Class A 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 A playoffs!
BRACKET BREAKDOWN
TEAM TO BEAT
Ringling Blue Devils
Ringling in our opinion is the most complete team coming into the Class A playoffs and for that reason, we give them the slightest of edges as the Team To Beat. We knew that Ringling would once again have one of the more dominant defenses, not only in Class A, but in the state and that’s been the case. They’ve shut out five of their opponents in the regular season and the most points given up was 13 to Wynnewood. However, the Blue Devils have also had one of the better offenses in Class A and they’ve exploded on that side of the ball this season. They don’t have to just rely on their defense to absolutely shut opponents down. And what’s scary about the offense is it’s not just a running game anymore. They’ve been incredibly efficient in the passing game. All in all, Ringling gets the edge coming into the playoffs with an undefeated record and no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
TOP CONTENDERS
Cashion Wildcats
The defending champion Cashion Wildcats are once again going to be in the conversation and are right there with Ringling as the team to beat in Class A. Those two teams might face off for a state title but the run that Cashion is going to have to go one to get back to Edmond is going to be a tough one. The other two teams in this “Top Contender” section are on the same side of the bracket as the Wildcats and they would have to go through both of them more than likely to make it to another championship game. This is a Cashion team that still has plenty of experience from the teams that made it to Edmond in the last two seasons. They are the defending champs and know what it takes to raise a gold ball in December. The road to get there is going to be tough but the champs appear ready for it.
Gore Pirates
We had to put the Gore Pirates in this conversation as a top contender because they absolutely smashed all of their opponents this season and come into the playoffs with a 10-0 record. Head coach Brandon Tyler has completely brought this program back to relevancy and has the Pirates knocking on the door of contending for a title. They had every starter returning from last year so we knew the Pirates would have a chance to be pretty special and they’ve backed that up. The only question we have is are they ready for the run that they’d have to go on to contend for a title. It’s without a doubt the tough side of the bracket and the Pirates are going to run into some fellow top contenders on the way to a possible state title game. And by the way, get used to seeing Gore because they’ll bring back nearly everyone again next year.
Pawhuska Huskies
Pawhuska is once again one of the top contenders in Class A and they aren’t just a flashy offense scoring a ton of points per game. Well, they still have a high-powered offense, but the defense has been lights out over the last month as well. The Huskies haven’t given up a point since October 8th and have three shutouts in a row going into the postseason. Last year, Pawhuska was on a crash course for Cashion in the semifinals and that might happen again. The Huskies certainly remember what happened last year when they played the eventual state champs in what was expected to be a high-scoring semifinal. They scored one touchdown. Despite their 1-2 start to this season, the Huskies appear to be playing their best football right now, heading into the playoffs once again.
DARK HORSE
Warner Eagles
We’re going a little further on the dark horse here in Class A and not just picking another top ten team. Although, you can make the argument that Warner should probably be ranked coming into the playoffs this year. The Eagles are 9-1 and that one loss was a single-digit point loss to Gore, one of the top contenders. Warner is led by former Guthrie and Muskogee head coach Rafe Watkins, who certainly knows a thing or two about winning in the playoffs and contending for state championships. Warner’s playoff path is also not as tough as some of the other teams who would have to go up against several top contenders just to make it to the semifinal round. We won’t be surprised at all if the Eagles end up making a decent playoff run this month.
MARQUEE MATCH-UP
Hominy AT Pawhuska
This first round clash has to be not only the biggest one in Class A but it certainly has some storylines coming into it. Pawhuska is coming in as district champion but their last loss came to Hominy back in week three when they lost 33-31. That was their second straight loss. Now, the Huskies absolutely dominated their way through the district and come in as district champs. But now they go up against the last team to knock them off. For Hominy, they played in an absolutely brutal district so the last few weeks have felt like the playoffs in order for them to punch their ticket to the postseason.
HISTORY LESSON
The history in Class A has been simple over the last decade and that it’s been incredibly wide open year after year. If you look at the last ten years, only one team has more than one title and that’s Ringling with two. It makes sense when you consider the numbers and having a continued dynasty-like run in Class A is not as possible as some of the other classes. However, teams like Cashion, Ringling and a few others have consistently been in the mix over the last five years. So it’s an interesting dynamic as we head into the playoffs this year. The usual suspects are once again the favorites to capture the gold ball in a class where we really haven’t seen a team rattle off multiple championships in a short period. We think that’s going to be changing soon as Cashion and Ringling won in 2020 and 2019 respectively and as you’ll see next, they’re the favorites to play for it all once again this year.
CRYSTAL BALL
Ringling Over Cashion
It’s hard not to pick the top two teams coming into the playoffs. And if these two get together with the state title on the line, it will be the second time we’ve seen this match-up in the last three years. Cashion will be making their third straight championship game and looking for back to back titles while the Blue Devils are looking to hand the Wildcats more championship heartache. It’ll be a battle of offense VS defense once again and we saw two years ago that the defense of Ringling would prevail. That’s not why we’re going with the Blue Devils here though. We’re going with Ringling because they’ve been the most consistent team from start to finish and they don’t just have a dominating defense. They have an offense that can flat out score points and have been doing so against some teams with stellar defensive units. Just like in 2019, it should be a close one, but we’re giving the edge to Ringling.
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