Upset hopes flushed at Tornado Bowl

As he walked off the Tornado Bowl field on Friday night, Reagan Roof couldn’t help but feel encouraged.

But he also couldn’t fight off his frustration.

Kingfisher looked like a much-improved team, especially on the offensive side of the ball, but still fell to 0-2 with a 30-27 overtime loss to Class 4A powerhouse Clinton.

A week after scoring just three points, the Jackets put together multiple scoring drives and led the Red Tornadoes by as many as 10 points.

However, the Jackets were once again plagued by penalties and mental “busts” that ultimately proved too costly.

“I think we were frustrated more than anything,” Roof said after he had time to digest the loss. “You don’t get very many opportunities to go into the Tornado Bowl and come out with a win.

“We felt we gave away an opportunity to do that.”

Victory certainly felt within reach when the Kingfisher defense stuffed Clinton on a 4th-and-1 play at the Reds’ own 21 yardline.

That gave the Jackets the ball with 4:31 to play and with the scored tied at 24-24.

KHS was already within field goal range for Jake Sisk, who on the Jackets’ first possession booted a 38-yard field goal on that same north end the Jackets were facing.

However, on the first snap, Kingfisher was penalized for a blindside block and, on a drive that nearly started in the red zone, KHS eventually had to punt.

Clinton was able to drive into Kingfisher territory to attempt to get its own kicker in field goal range, but Kasen Blair picked off a pass with under a minute left in regulation.

In overtime, the Jackets got the ball first and had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Sisk.

The 27-24 lead was brief. On Clinton’s first snap of its possession, Zaedon Collins took a toss to the left side and followed his blocks into the end zone for the game winner.

Though disappointed, Roof didn’t want to let the positives escape afterward.

“Our effort was there for four quarters and beyond,” he said. “We never laid down and didn’t quit. When something bad happened, we responded and that was good to see.”

The Jackets had to respond early as Clinton took the opening drive of the game 80 yards for a touchdown.

The Reds didn’t face a third down and got all of their yards on the ground. Derren Hester capped the drive with a 36-yard scoring run.

But KHS had an answer. The Jackets opened the game with a five wide receiver look for new starting quarterback Jhett Birdwell.

Mixing the pass and the run - primarily with Birdwell - Kingfisher picked up some first downs and got on the board with Sisk’s kick.

In the meantime, defensive coordinator Stan Blundell and his staff made some adjustments.

They worked. Although Clinton did get into Kingfisher territory, the defense got Clinton into 4th and 20.

Middle linebacker Mauricio Valles unloaded on Clinton QB Easten Powell as he fluttered an incomplete pass to give the Jackets the ball back.

KHS promptly drove 72 to take the lead with the score coming on a 41-yard touchdown run by Birdwell.

It was Kingfisher’s second drive of the night and the Jackets were showing an ability to run the ball more effectively than the week before.

“I felt like our offensive line played a lot better and showed a lot of improvement,” Roof said. “We are still far from where we need to be, but the improvement was there.”

Birdwell’s score gave KHS a 10-7 lead at 9:25 of the second quarter, but the Jackets weren’t done.

After forcing a Clinton punt, Kingfisher got the ball at its own 22.

Freshman Daxx Compton started the drive with a 31-yard run.

Compton became a bigger piece of the KHS offense in his second varsity game as he had five total carries for 41 yards and also caught three passes for 29 yards.

“He’s coming on like we hoped he would,” Roof said. “The ability is there. We just have to get him to believe that even though in his mind he’s a freshman, he’s got some abilities that reach beyond his age.”

Birdwell followed with a 20-yard run and then laid a perfect 31-yard touchdown pass into the waiting arms of Paytun Burnham.

Burnham was the team’s starting QB in Week 1, but Roof opted to go with Birdwell at Clinton.

Roof said Burnham handled the situation like a true leader.

“I’m pretty proud of Paytun. He took the position change and never pouted,” Roof said. “He handled it like you’d hope a kid would. He caught a TD, made some big plays and made us better overall.

“He handled it the right way.” Burnham caught two passes for 35 yards and was also among the team leaders with seven tackles from his safety position.

