5A Semifinal Preview
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For Classes 5A, 4A and 3A, it’s semifinal week! The playoffs continue and in these classes, we’re down to the final four and each team is one win away from punching their ticket to Edmond. We’re taking a look at the Class 5A semifinals in this post with a complete breakdown on Carl Albert, Collinsville, Lawton MacArthur and McAlester as they continue their playoff journeys this week.
#1 McALESTER (12-0) VS #5 LAWTON MACARTHUR (11-1)
Friday, 7PM @ Noble HS
The Match-Up: In our first semifinal, we have top ranked McAlester taking on Lawton MacArthur. The Buffaloes certainly expected to be here as they came into this season as the top ranked team in our 5A rankings after making a run to the semifinals a year ago and returning the majority of their starters. McAlester has been dominant throughout the season and has held on to the top spot in 5A from the start. McAlester’s closest game just happened last week as they beat a 10-1 Guthrie squad 27-21. The closest game before that was a 19-0 win in Tulsa against Bishop Kelley. The Buffaloes have had one of the best defenses in 5A football all season. They’ll certainly be tested by the Highlanders and their high-powered running game. Lawton MacArthur will counter McAlester with one of the best offenses in 5A football this season. We’ll admit, we didn’t see this run from the Highlanders coming as they were not in our 5A preseason rankings back in July. It didn’t take long for Lawton Mac to get on the 5A radar as they were dominant in the first half of the season. They survived a shootout with Noble in October but would suffer their only loss in the final game of the regular season when they missed a field goal on an untimed down at the end of the game to lose by a point to Ardmore. Despite the loss, Lawton Mac still won the district title and is now one win away from the state championship.
LAWTON MACARTHUR PLAYERS TO WATCH
When you’re talking about the Highlanders this year and the players that you need to watch out for, it’s hard not to start the conversation with senior running back
Isaiah Gray
Isaiah
Gray
6'0" | RB
Lawton MacArthur | 2022
State
OK
. The dynamic running back for the Highlanders has not only been one of the breakout stars of this season, but he’s been one of the top running backs in Oklahoma, regardless of class. As we mentioned earlier, we did not see this run from Lawton Mac coming and we didn’t see Gray coming either. Coincidentally, most defenses have a hard time seeing Gray coming and it’s even harder to get a hand on him. He’s going against a McAlester defense that is one of the best in 5A football this year but the Highlanders will be relying on their star back yet again. Gray isn’t alone on the offense and Lawton Mac isn’t just a one trick pony on that side of the ball. When they do throw the ball, more times than not, it’s going to senior standout
Montez Edwards
Montez
Edwards
6'0" | ATH
Lawton MacArthur | 2022
State
OK
. We first saw Edwards over the offseason with his junior year film and then in person during a 7v7 tournament. We liked the versatility of the Highlander athlete and he’s brought that to the field during this season. Edwards, in their win over Pryor last week, showed why he’s one of the more versatile athletes in 5A football when he was the top receiver for the Highlanders on offense with over 100 yards receiving. And then he turned around and was a shutdown corner on the defensive side of the ball. That 1-2 punch of Gray and Edwards has been tough to stop this season.
McALESTER PLAYERS TO WATCH
Just like with Lawton MacArthur, it’s hard not to start this part of the article without talking about the dynamic running back for the Buffaloes. McAlester junior running back
Erik McCarty
Erik
McCarty
6'2" | 175 lbs | DB
McAlester | 2023
State
OK
has been one of the best running backs in Oklahoma not only this season, but last year when he had a breakout sophomore campaign. This year, McCarty hasn’t had to be an absolute workhorse back for the Buffaloes but he’s still put up monster numbers and always finds his way into the end zone multiple times a game. Last week, against a stout Guthrie defense, McCarty still could not be stopped as he finished the quarterfinal victory with nearly 200 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. McCarty against Gray and McAlester against Lawton Mac will feature arguably the two best running backs in 5A and should be an excellent match-up. Flipping to the other side of the ball and one of the main players that will be tasked to stopping Gray and the Highlander rushing attack is senior linebacker
Chase Faber
Chase
Faber
6'2" | LB
McAlester | 2022
State
OK
. The McAlester defense has been one of the best units in 5A football this year and they’ve earned the nickname “Black Death Defense”. Leading that unit is Faber, who has been one of the best linebackers in Oklahoma, regardless of class for the last two seasons. The Buffaloes have stepped up and shut down opponents all season, especially dominating opposing rushing attacks. Faber will have his work cut out for him against Gray and company, but nobody has been able to put a dent on this defense this season.
