Road To Edmond: Deer Creek
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The Class 6A-D2 state championship is set for 7PM on December 2nd at UCO. On one side, you have three-time defending champion Bixby and on the other side, you have a cinderella story brewing as Deer Creek is in their first title game since 2000. Prep Redzone Oklahoma has complete coverage of the championship games and more preview content than anyone else to get you ready for the title games! In this latest post, we take a look at the “Road To Edmond” for the Deer Creek Antlers, looking back at their 2021 season.
Preseason – Unranked
Here’s a perfect example that suggests that preseason rankings are absolutely worthless! On July 1st, we released our preseason rankings and Deer Creek was not in the top ten for 6A-2. Whoops. But in our defense, they weren’t in the top ten from the coaches rankings that we compiled either. But still, with eight starters back on both sides of the ball coming into the 2021 season, we probably should have had the Antlers in the top ten somewhere. Deer Creek came into this season with plenty of confidence and more importantly experience with plenty of starters returning. Deer Creek was ready to make a run after four consecutive seasons of basically playing .500 football. The Antlers didn’t waste any time showing the rest of the state that we needed to take Deer Creek much more seriously this season.
August 27 – Beat Edmond North 35-7
Deer Creek would open up the 2021 football season against Edmond North in week zero and knock off the Huskies 35-7. The Antlers took advantage of early penalties on the Huskies to build a lead that Edmond North simply could not overcome. Deer Creek would lead Edmond North 21-0 before the Huskies got on the scoreboard and the Antlers would add two more touchdowns for good measure. Deer Creek would open up the season with a 1-0 record after a dominating win.
September 3 – Beat Southmoore 44-0
Following the win over Edmond North, it was time for the Antlers to face another 6A-1 squad with Southmoore and it would be another quick game featuring a Deer Creek blowout. The Sabercats, who were blown out by Booker T Washington the week before, just could not keep up. Senior quarterback Brett Pense Brett Pense 6'2" | QB Deer Creek | 2022 State OK threw for over 250 yards and three touchdowns as the Antlers shut out the Sabercats 44-0. Deer Creek would move to 2-0 and Southmoore would eventually go winless on the year.
September 10 – Beat Yukon 35-14
Deer Creek would go on the road to close out the non-district schedule against Yukon in week two. The Millers jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter but it was all Deer Creek after that. The Antlers would lead 21-7 at halftime and extend that lead to 28-7 in the third quarter. Following their 3-0 start and dominating victories in the first few weeks of the season, the Antlers FINALLY jumped into our 6A-2 rankings going into week three and they would stay ranked for the rest of the season.
September 24 – Lost To Stillwater 35-28 (2OT)
Deer Creek had plenty of momentum coming into week four after starting the season 3-0 and also having a week off before district play began. They would face district powerhouse Stillwater in the district opener and the game would end up being an instant classic. Unfortunately, it would be the first loss for the Antlers in 2021. Stillwater drove 94 yards in the final three minutes to force overtime with a touchdown with 8 seconds left. The game went to double overtime and following a Stillwater touchdown, Deer Creek could not respond.
October 1 – Beat Putnam City North 38-13
Following the tough loss in double overtime against Stillwater, Deer Creek would make a short trip to Putnam City North for a week five showdown that certainly had playoff seeding implications. The loser would have to scramble to make the playoffs. The Antlers ended up dominating from the start with a 38-13 win. Brett Pense Brett Pense 6'2" | QB Deer Creek | 2022 State OK had his best game of the season with over 300 yards and three touchdowns in the win. The Antlers jumped out to a 35-0 lead and never looked back.
October 8 – Beat Northwest Classen 70-0
Deer Creek would return home for the annual homecoming game in week six and get Northwest Classen. The Antlers would blow out Northwest Classen with their biggest win of the season. It would end up being a winless season for Northwest Classen as they struggled throughout the 2021 season with reportedly less than 25 players suited up for this game. Deer Creek had no issues in the first half and the second half featured a running clock as Deer Creek improved to 5-1.
October 14 – Beat Midwest City 23-6
This Fall Break Thursday night match-up ended up being somewhat of a slugfest as Deer Creek would knock off Midwest City 23-6. This loss and another would actually bump the Bombers, a team that made the semifinals a year ago, out of the playoffs. Deer Creek would jump out to a 10-0 lead on the Bombers and then relied on their defense to dominate once again and hold off any rally from the Bombers. The Antlers would move on to a showdown with Del City in week eight.
