Road To Wantland – Bixby Spartans
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The Class 6A-D2 state championship is set for 7PM on Saturday night at UCO’s Wantland Stadium. We’ll see a familiar face in the Bixby Spartans but their opponent is somewhat surprising after Choctaw stunned Stillwater in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon. Prep Redzone Oklahoma will have preview content throughout the week to get you ready for Saturday night’s title game. We continue with our “Road To Wantland” series, taking a look back at the season for the Bixby Spartans.
Preseason – Ranked Number 3
So hindsight is always 20/20 right? So looking back at this, we can’t help but wonder what we were thinking. Coming into the 2020 season, we had Bixby at #3 behind Stillwater and Del City respectively. We thought Bixby would have to replace some pieces from last year’s championship team and they would need more than just their star quarterback
Mason Williams
Mason
Williams
5'10" | QB
Bixby | 2021
State
OK
and up and coming star running back
Braylin Presley
Braylin
Presley
5'9" | RB
Bixby | 2022
State
OK
. We got that wrong. Dead wrong. Del City struggled through a 4-6 season and Stillwater just got bounced in the semifinals. The Spartans came into 2020 with a 25-game winning streak and looking for their third straight title and sixth in the last seven years. And it wouldn’t take long for Bixby to let the state know that they were just as strong as they’ve ever been.
August 28 – Beat Union 34-0
Covid struck in July and impacted the Oklahoma high school season before practices even began. Texas’ governing body for high school athletics announced that their larger schools wouldn’t start until late September. That cancelled games for Bixby and Union. So the two teams decided to kick off the season against one another. We mentioned that it didn’t take long for the Spartans to show that they wouldn’t be taking even a small step back. They scored on their second offensive play and that would be the beginning of a shutout victory for the Spartans over the visitors from Union. Presley would score four touchdowns as the Spartans would blank Union 34-0. Now all the focus shifted to a rivalry clash with Jenks, a team they had beaten 57-7 the year before.
September 4 – Beat Jenks 42-35
Bixby wouldn’t blow out the Trojans again but they would get the win over their rivals from Jenks for the second straight year. Bixby knew this game would be much closer than the 2019 version and that was apparent from the start. On the third play of the game, Williams was picked off and Jenks returned it for a touchdown. The Spartans found themselves in a 7-0 hole right out of the gate. The Trojans would lead 21-7 halfway thru the second quarter but Bixby would score 21 unanswered to go into halftime with a 28-21 lead. The two teams would exchange touchdowns but the Trojans would never get the lead back. Bixby led by what would end being the final score 42-35 when they punted to Jenks with a little over three minutes remaining. The Spartan defense forced a turnover on downs near midfield and the game would be over. The Spartans were 2-0, they had won 27 straight and they would get a week off before what would be the game of the year in 6A-2. That was, until Covid struck again.
September 18 – Game At Stillwater Cancelled
During the 2020 season, we saw roughly 200 regular season games get cancelled due to Covid. But no cancellation let the state down quite like week three when Bixby was supposed to go on the road to face Stillwater. The game was scheduled between the two back in February and it would be a rematch of the last two state championship games in 6A-2. And at this point in the season, it also looked like it would be a preview of what would be a third straight championship meeting. However, Stillwater would have to cancel the game due to Covid concerns. And despite Stillwater players protesting the decision, that decision was final and the potential game of the year would not happen. Instead, Bixby would take a modified JV squad to face Blanchard. They would win that game in a blowout. But that game would not count towards their season record.
September 25 – Beat Bartlesville 74-7
Bixby would open up district play at home against Bartlesville. Most understood that this would be the first of several blowout wins in district play for the Spartans so there wasn’t much drama coming in. However, one big storyline would be quarterback
Mason Williams
Mason
Williams
5'10" | QB
Bixby | 2021
State
OK
going after the Bixby all time record for touchdown passes in a career. He came into week four with 90 career touchdowns and Tanner Griffin held the record with 92. Williams would not only get to 92 but he would blow by it, all in the first half of their blowout win over the Bruins. Williams would finish with seven touchdown passes on the night, bumping him up to 97 for his career as the Spartans would win 74-7 over the visiting Bruins. Up next for Bixby was a game with Putnam City West, which looked like another blowout coming.
October 2 – Beat Carl Albert 56-14
Two weeks earlier, we saw Covid force a cancellation of what could have been the game of the year in Oklahoma. However, two weeks later, we saw Covid cancellations set up a “Dynasty VS Dynasty” match-up that we never would have gotten otherwise. Bixby’s week five opponent Putnam City West would have to cancel their game. 5A powerhouse Carl Albert had their week five game cancelled as well. So the two teams who have dominated their respective classes decided to play one another. Bixby, winners of five out of six 6A-D2 titles would travel to Carl Albert, winners of the last four state titles in 5A and the favorite to win a fifth straight this year. But as the score above indicated, this was just another Bixby blowout. The Spartans scored first and they would never trail in this one. They led 21-7 at halftime and it would go from bad to worse for the Titans in the second half. Presley would torch the Titan defense all night, leading to nearly 300 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.
