2021 Midseason Recap
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We’ve reached the halfway point of the 2021 football season and the first half was full of upsets, emergences and teams solidifying their spots as true contenders. In this post, we take a look at each class and the main storyline to come out of it during the first half of the regular season. Be sure to stay tuned into Prep Redzone Oklahoma as we’ll have a post later this week with second half bold predictions!
CLASS 6A-D1
Champs Are Still The Favorites
Coming into this season, we believed that Owasso and Union were the top two teams in 6A-1 and everyone would be chasing them. Whoops. Defending champion Jenks has taken back their top spot in 6A-1 and have done it behind a dominating defense, a two-headed monster at running back and a freshman quarterback. For the second straight year, Jenks shut out rival Union. Two weeks later, Union held an Owasso offense that was averaging north of 40 points per game to just 7 points. After those two results that surprised plenty of people across the state, it was obvious that the champs were still very clearly the team to beat in Class 6A-1. Granted, before the season we wouldn’t have believed that Moore would be the last undefeated team in 6A-1 and here we are with the Lions at 5-0 and everyone else having at least one loss on their record. Now, the Jenks, Owasso and Union debate will continue into October and November. Games that happened in September will have very little impact on semifinal and championship meetings. But right now, the defending champs are the kings of 6A-1 and appear to be very capable of defending that crown.
CLASS 6A-D2
Eastside Dominance
If you check out the latest 6A-D2 Rankings, you’ll notice that the top four teams are all in the east side district. Bixby, Choctaw, Booker T Washington and Sand Springs make up the top four teams, in that order. The top three teams have been that way since the start of the season with our preseason rankings and they’ve held on to those spots. Choctaw might not be considered a traditional “east side” team considering their location but they are playing in the east side district this year and are part of this district being without a doubt the dominant district in the class. Of course, when you’re talking about 6A-2, all conversations come back to Bixby and whether or not anyone can knock off the Spartans. 2021 is the “last dance” for Bixby as they move up to 6A-1 following this season. They have some business to take care of before they leave and the rest of 6A-2 is desperate to stop history from happening. Bixby has won 41 consecutive games and if they win out the rest of their schedule, they’ll set the 11-man record for longest winning streak in state history.
CLASS 5A
A Whole New World
Carl Albert came into this season as five-time defending state champions but it was clear coming into the season that Class 5A might experience a power shift. McAlester was the preseason number one team and other teams like Ardmore, Collinsville and Coweta appeared to be ready to challenge for the 5A crown along with the Buffaloes. Carl Albert is 3-2 coming into the second half of the season and have a massive district clash with rival Bishop McGuinness on Friday night. The Titans are not the heavy favorite to win another state championship this December and that’s something that we haven’t been able to say for a few years. Even in 2019 and 2020, when the Titans suffered a stumble in the regular season, they were still the heavy favorites to capture another gold ball. That is not the case as all four of the teams mentioned above are all undefeated and even throw Lawton MacArthur into the unbeaten discussion. Carl Albert has plenty of company at the contenders table. The Titans were able to escape Guthrie with a 3-point win last week but another tough district test awaits them on Friday. While it won’t be surprising if the Titans make their way back to Wantland Stadium in December, it also won’t be surprising if they come up short.
CLASS 4A
District 1’s Gauntlet
Back in July and going into August whenever we would publish a preview article on one of the 4A-1 teams, we mentioned how brutal that district could be and how it would be an absolute battle for one of the four playoff spots. Fast forward to today and it’s been even crazier than we could have imagined and we’re only two games into district play. As it stands right now, Bethany and Clinton are 2-0 in district play while Cache and Weatherford are 0-2. Not sure how many would have predicted an 0-2 district start for Weatherford back in July. We knew this district would be chaotic but even we didn’t think that was likely. Right now, Bethany and Clinton look like the leaders in this district but Chickasha, Elgin, Elk City and Newcastle are all 1-1 in district play and have each made plenty of headlines already. The battles for the four playoff spots are already heating up and if teams aren’t careful, we could see some really good teams missing out on the playoffs because of losses early on in district play. Cache and Weatherford can’t afford to stumble and other teams have to be playing like it’s already the playoffs and any loss could provide the difference between playing November or checking equipment in after week ten.
CLASS 3A
Private Schools Dominating
The last three state champions in Class 3A have been Holland Hall (2020), Lincoln Christian (2019) and Heritage Hall (2018). The top three teams in this week’s 3A rankings are Holland Hall, Lincoln Christian and Heritage Hall. Those three programs have dominated Class 3A in recent memory and nothing is changing this year. The three teams are a combined 16-0 this season and don’t look like they have many weaknesses. The only teams that could stop them might be each other, but we could be seeing another private school state championship like we saw last year with Holland Hall and Lincoln Christian. We know that upsets plenty of people across the state because the “public versus private” debate will never go away. But the dominance they’ve shown this season has been exceptional. Lincoln Christian is the only team that has had a game decided by single digits and that came on the road against 2A’s #2 Jones. Other than that, these three teams have smashed the majority of their opponents and look like they’re on a crash course for one another.
CLASS 2A
Just As Deep As Ever
This is something that I’ve written about ever since Class 3A went to being a 32-team class. Class 2A has become the deepest and most competitive class in the state. This year is no different when you look at all of the top teams and even some of the teams that are on the outside of the top ten right now. We can make an argument for just about every team within the top ten that they can make a deep run into the playoffs and potentially contend for a gold ball. This has been the case the last two years as well and that makes what Metro Christian has done even more impressive. However, just like it’s Bixby’s “last dance” in 6A-2, the same can be said for Metro Christian. After this year, the Patriots are joining Heritage Hall, Holland Hall and Lincoln Christian in Class 3A. Right now, the Patriots are still the top ranked team and the top dog in 2A until someone proves otherwise. 2A features a few undefeated teams right now in Marlow, OCS and Washington that could certainly have something to say about ending Metro’s title run. Then you have teams like Beggs, Jones, Rejoice Christian and Vian who have losses on their record but have incredible talent and also have some marquee wins on their own. The Class 2A playoffs will be incredibly competitive, just like we’ve seen in the last few years.
CLASS A
Not A Two-Team Tango
At this point last season, it was apparent that Cashion and Pawhuska were on a crash course for one another. Those two teams were the top two teams in Class A and the gap between the top two teams and everyone else was massive. Cashion and Pawhuska would clash in a memorable semifinal affair that everyone expected to be a shootout and ended with Cashion winning 7-6. They would go on to dominate Thomas in the title game the following week. Coming into this season, all of the preseason content revolved around a Cashion-Pawhuska round two looming. After Cashion tripped up in week zero and Pawhuska has lost twice in the first half of the season, it’s apparent that Class A is much more than just a two-team class this year. While both teams could end up seeing each other again in the semifinals, Class A features plenty of other strong teams that could end up contending for the title. Most notably is Ringling, the current #1 team in our Class A rankings. They’re unbeaten, made it to the semifinals a year ago and beat Cashion in the 2019 state title game. Other undefeated teams like Gore and Hooker are also in the top five and could end up challenging for the gold ball. At this point, it was obvious that the champ would either be Cashion or Pawhuska. As we stand right now, it’s way more complicated.