October 22 – Lost To Del City 35-28 (OT)
In week eight, Deer Creek would play another instant classic but unfortunately, it would be their second loss of the season as they fell at home to Del City 35-28 in overtime. That win would put Del City in the driver’s seat for the district championship, having already beaten Stillwater earlier in the season. Deer Creek would tie the game at 28 with six minutes left in regulation. However, in overtime, after Del City scored, the Antlers could not respond and the Eagles won 35-28.
October 29 – Beat Lawton 67-20
For the second time this season, Deer Creek bounced back from an overtime loss by absolutely dominating their opponent the following week. Deer Creek would beat Lawton in a 67-20 rout. With the victory against Lawton, the Antlers effectively eliminated the Wolverines from playoff contention. The Antlers would improve to 7-2 on the season and would have one final game before the playoff journey began. Week ten would feature a game with another struggling program.
November 5 – Beat U.S. Grant 65-7
Deer Creek would close out the regular season against a struggling U.S. Grant program and there was no doubt that the Antlers were going to be able to close out the season with a win and go into the playoffs with an 8-2 record. The Antlers would win 65-7 as junior running back Deontaye Wilson ran for three touchdowns in the Deer Creek victory. Following the win, Deer Creek would go into the playoffs as the three seed and have a first round match-up on the road against Choctaw.
Quarterfinals – Beat Choctaw 36-29
This win certainly sparked the run to the state championship as Deer Creek would go on the road to face #2 Choctaw and while plenty of people had penciled in Choctaw for the state title game rematch with Bixby, the Antlers had other plans. It wasn’t pretty early as the Yellowjackets would score on a scoop and score less than a minute into the game but every time Del City punched, Deer Creek punched back. The Antlers would score in the third quarter to break the 29-29 tie and hold on with their defense to pull off the win.
Semifinals – Beat Sand Springs 20-17
At the same time that Deer Creek went on the road and upset Choctaw, Sand Springs was doing the same thing as they traveled to Del City and stunned the district champion Eagles. Which meant we’d have Deer Creek and Sand Springs facing off in a rematch of a playoff game from 2020. Deer Creek blocked a field goal with a little over six minutes left and then drove 83 yards for the game-winning touchdown with just under two minutes to play. The Deer Creek defense would hold on to get Deer Creek to the title game.
Deer Creek Head Coach Wade Standley Quote Book
Standley On His Team Going From No 6A-2 Playoff Wins To Making A Run To The Title Game.
“You hear people talk about culture and our culture is pretty simple around here. We’re going to preach relentless effort, competitive excellence and just the power of a unit. By keeping that simple, with our guys when it comes to relentless effort, we’re going to go as hard as we can. It’s that simple. The goal has always been to be the best that we can and continue to move forward. The mentality that these young men and our seniors have is that we’re going to be tougher than any situation that we face. We’re going to be able to take on adversity and because our focus has been on that, they haven’t focused on what people think they should do.”
Standley On His Standout Quarterback Brett Pense Brett Pense 6'2" | QB Deer Creek | 2022 State OK This Season.
“Brett has been a tremendous leader for us. He had a really strong offseason. He was one of our starting pitchers on a semifinal baseball team. You could just see during the spring that his confidence was continuing to grow and he had a great baseball season. He followed that up with a strong summer. He’s just shown tremendous leadership throughout the season. 28 touchdowns and 3 interceptions and he takes care of the football. He’s been able to make good decisions and lead this offense has been key.”
Standley On Using Jacob Sexton Jacob Sexton 6'6" | OL Deer Creek | 2022 State OK On The Defensive Line In Addition To Offense.
“Well we’ve been using him in some short yardage situations throughout the season. The philosophy we have in situations like that, when you get to this time of the year, you’re going to put the strongest combination to certain situations on the field at all times. The season is a long season and you get into the playoffs and what you’ve worked on during the entire year becomes more evident during the playoffs because you’re using it as much as possible.”
Standley On Playing The Title Game A Few Miles Away At UCO.
“You know, it’s a great stadium and what a great place to host the high school championships. It happens to be here in Edmond and that certainly is an added bonus. That’s a great place and a great venue to have a state championship game and it should be a lot of fun.”
Standley On The Championship Match-Up With Bixby.
“We have tremendous respect for them. What Loren and his coaches have built over there over the years, they’ve had a tremendous run and they’ve built that. From our standpoint, it continues to be about the things we can control. And what our guys can control is attitude, effort and what we do. We don’t have control over the externals so we focus on that. The gameplans are going to be in place to put our players in the best situations. But our focus is going to be on us and let’s see how much better we can get and how much we can improve. From a motivational standpoint, it’s a state championship game so these young men are excited. They’ve done a number of firsts all year long and are used to being the underdog. Our focus is on this game. I can guarantee you that Loren and his staff are focused on this game and not a streak and that’s exactly what we’re focused on.”