The History: Both semifinal match-ups have history with one another and it’s exclusively been in the playoffs. For Lawton Mac and McAlester, these two teams will be meeting for the 6th time ever and the previous five were either in the quarterfinal or semifinal rounds. The Highlanders lead the all time series with a 3-2 advantage but the last time they played was 2014 in the semifinals. Lawton MacArthur won an exciting 50-49 game and would go on to capture their first ever state championship. The year before, McAlester knocked off the Highlanders in the semifinal round before losing to Guthrie in the state title game. All in all, this will be the fourth time that these two square off with a spot in the state title game on the line.
EXPERIENCE
Lawton MacArthur: Lawton MacArthur is headed to the semifinals for the 19th time in school history. The Highlanders made the semifinals a frequent stop in their season for the majority of the last four decades but this will be their first semifinal trip since 2016. Lawton MacArthur owns a 7-11 record in semifinal games and before 2014, the Highlanders had moved on to the title game plenty of times but kept walking away with silver until they won it all against Skiatook that season. The Highlanders will try to punch their ticket to Edmond for their first title game appearance since winning it all in 2014.
McAlester: Just like Lawton MacArthur, McAlester has punched their ticket to the semifinals for the 19th time in school history but the semifinal round has not gone very well for the Buffaloes historically. McAlester owns a 4-14 record in the semifinal round and they are right there with Collinsville among the final four when it comes to bad semifinal records. However, the Buffaloes came into this season expecting to be back in the semifinals after making an unlikely run to the semi’s last season, where they fell on the road to Bishop McGuinness. The Buffaloes are looking for their first title game appearance since 2013.
#2 COLLINSVILLE (12-0) VS #4 CARL ALBERT (10-2)
Friday, 7PM @ Western Heights HS
The Match-Up: We shouldn’t be surprised at this point when it comes to the dominance of Carl Albert when it comes to 5A football. In our second semifinal, we get a familiar match-up as Carl Albert will square off with Collinsville. The Titans came into this season as the five-time defending champions but they were the underdog coming into the year with plenty of new faces on both sides of the ball. The Titans started off the year with an 0-2 record after losing to rivals Midwest City and Del City but they turned it around and haven’t looked back. The Titans looked like the same ’ol Titans in early October when they traveled to Guthrie and Bishop McGuinness in back to back weeks. They beat Guthrie in the final minute of the game and would beat McGuinness the following week in overtime. From there, Carl Albert would roll, including knocking off Coweta last week in another close one. Having said all of that, Collinsville still comes into this game as the favorite after being dominant all season. The Cardinals have been absolutely rolling over the last month or so. They have the top scoring offense in 5A football and the top scoring defense as well. They are coming off their closest game of the year in last week’s win against Bishop McGuinness and they still won by 21 points. This week’s semifinal clash with Carl Albert will be their toughest of the year but the Cardinals appear ready.