October 9 – Beat Choctaw 24-13
As we know now, this would be the first of two meetings during the 2020 season. And maybe we should have known that a rematch was imminent after these two squared off in week six. Bixby would survive an upset scare from Choctaw, winning 24-13. But the Spartans would have to earn every bit of this win. Bixby’s high-powered offense was held to a season-low 24 points. These two teams were scoreless after the first quarter and it was a tie game at 7 when halftime hit. Bixby’s offense would strike quick in the second half, scoring to go up 14-7 within the first minute of the third quarter. That touchdown would give the Spartans the lead for good. Overall, the Spartans would score 17 unanswered in the second half to go up 24-7. The Yellowjackets never went away but the Spartans were never really in danger to lose this game late.
October 15 – Beat Sand Springs 51-20
After the week six scare against Choctaw, Bixby would shift their focus to a Fall Break meeting with Sand Springs, a team that was much improved from a year ago under first year head coach Bobby Klinck. However, the Spartans would get back on track to their usual blowout ways by beating the Sandites by 31 points. They wouldn’t have a slow start like against Choctaw as they jumped out and scored often. They would lead 30-6 at halftime. Presley would add three touchdowns in the second half, two rushing and one receiving to really put the game away. Bixby would improve to 6-0 on the season and extend their winning streak to 31 consecutive games.
October 23 – Game At Muskogee Cancelled
Covid would strike again in week eight as the district match-up against Muskogee would be cancelled. While the game was cancelled, the Spartans would have continued their dominating season once again as the Roughers were in the middle of a winless season. Instead of looking for another opponent for another impromptu game in week eight, the Spartans settled for an extra bye week with just two weeks left in the regular season.
October 30 – Beat Ponca City 59-0
So Bixby came into week nine after an unexpected bye week and would face Ponca City. Again, there was no doubt coming in that the Spartans would be able to handle business as this has been a very one-sided match-up over the last few years. Since the split in 6A, these two teams have been in the same district and Bixby has had a massive advantage in the series. They’ve won all seven meetings, including this year. And the closest game was a 22-point Spartan victory. Bixby rolled in this week nine meeting, beating Ponca 59-0. They led 24-0 at half and held the Wildcats to just five total yards in the first two quarters. The Spartans would get their second shutout of the season and improve to 7-0.
November 5 – Beat Booker T Washington 70-21
It was announced a few weeks before that this week ten match-up between district rivals would be on national television. The game originally scheduled for November 6th between Bixby and Booker T Washington would be moved to November 5th to accommodate ESPN broadcasting the game. It would be the second game this season featuring an Oklahoma team on ESPN. But the first to feature two Oklahoma teams. Broken Arrow opened the season against Bentonville West, AR. on ESPN’s family of channels. And a national audience got to see the Spartans flex their muscles and more importantly, they saw Presley absolutely run wild all night in a 70-21 blowout. Presley had over 400 total yards and five touchdowns and simply could not be slowed down as the Spartans put up their second highest scoring output of the season with 70. It was a high-scoring first quarter for both teams as the Spartans would lead 28-14 after one quarter. The Hornets would add a touchdown in the second quarter but were shutout in the second half as the Spartans rolled to the win and another undefeated regular season.
1st Round – Bye Week
The OSSAA would add another round of playoff games with the pandemic having a massive impact on district play throughout the 2020 season. However, Bixby would have to wait to get their playoff run started as the district opposite of Bixby only had seven teams, giving the district champion Spartans an automatic bye into the quarterfinal. Most of the first round games ended up being blowouts with the higher seeded teams moving on. Bixby would have to wait another week before beginning their hunt for a third straight title.
Quarterfinals – Beat Del City 63-27
After a bye week in the first round, Bixby got back on the field for their playoff opener against a Del City team that had finished the regular season strong, despite having set back after set back. For the second straight year, these two teams would meet up in the playoffs. Last year, it was in the semifinal round. This year, it would be in the quarterfinals. Nevertheless, the result was the same with a Bixby blowout victory. They torched the Eagles, winning 63-27. They were dominant defensively early. Forcing multiple three and out’s in the first quarter. They would be leading 21-0 after that first period. It would continue in the second quarter as both sides of the ball played dominant football and they would take a 42-0 lead into the halftime locker room. It wouldn’t take long for the Spartans to add a couple more touchdowns and then the starters were sitting for the rest of the game as the Spartans punched their ticket to the semifinals. A semifinal where they would see another opponent that they had seen in the playoffs before.
Semifinals – Beat Midwest City 49-20
Bixby would square off with Midwest City in the semifinals on a Saturday night in Jenks. It was the fourth straight year that these two teams had met in the playoffs and the third semifinal meeting during that stretch. Unlike the other two semifinal meetings, this game would not be close as the Spartans rolled to a 49-20 victory over the Bombers. Now, that final score doesn’t indicate how competitive Midwest City was at times as they never let this game get away from them until the second half when they simply ran out of gas. The Spartans would lead 14-0 after the first quarter but only held a 21-17 halftime advantage. Presley stepped up his game in the second half and would score three of his four touchdowns on the night after halftime. The Spartans would end Midwest City’s season for the fourth consecutive year and punch their ticket to their seventh straight state championship game, where they would get a shot at a third straight title and their sixth in the last seven years. They would also improve to 10-0 on the season and extend their winning streak to 35 consecutive games. Standing in the way of another title would be a rematch with Choctaw, who gave the Spartans one of their closest games of the year,