6A-D1 Playoff Preview

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! Starting today, and continuing all day and every day until Friday evening, we’ll be publishing playoff preview content. From team breakdowns to players to watch to championship predictions, we’ll get you covered as the “Road To Wantland” officially begins this week. We continue our playoff preview content with a look at the Class 6A-D1 playoffs. Check out our team breakdowns and storylines to follow. DEFENDING CHAMP/TEAM TO BEAT Owasso Rams Owasso is once again the team to beat in 6A-D1 as they enter the playoffs. They captured the state title a year ago with a perfect season. They’re still perfect, having won their last 23 games, dating back to last year. The Rams will be searching for their third gold ball in the last four seasons. They came into the 2020 season with a strong defense but some questions on the offensive side of the ball. The biggest question is who the quarterback would be. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="51037" first="Austin" last="Havens"] eventually won that battle and took advantage of the talented weapons around him. The Rams have a variety of running backs that can get the job done and the same goes for the wide receiver position. On defense, they’ve continued to get stronger and stronger. The Rams showed that they are a program that simply reloads and doesn’t rebuild. They opened up the season against Edmond Santa Fe in a top five showdown. They led 28-0 halfway thru the first quarter and coasted to the week zero blowout. That would be the first of many blowouts in 2020. The closest contest was an 11-point win over Norman North in week five. TEAM BREAKDOWNS Broken Arrow Tigers Broken Arrow was excited to get 2020 started after a 2019 season that saw them snake bit by injury after injury. The Tigers haven’t had a perfect season and have once again had to deal with injuries but they’re still one of the top teams in 6A-D1. The big question is whether or not they can take that next step and contend with some of the other top teams in the class. The Tigers have lost three games this season and all three losses came to the top three teams in 6A-D1. Owasso, Jenks and Edmond Santa Fe all handed the Tigers a loss this fall. The Tigers have to erase the memory of the regular season and hit the reset button as we head into the playoffs. Fortunately for them, only one of those teams is on their side of the bracket, so a run to the title game is possible for BA. Edmond Santa Fe Wolves For the second straight year, Edmond Santa Fe comes into the playoffs as the district champions. They’ll certainly look at this playoff run as unfinished business after losing in the first round in an upset to Moore last year. After losing their first two games, week zero to 6A-D1’s #1 Owasso and week one to 6A-D2’s #1 Stillwater, the Wolves have won their last seven games. The only game they didn’t get a chance to play was week seven against Jenks. Santa Fe’s strength has definitely been the offensive side of the ball. During their seven game winning streak, they’ve scored 40+ in all but one game. And they have a very balanced attack with the pass and the run. Santa Fe fans are hopeful that this high-powered offense will be clicking on all cylinders and help them make a run at the state championship. Jenks Trojans The top contender to knock off the champion Rams are the Jenks Trojans. They came into 2020 with unfinished business after losing to Owasso in last year’s state title game. With nearly everyone returning this fall, the expectation was in place to not only get back to Wantland Stadium, but to win the whole thing. Jenks hit an early stumbling block when they lost a shootout with Bixby. However, that was the only stumble Jenks would suffer this season. They had two games cancelled due to Covid, and unfortunately for the Trojans, both of them ended up being district games. Because of that, they ended up as the second seed in their district. Nevertheless, the Trojans have one thing in mind as they head into this postseason and that’s to bring back a title to Jenks. Union Football Team Our final team breakdown is on a potential dark horse in this playoff mix. And it’s not very often that Union is considered a dark horse, but that’s where we’re at in 2020. Union lost their first four games after facing a brutal schedule. After that gauntlet run, they’ve won their last four and look better and better, especially on the offensive side of the ball. During the start of the year, Union’s main struggles came on the offensive side of the ball. That hasn’t been the case in the last month. During this four-game winning streak, Union has averaged 56.5 points per game after scoring just 21 points in the first four weeks. Union’s rushing attack has become one of the best in the state. They will be a tough out in the playoffs and it didn’t seem like that would be the case in September. STORYLINES TO FOLLOW Let’s All Play With Covid-19 having a massive impact on the 2020 season, the OSSAA announced that all teams would be allowed in the playoffs. Out of the nine classes, 6A-D1 is the only class that will have full participation from the entire class. All 16 teams in 6A-D1 are preparing for playoff football this week. At the time of this preview, other classes have had forfeitures and opt out’s. So for Class 6A-D1, we’ll have a full slate of games this week. No Jenks-Owasso Title Rematch Jenks and Owasso have been the top two teams in 6A-D1 all season but they will not meet for a state championship. The two top ranked teams are on the same side of the bracket after Jenks finished second in their district, behind Edmond Santa Fe. Because of that, we won’t see a championship rematch, instead, if they win, they’ll meet in the semifinals. Owasso edged out Jenks last year in a close and competitive title game. These two teams came into the 2020 season with the idea that they would see each other again in Edmond. Instead, it opens up the door for teams like Broken Arrow, Edmond Santa Fe or Union to make a run at the title game. This is the case in a few classes where the top two ranked teams are on the same side of the bracket, and because of that, cannot play each other for the state title. Rivalries Headline First Round In the first round we have some intriguing match-up’s on both sides of the bracket. However, a lot of those intriguing match-up’s come attached to rivalries. In fact, four out of the eight first round games will be rivalry clashes. Edmond North faces Edmond Santa Fe, Westmoore faces Southmoore, Mustang takes on Yukon and Norman will face Norman North. Earlier this year, Norman and Norman North’s week one Crosstown Clash was cancelled due to Covid. The two rivals will finally get to square off and the stakes are higher than ever. In the other three rivalry games, they are rematches of regular season meetings, all of which were somewhat close. Santa Fe got their first win of the season against Edmond North with a 42-35 victory in week two. That same night, Westmoore beat Southmoore 34-27. And in week one, Mustang ran away from Yukon 35-21 behind [player_tooltip player_id="48802" first="Dominique" last="Dunn"] scoring four touchdowns. THE SCHEDULE Edmond North AT Edmond Santa Fe Westmoore AT Southmoore Enid AT Union Putnam City AT Broken Arrow Edmond Memorial AT Owasso Mustang AT Yukon Moore AT Jenks Norman AT Norman North RELATED <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2020/11/6a-d1-players-to-watch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">- Ten Players To Watch</a>