Class 4A Preview

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! Today, we continue our class by class previews. For the next two weeks, we’ll take a look at the best teams in each class, along with the best players, best games and some of the storylines that you should pay attention to going into the new season. All of this will lead us right up to the start of the 2021 season in week zero. We continue with a look at 4A. As always, stay tuned to the website for more class by class previews. PREP REDZONE PRESEASON RANKINGS 1) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/cushing-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CUSHING</a> (Coaches Ranking: #2) 2) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/tuttle-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TUTTLE</a> (Coaches Ranking: #1) 3) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/hilldale-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HILLDALE</a> (Coaches Ranking: #8) 4) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/clinton-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLINTON</a> (Coaches Ranking: #4) 5) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/poteau-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">POTEAU</a> (Coaches Ranking: #5) 6) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/weatherford-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WEATHERFORD</a> (Coaches Ranking: #6 7) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/bethany-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BETHANY</a> (Coaches Ranking: UR) 8) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/newcastle-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NEWCASTLE</a> (Coaches Ranking: #10) 9) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/wagoner-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WAGONER</a> (Coaches Ranking: #3) 10) <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/07/grove-team-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GROVE</a> (Coaches Ranking: UR) <hr /> ALL 4A TEAM Offense QB - [player_tooltip player_id="54349" first="Blaze" last="Berlowitz"] - Junior - Cushing RB - [player_tooltip player_id="38723" first="Daylan" last="Thompson"] - Senior - Elk City RB - [player_tooltip player_id="157514" first="Eric" last="Virgil"] - Junior - Hilldale RB - [player_tooltip player_id="38717" first="Sam" last="Hoffman"] - Senior - Weatherford WR - [player_tooltip player_id="98177" first="Lane" last="Yaunt"] - Junior - Cushing WR - [player_tooltip player_id="38711" first="Teagun" last="Jordan"] - Senior - Newcastle OL - [player_tooltip player_id="38708" first="Gabe" last="Grazier"] - Senior - Oologah OL - [player_tooltip player_id="185883" first="Jacob" last="Smith"] - Senior - Poteau OL - [player_tooltip player_id="162199" first="Jeffrey" last="Paddyaker"] - Senior - Cache OL - [player_tooltip player_id="38811" first="Kenny" last="Wermy"] - Junior - Cache OL - [player_tooltip player_id="185884" first="Rylan" last="Hitt"] - Senior - Elgin Defense DL - [player_tooltip player_id="155575" first="Brody" last="Sappington"] - Senior - Oologah DL - [player_tooltip player_id="185885" first="Fred" last="Watson"] - Senior - Wagoner DL - [player_tooltip player_id="98180" first="Tango" last="McCauley"] - Junior - John Marshall DL - [player_tooltip player_id="118808" first="Tayden" last="Coleman"] - Junior - Ada LB - [player_tooltip player_id="160664" first="Gabe" last="Goodnight"] - Senior - Wagoner LB - [player_tooltip player_id="91576" first="Justus" last="Conway"] - Senior - Newcastle LB - [player_tooltip player_id="61143" first="Ryan" last="Shields"] - Senior - Weatherford DB - [player_tooltip player_id="185898" first="Andrew" last="Hughes"] - Junior - Ada DB - [player_tooltip player_id="118821" first="Braylon" last="Ketchum"] - Junior - Bethany DB - [player_tooltip player_id="185888" first="Davien" last="Taylor"] - Sophomore - John Marshall DB - [player_tooltip player_id="185887" first="Isom" last="Smith"] - Senior - Hilldale Kicker/Athletes K - [player_tooltip player_id="182530" first="Dax" last="Jaggers"] - Senior - Bethany ATH - [player_tooltip player_id="38610" first="Caden" last="Powell"] - Senior - Clinton ATH - [player_tooltip player_id="38715" first="Camden" last="Crooks"] - Junior - Cushing ATH - [player_tooltip player_id="57160" first="Evan" last="Keefe"] - Junior - Hilldale ATH - [player_tooltip player_id="101401" first="Jocelyn" last="Malaska"] - Senior - Bethany <hr /> MARK THE CALENDARS September 24th - Poteau AT Hilldale Seriously, mark the calendar because September 24th could be the biggest day of the regular season for Class 4A. Four of the top five teams in our preseason rankings are going head to head and we'll start with this one in eastern Oklahoma. #3 Hilldale will host #5 Poteau to open up district play. Both teams play tough non-district schedules but that will certainly get them ready for what could be the biggest game in this district, and it's happening in week four. Poteau has owned this district and this match-up against Hilldale. But it's no secret that we're high on Hilldale with some of their younger talent that has gotten more experienced over the last few years. This is one of two massive games on the 24th and again, it's the first week of district play! We still have six more weeks of regular season ball after this! September 24th - Tuttle AT Cushing It's too bad that these games are going on at the same time on the same day because this is a massive day for 4A football. And here's what could be the main event as Cushing hosts Tuttle. If the preseason rankings remain the same between now and then, this will feature the top two teams in 4A football. Cushing is hoping to live up to the preseason hype as the #1 team while Tuttle is hungry to get back to the championship game. The Tuttle Tigers handed the Cushing Tigers a loss last fall behind a strong running game. They'll look to run the ball again while Cushing's high-powered air attack