5A Quarterfinal Preview

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> The playoffs are underway and in 5A, 4A and 3A, it’s quarterfinal week. We now have an elite eight for those classes. Get a complete breakdown on each quarterfinal match-up as we head into another week of the playoffs. We’ll take a look at the Class 5A quarterfinals right here. <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>#4 BISHOP KELLEY (9-1) AT #1 CARL ALBERT (8-1)</strong></span> The first of two top five showdowns in the quarterfinal round features four-time champion Carl Albert hosting Bishop Kelley. The Titans are looking for yet another gold ball and they’ve been the gold standard of Class 5A for the last five seasons. The only stumble the Titans had was a rare non-district meeting with Bixby in October. Ever since then, they’ve been dominant, including runaway wins over district rivals Bishop McGuinness and Piedmont. The Titans captured the district title and with that district title they received a bye in the opening round of the playoffs. Last week, they beat Ardmore 49-14 to advance to this week’s quarterfinal round. They’ll face a Bishop Kelley team that they haven’t played in over a decade. The Comets have been one of the best in 5A as well this year. They came into the season with high expectations and backed that up early with wins over Poteau, Bishop McGuinness and Sand Springs in the non-district schedule. However, they fell short of the district championship when they lost to Coweta, 42-27. Despite finishing as the district runner up, Bishop Kelley also received a bye in the opening round. They shutout Tahlequah 35-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. The winner will move on to face the winner of Collinsville-Guthrie. <strong>Match-Up To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="38684" first="Buddy" last="Bizzell"] &amp; [player_tooltip player_id="38487" first="Javion" last="Hunt"] VS [player_tooltip player_id="38548" first="Owen" last="Heinecke"]</strong> What a heavyweight match-up we have here as three of the best two-way players in 5A will be on the field on Friday night. Carl Albert has two of them with senior [player_tooltip player_id="38487" first="Javion" last="Hunt"] and junior [player_tooltip player_id="38684" first="Buddy" last="Bizzell"]. Bishop Kelley counters with senior [player_tooltip player_id="38548" first="Owen" last="Heinecke"]. The Comet standout has been one of the best overall players in the state this year. He will have his work cut out for him as he’s a big part of Bishop Kelley’s offense but he’ll also be needed to slow down the Titan rushing attack of Bizzell and Hunt. All three of these players are outstanding and are a big reason why this is one of the best games this week. <hr /> <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>#5 BISHOP McGUINNESS (8-2) AT #3 COWETA (10-1)</strong></span> The other marquee 5A match-up featuring top five teams has Coweta hosting Bishop McGuinness. Just like Bishop Kelley-Carl Albert, this is a semifinal quality match-up but we get it a week earlier. Class 5A is just deeper this year in certain districts. Coweta certainly came into this season with high expectations and they’ve met them and then some. They opened the season with a loss in their annual rivalry clash with Wagoner. However, they haven’t looked back since then. The Tigers have won ten straight, including road wins against fellow quarterfinalists Bishop Kelley and McAlester. With it being Thanksgiving week, the Tigers are thankful to be at home after damage to their stadium and field in August kept the Tigers from playing on their home turf for the majority of the season. They’ll host a Bishop McGuinness team, who’s only losses are to rivals Bishop Kelley and Carl Albert. The Irish have had one of the better offenses over the last two months as they’ve absolutely lit up scoreboards. Despite both of these teams being consistent playoff teams in Class 5A during this decade, the Irish and the Tigers have never squared off. The winner will move on to face the winner of El Reno-McAlester. <strong>Match-Up To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="38687" first="Gage" last="Hamm"] VS [player_tooltip player_id="38557" first="Luke" last="Tarman"]</strong> This might be the best quarterback match-up in any class this week as senior [player_tooltip player_id="38557" first="Luke" last="Tarman"] of Bishop McGuinness will try to out gun Coweta junior [player_tooltip player_id="38687" first="Gage" last="Hamm"]. If you’ve followed our coverage of high school football this fall, you know we’ve written about Tarrman about 45 times already. It’s been necessary. Tarman has absolutely taken over this McGuinness offense and has been a one-man wrecking crew. On the other side, Hamm had some hype coming into his junior season but he’s outplayed those expectations by leading Coweta to a 10-1 record with a