Class 5A Playoff Preview
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The 2021 regular season has come to an end and it’s time to get cranked up for the playoffs! Prep Redzone Oklahoma will be your home for the 2021 postseason as we’ll have wall to wall coverage. From playoff previews, to the most in-depth state championship coverage you’ll find anywhere, we’ll have you covered. Stay tuned to Prep Redzone Oklahoma every day for more preview content throughout the week. In this post, we take a look at the Class 5A playoffs!
BRACKET BREAKDOWN
TEAM TO BEAT
McAlester Buffaloes
They came into this season as the top ranked team in our 5A rankings and nothing has changed so we’re sticking with the McAlester Buffaloes as the team to beat heading into the postseason. We knew the Buffaloes were going to have some serious talent, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But the defense has grabbed plenty of headlines by absolutely dominating their opponents. In arguably McAlester’s three toughest games this year, Broken Bow, Bishop Kelley and Coweta, they gave up a combined nine points between the three and all three games took place on the road. This is a McAlester team that is confident and believes that they are the best team in Class 5A and they haven’t showed any reason not to think the same when you watch them. From their explosive offense to the “Black Death” defense, the Buffaloes are rolling heading into November.
TOP CONTENDERS
Collinsville Cardinals
Right behind McAlester has been Collinsville. The Cardinals were ranked #2 back in July and nothing has changed with them either. The Cardinals have dominated every opponent they’ve faced, despite missing their star quarterback for part of the season. However, he’s back now and the Cardinals are playing some of their best football heading into the playoffs, which should be a scary proposition for the rest of Class 5A. The final two games of the regular season were arguably the toughest match-ups for the Cardinals as they played Pryor and Tahlequah in back to back weeks. It wasn’t a problem as they won by a combined score of 118-21. The only question we could have about Collinsville is how will they react when they’re in a battle for all four quarters. It hasn’t happened very often this year. But we have no doubts that they’ll be ready for that challenge.
Coweta Tigers
Despite losing to McAlester in mid-October, Coweta is still a team in Class 5A that you have to watch out for and the Tigers are hungry to get some revenge. Because of the loss, they finished second in the district and the path to a state championship game is certainly going to feature more hurdles. They should win their first game and then it’s more than likely a road game against five-time champion Carl Albert. However, this is a Coweta team that has been building to this year. Several of the seniors have been starting for multiple years and have had early playoff exits and they’re determined to not let it happen again. We like the Tigers, especially on the offensive side of the ball as they have a very balanced offense led by a three-year starter at quarterback. Coweta is certainly a team that could provide some chaos throughout the playoffs.
Lawton MacArthur Highlanders
They just suffered their first loss of the year but we’re sticking with Lawton MacArthur as one of the top contenders in the 5A playoffs but you can make an argument for any of the top three teams out of that district. Whether it was Ardmore, Lawton Mac or Noble, all three have legitimate claims to being one of the best teams in Class 5A. However, when it comes down to it, we’re going with the Highlanders and a big reason is because they captured the district championship and have a more favorable road to a potential state championship game. Both Ardmore and Noble have tough first round games and both are featured below in our “marquee match-ups”. Lawton Mac is a lot like some of the other top teams in 5A where they don’t do a lot that’s fancy and they just stick to what they do best and that’s running the football.
DARK HORSE
Carl Albert Titans
This seems somewhat laughable as we write it but here we are with Carl Albert, the five-time defending state champions, considered a dark horse as they enter the playoffs. We knew coming into this season that this would not be the same dominant Carl Albert team that we have gotten used to seeing over the last five seasons and that was apparent immediately. The Titans started the year 0-2 and have certainly gone through growing pains. However, they also won their last eight and captured the district championship with back to back wins over Guthrie and Bishop McGuinness that featured plenty of drama. For the first time in a few years, the Titans don’t come into the playoffs as the favorite, but it would be delusional to write them off all together. This is still a program that is built for this time of the year.
MARQUEE MATCH-UPS
Bishop McGuinness AT Ardmore
We mentioned Ardmore and Noble above and we kick off these big time match-ups with Ardmore hosting Bishop McGuinness. The top three seeds coming out of 5A-1 and 5A-2 are all top ten teams and that makes for some very interesting match-ups in the first round. Ardmore’s passing attack going up against Bishop McGuinness’ ground game is certainly going to be something to watch on Friday night. The Tigers are coming off one of their best wins in which they put up 40+ on Lawton MacArthur and also got a good chance to see what it’s like going against a run-first team. That should help as they prepare for an Irish team that is used to being in this situation. Don’t forget, this is a McGuinness program that has made it to the state title game in four of the last five seasons.
Noble AT Guthrie
A lot of what we wrote about in that first match-up could just be copied and pasted here as Noble’s passing game will go head to head with Guthrie’s stout defense and rushing attack on offense. For Guthrie, the goal is pretty simple and they want to keep doing what they’ve done all season and that’s run the football and play lights out defense. However, Noble is going to come into Jelsma Stadium and they won’t be afraid to let it rip with the passing game. Guthrie probably hasn’t seen a team that can throw the ball around the yard like Noble can so just like with that first match-up, this one has plenty of intrigue to it. The Bears are playing excellent football right now and expect to make a run while Guthrie is determined to return to glory and it’s been a few years since we’ve seen the Blue Jays make a legitimate run in the playoffs.
HISTORY LESSON
- Carl Albert comes into the playoffs as the five-time defending state champions. They beat Bishop McGuinness in 2016 and 2017 and again in 2019 and 2020. Ardmore was the only other team to break through and make it to the title game during the last five years but they also settled for silver in 2018. The Titans are looking to win their sixth straight state championship. Something that’s never been done in school history and only a handful of programs have won six in a row in state history.
- Class 5A is one of only two classes where the top two teams in the preseason rankings back in July remain the same as we head into the playoffs. McAlester and Collinsville were atop the 5A rankings when we released them on July 1st and they’ve held on to those spots with 10-0 records respectively. The only other class to do that is 6A-2 with Bixby at #1 and Choctaw at #2.
- The top three teams in the 5A rankings right now are McAlester, Collinsville and Coweta in that order. However, right behind them is Carl Albert at #4 and the Titans have far more experience in the playoffs compared to the top three. Carl Albert has won 16 state championships and have made it to the title game on 17 occasions. Between the top three teams, they have a combined five trips to the title game with Coweta still searching for their first. McAlester is the only team that has won a state title out of the three and that came back in 1988.
- Not only has Carl Albert dominated Class 5A, the west side as a whole has owned 5A football for the majority of the last two decades. Minus Booker T Washington winning in 2008 and 2010, you have to go all the way back to 2005 to see the last time an east side team won the 5A championship when East Central won it all. Collinsville was the last team from the east side even to make it to the title game and that was in 2015 when they lost on a last second field goal to Altus.
CRYSTAL BALL
McAlester Over Collinsville
We just wrote a lot in our history lesson how the east side has been dominated when it comes to 5A football but we’re bucking the trend here and going with our top two teams in the 5A rankings with McAlester and Collinsville. In July, we had them #1 and #2 respectively and nothing has changed in between then and now. The Buffaloes have been absolutely dominant and we don’t see that changing anytime soon. The same can be said about the Cardinals, who look like they’re playing some of their best football right now. Both teams made semifinal runs last year and so we don’t think they’ll be afraid of the moment when it comes around. As for who’s raising the gold ball, we’ll lean to McAlester by the slightest of margins. The Buffaloes have been our top team in 5A all season and we don’t have a reason to go against them now. So McAlester wins it all in a very close one with Collinsville.
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