CARL ALBERT PLAYERS TO WATCH
One of the biggest question marks coming into the 2021 season was Carl Albert’s quarterback position. Not who was going to be the starter but the shoes that he was stepping into as
Reed Dequasie
Reed
Dequasie
6'2" | DB
Carl Albert | 2023
State
OK
replaced four-year starter Ben Harris, who won four state titles, over 50 games and lost only twice as the starting quarterback for the Titans. It goes without saying, the pressure could have been massive for the junior quarterback stepping into that new role. However, once the Titans got rolling earlier in the year, DeQuasie has played exceptionally well. Like Ben Harris before him, DeQuasie benefitted from having outstanding talent around him, especially in the backfield. While the quarterback position might have been a question mark coming into the season, the running back position was not and really the skill positions overall were in good shape coming into 2021. But senior running back
Buddy Bizzell
Buddy
Bizzell
6'1" | RB
Carl Albert | 2022
State
OK
returning for another season certainly gave the Titans a boost both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Bizzell has been an outstanding talent for the Titans and was critical to their last two state championships. The Bizzell name is borderline royalty at Carl Albert as several Bizzells have helped lead Carl Albert to championships and Buddy is the latest and has certainly lived up to the family name and continued the Carl Albert tradition. Bizzell will be essential to Carl Albert’s success on Friday night as the Titans try to slow down a Collinsville offense that is clicking right now and at the same time try to put up some points on their defense that has been lights out.
COLLINSVILLE PLAYERS TO WATCH
How can you not start the breakdown on Collinsville without talking about senior quarterback
Andrew Carney
Andrew
Carney
6'2" | LB
Collinsville | 2022
State
OK
? The Cardinal standout has been outstanding since coming back from an injury that kept him out for a decent amount of the regular season. Last week, Carney and the Collinsville rushing attack could not be stopped as they beat Bishop McGuinness in a shootout. Although it was a shootout, Collinsville kept their offense on the ground and had over 600 rushing yards in the victory with Carney finishing with over 300 yards and five touchdowns on the ground by himself. Carney put up monster numbers last season and if he had played all of this year, we can’t imagine what his numbers would have been this year. But it’s clear that Carney and the Cardinal offense is rolling right now and will be tough for the Titans to slow down. Joining Carney on offense is fellow senior and wide receiver
Oscar Hammond
Oscar
Hammond
6'3" | WR
Collinsville | 2022
State
OK
. The Cardinals aren’t just a running team even though last week’s win over McGuinness would suggest it. Carney can throw the ball too and Hammond has been the top receiver for the Cardinals for the last two seasons. After last year’s breakout junior season, Hammond established himself as one of the top wide receivers in the state and it still boggles our mind that he’s not getting more looks by colleges because he has been dynamic for two seasons now. When Carney was down with the injury, Hammond stepped up in a big way and kept the Collinsville offense rolling.
The History: Just like with the Lawton MacArthur-McAlester semifinal, the history between Carl Albert and Collinsville has exclusively been in the playoffs. Not only has it been in the playoffs, but it’s been within the last five years as Carl Albert has dominated Class 5A. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they kept running into the Titan machine. This will be the third time that these two teams have met and all three occasions have been in the semifinals. Carl Albert won last year, 45-28 and the Titans also won in 2018, 37-20. Carl Albert of course is the five-time defending champs and Collinsville will try to finally break through this season. While the Titans are playing their best football right now, Collinsville has been dominant from the start of the season.
EXPERIENCE
Carl Albert: We had a couple stats that were kind of surprising when it comes to Carl Albert in the semifinals. Believe it or not, out of the four final teams, Carl Albert does not have the most semifinal appearances as this will be their 18th semifinal while both Lawton Mac and McAlester are making their 19th trip. However, no other team in state history has been as dominant in this round quite like the Titans. Carl Albert is a perfect 17-0 in the semifinal round. They’ve made it to the last five state championship games and history would suggest that they’re about to make it to their sixth.
Collinsville: So Carl Albert has been the hurdle that the Cardinals have been unable to overcome recently. But Collinsville is back into the semifinal round for the eighth time in school history but just like McAlester, they have not had much luck once they’ve gotten to the final four. The Cardinals own a 1-6 record in the semifinals with their only win coming back in 2015. They would go on to the state title game and fall to Altus on a last-second field goal. The Cardinals have been arguably the most dominant team in Class 5A this season, but this week they’ll have to overcome the Carl Albert and historical hurdles in front of them.