His touchdown put KHS up 17-7 at 7:24 of the second quarter.

The Jackets forced two more Clinton punts before the end of the half. The second one gave Kingfisher the ball at its own 18 with 39 seconds to play in the half.

Kingfisher was just a couple of snaps away from taking a 10-point lead into the break, but the first one saw a holding penalty that stopped the clock.

It was the start of a sloppy end of the half for Kingfisher that included taking a knee in the shotgun, a miscommunication from an offi cial on how many timeouts Clinton had remaining and then, ultimately, a fumble by Birdwell as he tried to sneak it out of the shadows of the goal line.

That gave Clinton the ball at the KHS 3 with 17 seconds left.

It turned into a field goal, cutting Kingfisher’s lead to a touchdown.

“That whole stretch was a mess,” Roof said. “It’s our fault as coaches as much as anything.”

Clinton continued that momentum into the second half.

After the Jackets punted, Collins broke loose for a 48yard touchdown run to tie the game at 9:46 of the third quarter.

Then, on one of the first plays of the fourth quarter, the Reds struck again when tight end Ethan Lofland got behind the defense for a wide open 58-yard touchdown reception. The Jackets found themselves trailing 24-17 with 10:32 to play.

“On those two big plays they had, it was mental mistakes on our part,” Roof said. “A misalignment and a coverage bust hurt us on those plays.

“And that’s the frustrating part because physically we’ve been in the two ballgames, but with our mistakes we are beating ourselves more than the opponent beating us.”

The Jackets again fought back.

Kingfisher drove 75 yards and tied the game when Jackson Willbanks caught a pass, broke a tackle, then outran the defense into the end zone with 7:24 to play.

The 31-yard touchdown was a part of Willbanks’ best game of his career to date.

The junior caught seven passes for 134 yards, all career highs.

“He had a big game,” Roof said. “We moved him to the inside, which allows him to get the ball in different ways and he made some big plays when given the chance.”

On its next drive is when Clinton made its gamble from its own 21. The Kingfi sher defense was up to the task, but an offensive penalty derailed a chance to reclaim the lead.

Although the numbers dropped from Week 1, KHS still was flagged nine times for 95 yards.

“There were fewer of them, but there’s still too many and they came at critical times,” Roof said. “You have to take advantage of opportunities like that and we didn’t.”

Despite giving up the big plays and having a handful of miscues, the defense played another outstanding game, according to Roof.

“I think our defensive line was pretty good last week, but they were even better this week,” he said. “We played two physical ball clubs and we’ve been able to hold up and I’m not so sure we haven’t been the more physical team.”

The front was boosted this week by Cale Reagan.

The junior missed most of the offseason with a knee injury, but gave the Jackets some quality snaps at defensive end. He finished with eight tackles.

“It was a pretty impressive performance by him no more than he’s been able to practice,” Roof said. “He’ll definitely help us on that side of the ball for sure.”

Jose Santoyo and Ryker Long were both in on eight tackles. Daniel Guerrero’s three tackles included a sack.

Linebacker Jairo Velarde led the team with 11 stops.

For the second straight week, KHS out-gained its foe.

Clinton had 274 rushing yards and 375 total.

The Jackets managed 173 on the ground while Birdwell went 16 of 28 for 236 yards through the air.

He led the team with 24 carries for 132 yards as well.

“Jhett is really settling into and getting more comfortable playing quarterback and being the centerpiece of the offense at this point,” Roof said. “He’s still making a few mistakes here and there, but the big plays he’s making are far offsetting any bad ones.”

Kingfisher’s path gets easier on paper - at least for one week.

The Jackets play at Bridge Creek (0-2) in their final non-district game before their daunting district slate begins.

“If we continue to take steps forward like we did from Week 1 to Week 2, we’ll have a good chance to win,” Roof said. “But if we overlook them and don’t take care of the mental mistakes that have hurt us, they’re good enough to beat us.”

Roof walked off the field Friday knowing his team was good enough to beat Clinton.

“We have a lot of things to fix, but I know our effort was there,” he said. “And I think the most encouraging thing is our guys went in there and weren’t scared of Clinton and never backed down.”