Stinging Defeat

The Week 7 football game will be considered the one that got away for Kingfisher High School.

The Yellowjackets didn’t trail Metro Christian until 2:57 remained in their pivotal District 3A-1 matchup last week.

But once they were behind, the Jackets had no way of clawing back in a 1410 road loss to the Patriots.

“This isn’t to take away from Metro Christian, but that loss was 100 percent on us,” said head coach Jeff Myers.

“We lost that game. They didn’t win it.”

KHS was in fact winning for much of the night, from the time Jake Sisk kicked a 40-yard field goal into a persistent northerly wind with 21 seconds left in the first quarter until the Patriots’ lone big offensive play of the night.

That came with just under three minutes left in the game when the Patriots’ Cooper Mitchell broke through the line of scrimmage, shrugged off an arm tackle and raced 50 yards into the end zone.

A game that was once 10-0 in Kingfisher’s favor in the second half was now a four-point deficit.

The Jackets couldn’t provide an answer as they went three-and-out deep in their own territory and were forced to punt the ball back to Metro Christian.

The home team was then able to chew the final 2:22 off the clock.

“That one was difficult, because our defense definitely played well enough to win,” Myers said. “They deserved that win.”

The Patriots are a pass-happy team, one that throws the ball 80 percent of the time.

But Kingfisher all but eliminated that part of their game.

Quarterback Jaxson Grimes was just 3 of 9 in the first half for a total of nine passing yards.

Kingfisher’s Chace Cooper snatched Grimes’ pass out of the air on Metro Christian’s second possession of the night.

The interception gave KHS the ball at the Patriot 31. That turned into Sisk’s impressive field goal toward the end of the quarter.

“I think one thing that gets lost in the shuffle of our offense and defense is that Jake has been the most consistent player on our team this year,” Myers said of his kicker.

The junior has made every extra-point attempt and all three field goal attempts this season.

“That’s not bad for a guy who just came out for us to kick this year,” Myers added.

The defense continued to do its job as it shutout Metro Christian in the first half. By that point, Kingfi sher’s defense had given up just six points in its last 12 quarters.

And then early in the third quarter, the offense chipped in.

After the Jackets made Metro punt the ball on the second half’s opening possession, Jhett Birdwell broke off the game’s biggest play.

The sophomore found a crease in the defense and broke loose for a 63-yard touchdown run, giving the Jackets a 10-0 lead at the 9:16 mark of the third quarter.

Kasen Blair kept the momentum on Kingfisher’s side when he intercepted Grimes’ pass in the end zone on what was - to that point - Metro’s best drive of the night.

But Metro was able to take back some of that momentum.

The Patriots - who have given up 14 or fewer points in five of their seven games this season - forced Kingfi sher to punt from deep in its own territory on the ensuing drive.

The punt landed at the Jacket 27, giving the Patriots a short field.

They capitalized and got their first score of the night when Grimes ran it in from 5 yards out at 2:58 of the third quarter.

And the momentum stayed with the Patriots when Ty Guest picked off a Birdwell pass near midfi eld before the end of the quarter.

This time the Jackets’ defense stiffened and not only forced a punt, but snuffed out a fake punt to get the ball back at their own 46.

The offense just couldn’t complement.

The Jackets’ six possessions after the Birdwell TD run ended with five punts and one turnover.

In all, KHS had just 78 yards of total offense on the night, a net of 15 yards outside of the long touchdown run.

Sacks led to Birdwell netting 36 yards on 13 carries.

Dallen Barton picked up 36 yards on his 14 attempts.

Meanwhile, four pass completions led to minus- one yard.

“It’s a struggle right now,” Myers said of that side of the ball. “And it’s everything from effort to execution to remembering plays.”

And there’s another buzzword Myers has been preaching.

“Finishing,” he added. “We have got to figure out how to finish.”

With three weeks left in the regular season, Myers said the team will continue to strive to be a team that can do that offensively.

“We’ve just got to keep working and figure out what we can or can’t do,” he said.

But the team can defend. Grimes was limited to 7 of 24 passing for 32 yards.

The Patriots did manage 171 rushing yards, but nearly one-fourth of their total yardage came on the go-ahead TD run.

“All of our defense was good, but that was the best our secondary has played all year,” Myers said. “Really, in recent memory. I was proud of them.”

Hunter Delozier had eight tackles to lead a balanced group.

Blair added seven, including six solo, to go with his takeaway.

Jairo Velarde also was in on seven tackles.

Jake Reagan and Daniel Guerrero had five stops each from their defensive end positions.

Game notes:

• The loss snapped a two-game win streak. KHS is now 2-5 overall and 2-2 in District 3A-1 games.

• The Jackets were about 3 minutes away from being in great shape to host a playoff game. The win by Metro all but wraps up a district runner-up finish and the first-round hosting opportunity that comes with it.

• Kingfisher still controls its playoff destiny. The Jackets are currently tied for fourth with North Rock Creek. KHS will visit NRC in Week 9.

• This week’s game is Thursday night when KHS hosts McLoud, which is sitting at 3-1 in the district along with Metro Christian. However, Metro holds the tie-breaker over the Redskins in their head-tohead win.

• If the Jackets can win out against McLoud, NRC and Anadarko, they’ll finish third in the district.

• A loss this week won’t doom Kingfisher’s playoff chances, but the Jackets would have to win their final two games to give themselves a shot at fourth in the district.