Class 6A-1 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 6A-1 playoffs!
BRACKET BREAKDOWN
TEAM TO BEAT
Jenks Trojans
It’s hard to go against the defending champions here. The Trojans have been the top ranked team in 6A-1 for most of the year and have looked the part as champions for that same time. We’ll be the first to admit, we didn’t see this coming from the Trojans, who look just as good as they did last year entering the playoffs. We had the defending champs ranked third coming into the season and it didn’t take long for them to prove that ranking unjust. Led by a suffocating defense and an two-headed monster at running back, the Trojans are the runaway favorite to lift another gold ball in December. It wasn’t a question whether or not Jenks would be the team to beat here. The only question right now is whether or not anyone will stop the Trojans from raising their 18th state championship, which would put them one title behind Ada for the most in state history.
TOP CONTENDERS
Mustang Broncos
It all depends on which Mustang team shows up when the playoffs begin. Will it be the Mustang team that got upset by Norman or Moore or the Mustang team that knocked off Owasso on the road? The answer to that question will go a long way to figuring out how far the Broncos could go this postseason. The Broncos right now feel like the best team from the westside to potentially play spoiler but the hill to climb is tall. However, the Bronco offense will be able to score with just about anyone as they have been explosive all season and have rarely been contained so far this year.
Owasso Rams
Just like with Mustang, it really depends on which Owasso team shows up during the playoffs as they’ve had somewhat of an up and down season. The Rams have had one of the best offenses in the state but they still struggle slowing opponents down. With the one exception of the district opener against Union. That game ended in a 10-7 Union win in overtime. If those two teams end up facing off in a rematch in the semifinals, we expect many more points than 17. That’s if the Rams and Union get there. Just like with Union, Owasso came into this season as one of the favorites in 6A-1 and they have a shot to back that up.
Union Football Team
Union has won seven straight since the surprising shutout loss to Jenks in week two. Union came into this season with high expectations of contending for the state championship and nothing has changed as we head into the postseason. Union has flipped the script from last year as senior standout
Rovaughn Banks
Rovaughn
Banks
5'10" | 200 lbs | ATH
Union | 2022
State
OK
has taken over at quarterback after last year where he was replaced by Grayson Tempest. This year, Banks replaced Tempest and the Union offense has been on a roll as they go into the playoffs. Union captured another district championship and look like the top threat to Jenks’ throne.
DARK HORSE
Broken Arrow Tigers
Broken Arrow is playing some of their best football at the perfect time as they enter the playoffs. The road to a potential state championship is absolutely brutal as they could potentially play Owasso, Union and Jenks in three straight rounds and those are the three teams that beat the Tigers in the regular season. However, since their week five loss to Jenks, the Tigers have been on a roll and like we mentioned, they are playing some of their best ball right now. If they can keep that momentum going throughout the postseason, they could potentially surprise some of those teams that handed them L’s during the regular season.
MARQUEE MATCH-UPS
Edmond Santa Fe AT Mustang
Every year in 6A-1, the biggest question is whether or not a westside team can finally get the job done and raise a gold ball. Because of that, every year we have to find out who the “best of the west” is that can make a run at one of the Tulsa-area powerhouses. We might get that answer in the first round as Mustang plays host to Edmond Santa Fe. Despite starting 0-2 and then suffering an upset loss in week ten, Mustang finds themselves hosting a playoff game and will face off with an Edmond Santa Fe team that made it to the title game a year ago. The winner of this match-up will more than likely get Jenks in the semifinals and we’ll quickly get an answer to that first question we mentioned.
Owasso AT Broken Arrow
Once Owasso was upset by Mustang and Broken Arrow knocked off Edmond Santa Fe in the final minute of the game, it was clear that barring any more upsets, we would get a Broken Arrow-Owasso rematch in the first round of the playoffs. This match-up has storylines that write themselves as these two teams have built quite the rivalry over the last five years and that rivalry has even more fire now with the head coaches involved. In case you’ve been living under a rock, this match-up will feature father and son facing off as Owasso is led by Bill Blankenship and Broken Arrow has Josh Blankenship leading the Tiger program. The Rams had their way in their regular season meeting but the playoffs is a whole new ball game.
HISTORY LESSON
Ever since Class 6A was split into two divisions in 2014, the Trojans lead the way with three state championships over the last seven seasons. Owasso has two titles and Broken Arrow and Union each have one. During the last seven years, only two westside teams have made it to the championship game with Edmond Santa Fe falling to Jenks last year and Norman North losing to Union in 2016. Other than that, 6A-1 has been a Tulsa-area showcase. Which isn’t much different from when 6A featured 32 teams. Since 1996, only those four Tulsa-area teams have won championships with Jenks and Union doing much of the heavy lifting. The Trojans have won 14 titles and Union captured 8 titles since 1996 with Broken Arrow and Owasso claiming the other three championships during that span. And starting in 2022, the “Big Four” in the Tulsa area will become the “Big Five” as the Bixby Spartans join 6A-1 and will bring with them a dynasty that is searching for their seventh state title in the last eight years later on this season.
CRYSTAL BALL
Jenks Over Union
It’s a little different from our prediction back in August but we’re going with the historic rivalry to write another chapter as Jenks squares off with Union. As mentioned earlier, Jenks is the heavy favorite to win it all and it’s hard to predict anything other than Jenks raising a gold ball. We think the Trojans roll to the state championship game and whoever makes it out of the other side of the bracket between Broken Arrow, Owasso and Union. However, out of those three options, we think that Union is playing their best football right now. It’s going to be very competitive between those three but we’ll take Union for now. But when it’s all said and done, Jenks is raising another state championship and they might be just as dominant as they were last year on their way to the gold ball.
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