawnee in their semifi nal game.

Cashion’s defense stymied the Black Bears for the fi nal two-and-a-half quarters and the offense had just one empty possession.

“While we hadn’t seen anyone like them all season, we felt like they hadn’t seen anyone like us, either,” Shackelford said. “We like to think that’s how it is against most everyone we play.”

In his 14^th year, Shackelford has Cashion in the state championship for the third time.

His 2014 squad lost 28-0 to Thomas. Cashion got back in 2015 and was beaten 67-28 by Stratford. “This feels a lot more like 2014 than 2015,” Shackelford said of the title game appearance.

In the latter season, the Wildcats were heavy underdogs against a physically superior team.

While Thomas was also physically better, it was a much more even matchup for Cashion, which got no breaks in a game where it needed just a few.

“We went into that season and into that game feeling pretty good,” Shackelford said. “And we went up against a team in the finals that was also really good.”

This is Cashion’s seventh appearance overall in the finals. The program won titles in 1977, 1979 and 1981.

To get the fourth, and the first for Shackelford as a coach, Cashion is going to have to put together yet another gem.

Shackelford said it should be no other way.

“It’s a game like a state championship should be where you’ve got two really good teams playing,” he said.

“And in a game like this, the one that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins.”