could be a tough one to stop. Just like with the Poteau-Hilldale match-up, the winner here is in the driver's seat for the district title. November 5th - Bethany AT Clinton While September 24th will be a big day in Class 4A, so will the last week of the regular season. In week ten, Clinton will host Bethany in the final game of the regular season. We'll dive into it a little more in our "Notable Storylines" section below, but 4A-1 is going to be an absolute gauntlet this season. Four teams within the same district could end up carrying away the district championship. Because of that, we believe that the district race will come down to week ten and it could very well depend on the outcome of this game right here. Clinton made it all the way to the title game a year ago, and while Bethany took somewhat of a step back last year, they're back to being a contender this fall. <hr /> NOTABLE STORYLINES Completely Wide Open Season One thing that we're looking forward to this season in Class 4A is the wide open race to Wantland Stadium. Coming into last season, Wagoner and Weatherford were two massive favorites to make it back to the championship game. With them being on the same side of the playoff bracket, only one could make it and that team was Wagoner who absolutely rolled over Class 4A throughout the year. In fact, we didn't even see that Wagoner-Weatherford showdown as the Eagles were upset in the quarterfinals. Wagoner was flat out dominant. Only one game was decided by single digits and that was a quarterfinal victory over Tuttle. In the semifinals and the championship, the Bulldogs won by 26 points and 29 points respectively. Half of their games in 2020 ended in shutouts and the closest anyone got to Wagoner in district play was Bristow, who lost by 21 points. Wagoner was #1 at the start of the season and they would spend every week in that spot and finished with another state championship in December. However, they come into this season as the #9 ranked team in our preseason rankings. Granted, that might be a little low but they do have to replace basically everyone from last year's championship team. Because of that, the Bulldogs aren't heavy favorites to repeat and honestly, we could see just about any of the teams in our preseason top ten making a run to Wantland Stadium. Who will be raising the gold ball? Well, at this time last year, Wagoner was an easy bet. But this year, your guess is as good as ours. District Gauntlet In 4A-1 We wrote about this quite a few times in July when we were previewing some of the top teams within this district. Out of all the classes, with the exception of the two 6A divisions who only have two districts in each, Class 4A is the only class that has four teams from the same district in our preseason rankings. #4 Clinton, #6 Weatherford, #7 Bethany and #8 Newcastle are all in our preseason rankings and only one of those teams can win the district championship. And even worse, one of those teams has a good chance of having to go on the road to take on another district champion in the first round of the playoffs. All four of those schools have a great shot at not only making the playoffs, but potentially making a deep run in the postseason. And those are just the teams that are ranked from that district. You also have teams like Cache and Chickasha and even Elk City who have some good players that could cause one of those three teams jump up and upset one of the ranked teams. And if that were to happen, the playoff picture will become incredibly complicated. It won't surprise us at all if the district champion has at least one loss and maybe even two when you consider who all they have to go up against. This district race will be one of the fun races to watch throughout the 2021 football season. The More Things Change... As we mentioned in the first storyline, Class 4A should certainly be more wide open than what we saw in 2020 when Wagoner steamrolled their way to another state championship. It was apparent early in the season by most who cover high school football that not only were the Bulldogs the favorites, but it would take a borderline miracle for anyone else to raise the gold ball. And while we have some really good teams coming into 2021, we don't anticipate seeing one team head and shoulders above the rest of the class and dominating their way to a state title. However, we do see all of the usual suspects in the preseason top ten and as serious contenders to the gold ball. The trio of Wagoner, Poteau and Tuttle have been the three most dominant and consistent teams over the last three years. Each won championships in 2020, 2019 and 2018 respectively. They also have over 30 wins in the last three seasons. They are once again in the top ten and while Wagoner appears to be the weakest of the three, they are still the big favorites in their district and are capable of having another ten-win season. Both Poteau and Tuttle are in the top five but also have top five teams in their district with Hilldale and Cushing. As mentioned above, September 24th will give us a great idea of who the biggest contenders are in 4A football this fall. <hr /> RELATED <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/class-6a-d1-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">– Class 6A-D1 Preview</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/class-6a-d2-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">– Class 6A-D2 Preview</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/class-5a-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">- Class 5A Preview</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/class-3a-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">- Class 3A Preview</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/class-2a-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">- Class 2A Preview</a> <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/08/class-a-preview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">- Class A Preview</a>