Thursday Thievery

Anadarko’s loss was truly Kingfisher’s gain.

TheYellowjacketsturned two Anadarko third-quarter fumbles into 14 points Thursday night to help earn a 27-22 come-from-behind win.

The victory wrapped up a 7-3 regular season for KHS and gave the Jackets third place in District 3A-1 with a 5-2 mark. Anadarko fell to 4-6 overall and 4-3 in the district to place fourth.

The Warriors led 16-13 at halftime and were poised to take great field position to start the second half with Terrance Johnson’s kick return neared midfield.

That’s when he was hit and spun by Aaron Delatorre - the kicker - and lost the ball in the process.

The Jackets’ Ethan Waswo pounced on the fumble to give his team possession.

That led to a 27-yard touchdown from Jax Sternberger to Damien Haynes, who scored for the third time in two games.

The touchdown, set up by a 21-yard run by Dallen Barton, gave KHS a 20-16 advantage.

Later in the quarter, it appeared the home team was set to retake the lead.

Jacobi Talent ran around the right side of Kingfisher’s defense and was sniffing the end zone when linebacker Tanner Parker delivered a hit that dislodged the ball.

It filtered into the end zone where Cade Cooper was able to jump on it for a touchback.

A few plays later, Sternberger found the sideline, outran a defender and put KHS up 27-16 with a 52yard touchdown run.

Thatprovedtobeenough. The Warriors mounted an 80-yard drive late in the game to pull within five, but Cooper secured the Warriors’ onside kick attempt.

Kingfisher was able to run out the clock with a pair of first downs.

Running the ball was a question mark entering the game.

“They’re big. Real big,” said co-offensive coordinator David Ellis prior to the game. “We think we can wear them down, but we’ve got to get them to that point.”

Turns out, KHS was able to run early and late and several points in between.

The Jackets drove 50 yards on their opening drive after Haynes’ excellent kickoff return gave them great field position.

Barton burst through the line and scored from 27 yards out for a 7-0 lead just 90 seconds into the game.

That began a back-andforth as the teams traded leads the rest of the half.

Anadarko went up 8-7 on Talent’s 1-yard run that was followed by an acrobatic catch by Gavin Newton for two points at 6:32 of the first.

The score capped a drive of just 13 yards after Anadarko blocked Kasen Blair’s first punt attempts of the night.

The Jackets came right back two possessions later and drove 75 yards.

The drive had apparently stalled in Anadarko territory, but an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Warriors gave KHS a new set of downs.

It needed just one play. Barton scored for the second time on the next snap, this time from 32 yards out.

Delatorre’s extra-point attempt missed its mark as the Jackets led 13-8 with 34 seconds left in the first quarter.

It stayed that way until Anadarko pieced together a 63-yard scoring drive that ended with Talent’s 1-yard touchdown run at 4:05 of the second quarter.

Lucas Camp’s two-point run pushed it to a threepoint Anadarko lead.

The third quarter belonged to KHS, not just because of the turnovers, but the ground game.

The Jackets churned out 251 rushing yards and averaged just a shade under 7.0 yards per attempts.

Barton had 158 yards on 20 carries.

Sternberger added another 86 yards on 10 attempts.

Myers said the two were patient in their runs and let the offensive line do its job.

And, he said, the collection of tackles Landon Rempe and Kale Westfahl, guards Wrigley Kennedy and Bert Haag, center Noah Friesen and blocking backs Jake Reagan and Harrison Evans certainly did their part.

“I thought we did as good a job of being physical and finishing blocks as we’ve done all season,” Myers said. “Especially against a big team.”

Also, Myers said, the Jackets were never overwhelmed by adversity.

“We had some missed tackles and some missed blocking assignments, like on the blocked punt they had,” Myers recalled. “But I thought our kids did a really good job managing the game and playing within themselves.

“They never really got rattled when things weren’t going our way.”

Halftime adjustments, he said, also played a big part.

Camp, a small, shifty, yet powerful running back, gave KHS fits, but was largely contained in the second half.

The Jackets also limited Anadarko to 12 of 24 passing for 121 yards. The Warriors had just 262 total yards compared to 319 for the Jackets. Evans lived in the Anadarko backfield and his six tackles don’t begin to tell the story of his effect.

“Their quarterback is probably going to have nightmares about Harrison being in his face all night,” Myers said.

Barton’s monster game wasn’t limited to offense. He also led the team with 10 tackles.

Ethan Karcher added seven tackles while Delatorre recorded six and Parker and Kennedy had five apiece.