district championship. This QB dual is going to be a great one to watch unfold. <hr /> <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>GUTHRIE (6-2) AT #2 COLLINSVILLE (10-0)</strong></span> The only undefeated team in Class 5A is Collinsville at 10-0. Which is ironic because the Cardinals were one of a few teams, regardless of class that were able to play a full ten game schedule during the regular season. And yet, they still haven’t played a playoff game. They still sit at 10-0 after their first two playoff opponents could not play. The Cardinals, more than likely, would have had no problems with whoever they played in the last two weeks but they have had that time off to prepare for the quarterfinal round against Guthrie. The Cardinals are not only a big contender this year but they will be in the mix next year as they have a wealth of talent in their current junior class. The Cardinals are set up for a run now. While Collinsville was able to get all ten regular season games in, Guthrie had the opposite happen as they had cancelled game after cancelled game. The Blue Jays did benefit from two of those cancelled games being against district heavy hitters Carl Albert and Piedmont. But the Blue Jays have been start and stop all season. They got their first three games in and then went from September 11th to October 9th without playing a game. They lost their last two regular season games and received a bye in the opening round. They would beat Lawton Mac in a shootout last week, escaping with a three point win. <strong>Match-Up To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="51256" first="Andrew" last="Carney"] VS Guthrie Defense</strong> Guthrie’s two losses this year were to Bishop McGuinness and Jones late in the season. The one thing those two teams have in common are dynamic quarterbacks. And the Blue Jays will run into another fantastic quarterback that can beat you with his arm or his legs. Collinsville junior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="51256" first="Andrew" last="Carney"] has put up some monster numbers and has had some games where he has simply taken over, especially in the running game. If Guthrie cannot limit what Carney is able to do on Friday it’s going to be a long night. Carney is going to make plays but Guthrie has to be able to limit the big play from happening. <hr /> <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>#6 McALESTER (8-2) AT #8 EL RENO (8-2)</strong></span> The winner of this game gets whoever makes it out of the Bishop McGuinness-Coweta battle. For El Reno, they came into 2020 with massive expectations. They’ve been building to this season over the last few years. They returned several guys on both sides of the ball that have been starters since they were freshmen or sophomores. However, they were slow out of the gates and that had a lot to do with star quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="38688" first="Dorian" last="Plumley"] coming up hurt in their season opener against Cache. He would miss the next two games, which the Indians lost to Piedmont and Weatherford. However, he would get back on the field and the Indians would get back to those preseason expectations. They rolled to a district championship and earned a bye in the opening round. Last week, they would avenge one of their September losses, and get some revenge for last year when they blew out Piedmont, the team that ended their season a year ago. And while El Reno has been looking forward to 2020, McAlester’s future might be brighter. The Buffaloes have a lot of young talent and they have the potential to be a team that will be in the 5A conversations over the next several seasons. Head coach Forrest Mazey turned this Buffalo program around in a hurry and has them back in contention in Class 5A. The only losses McAlester had this season were to district foes and top five teams Bishop Kelley and Coweta. And in both games, McAlester had a lead that they could not hold on to. As the Buffaloes get more experienced and learn to win those big games, they won’t have those let downs in the future. <strong>Match-Up To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="38688" first="Dorian" last="Plumley"] VS McAlester Defense</strong> Very similar to the Collinsville-Guthrie breakdown, this one is pretty simple. If McAlester can contain El Reno’s [player_tooltip player_id="38688" first="Dorian" last="Plumley"], they will be in this ball game until the end. If Plumley isn’t contained and is able to make the plays we’re used to seeing from him, it could be a long night. Plumley is your traditional dual-threat quarterback who can take over at any point. He’s also outstanding on the defensive side of the ball and as if that wasn’t enough, he also makes an impact in the return game. The Buffaloes cannot let Plumley beat them all night or their season will be in jeopardy and it’ll be a long drive back to McAlester.