4A Season In Review

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! The 2021 football season has come and gone. Once again, the football season has just flown by. A little over a week removed from the final football games of the 2021 season, we officially begin our postseason coverage. We continue things today with our season in review series. Every day, for the next week, we’ll be taking a look back at the 2021 football season in each class. We continue the series today with Class 4A. Stay tuned to Prep Redzone Oklahoma throughout the next three weeks for more postseason coverage. From season in review features, to All State teams and plenty of awards, we’ll have you covered! STATE CHAMPION Clinton Red Tornadoes Maybe we should have seen this title run coming as Clinton entered the playoffs. You can make the argument that nobody was playing better football than Clinton as they entered the postseason. However, we still didn't see this dominant run that ended with a 35-0 drubbing of previously unbeaten Tuttle in the championship game. With the exception of Bixby, it was the most dominating team performance that we saw throughout the championship weekends. With the championship victory, Clinton moved into a tie with Jenks for second most championships in state history with 17. However, the Trojans would break that tie less than 24 hours later by beating Union to win #18. Ada holds the record right now with 19 but the Trojans and Red Tornadoes are closing in fast. Clinton came into this season as a top five team in Class 4A and spent the entire season as a top five team but never considered the top team until they won the title in early December. The only blemish on the schedule came in non-district play when they lost to 3A powerhouse Heritage Hall. From there, Clinton absolutely dominated everyone they came across. That included their district, which we contended was one of the toughest districts in the state, regardless of class. And when we said that we should have seen it coming, this is what we meant. Clinton shut out their final three opponents of Weatherford, Elk City and Bethany to close out the regular season. Elk City made the semifinals, Bethany was ranked basically all season and Weatherford might have taken a step back this year but that's still a team that you don't expect to get a shut out against. Clinton's defense would have one more shutout in them as they dominated Tuttle from start to finish in the state championship game. During the playoff run, the closest call would come in the semifinals when they faced district rival Elk City for a spot in the state title game. Elk City made things very interesting but at the end of the day, it was Clinton moving on to play for the title for the second consecutive season. And after talking with the players and head coach John Higbee, again, we should have seen this coming. This was a Clinton team that felt embarrassed after being blown out by Wagoner in the title game a year ago. This was a team hungry to not only make it back to Edmond, but to end what Clinton considered a championship drought of ten years. Clinton has returned to the mountain top in Oklahoma high school football and it was one of the more impressive things we saw in the first two weekends down in Edmond. CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TyFjjXfOBaw" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr /> PLAYER OF THE YEAR [player_tooltip player_id="38610" first="Caden" last="Powell"] - 2022 Quarterback/Linebacker - Clinton It was a tight race for Player Of The Year in Class 4A as we have three players from Class 4A who are finalists for our Prep Redzone Oklahoma Player Of The Year award. However, when it came down to it, it’s hard to argue the championship ring and we gave the nod to Clinton senior quarterback and linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="38610" first="Caden" last="Powell"]. Powell helped lead the Red Tornadoes to their 17th state championship in school history. He’s been the heart and soul for this Clinton football program for over two seasons and went out on top with one of his best performances in the title game. On offense, Powell was incredibly efficient leading the Clinton rushing attack. He led the team in touchdowns, scoring three of them in the title game alone. On defense is where Powell was at his best at the linebacker position, finishing with 170 tackles and five interceptions. Committed to play baseball at OU, Powell went out on top in football. And we’ve long contested that Powell is one of the better linebacker prospects in Oklahoma’s 2022 class. However, he hasn’t been recruited as such and maybe it’s because he’s been locked into baseball for years now. But when it comes to this season in Class 4A, nobody was better than Powell and if that’s how his football career ends, he ends it with a ring. <hr /> BREAKOUT STARS [player_tooltip player_id="206777" first="Canon" last="West"] - 2022 Running Back - Tuttle Cason Albin - 2022 Defensive Lineman - Hilldale [player_tooltip player_id="231448" first="Colyn" last="Treat"] - 2022 Defensive Back - Catoosa [player_tooltip player_id="215196" first="Dax" last="Collins"] - 2024 Athlete - Poteau [player_tooltip player_id="57158" first="Emmanuel" last="Crawford"] - 2023 Running Back - Grove <hr /> OTHER TOP PLAYERS [player_tooltip player_id="54349" first="Blaze" last="Berlowitz"] - 2023 Quarterback - Cushing [player_tooltip player_id="38715" first="Camden" last="Crooks"] - 2023 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back - Cushing [player_tooltip player_id="38818" first="Carson" last="Trimble"] - 2023 Quarterback - Grove [player_tooltip player_id="38723" first="Daylan" last="Thompson"] - 2022 Running Back - Elk City [player_tooltip player_id="157514" first="Eric" last="Virgil"] - 2023 Running Back - Hilldale Gabe Martinez - 2022 Wide Receiver - Cleveland [player_tooltip player_id="231450" first="Gabe" last="Rodriguez"] - 2023 Quarterback/Defensive Back - Wagoner [player_tooltip player_id="101401" first="Jocelyn" last="Malaska"] - 2022 Defensive Back - Bethany [player_tooltip player_id="231451" first="Lincoln" last="Smith"] - 2022 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back - Blanchard [player_tooltip player_id="207530" first="Todd" last="Mattox"] - 2022 Running Back - Poteau <hr /> TOP STORYLINE Old School Football Returns Look again at the list of names above. One thing nearly all of them have in common is they’re either a running back or they play physical football and had success running the football. That’s without a doubt the top storyline when we look back at the Class 4A season. Traditional powers Clinton and Tuttle would meet for a state championship but we also saw Elk City and Poteau find their way to the semifinals. And for all four of those teams to get to the final four, they had strong running games and stout defenses. And in the end, Clinton was the cream of the crop as they showed in a stunning championship shutout of Tuttle. Class 4A featured some of the best running backs in the state this season and also some of the best defensive performances this year. Coming into the title game, we thought it would be competitive between the Red Tornadoes and the Tigers but it was an absolute shutout from Clinton. Will it remain the same in 2022? Well, we’ll take an early look at next season coming up next. But for all the diehard football fans who miss the old school way of ground and pound football, Class 4A was right up your alley in 2021. <hr /> EARLY LOOK AT 2022 Class 4A was somewhat unpredictable in 2021 and honestly, it’s one of the more difficult classes to predict what happens in 2022. The final four teams of Clinton, Elk City, Poteau and Tuttle all lose significant players to graduation. While district champion Grove is moving up to Class 5A. Cushing will bring back the majority of their players, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But a new district where they move to the east to face the likes of Wagoner and others could present a tougher challenge in the regular season. If we had to pick two or three teams right now to be near the top of 4A when the season begins, we’ll go with Cushing, Poteau and Wagoner in no particular order. Sure, Clinton and Tuttle will always be in the mix but the graduation losses will certainly have an impact and both teams will look different in the new year. Throughout all of this discussion, one thing is certain when we look forward to a new season in Class 4A, it’s going to be fun. That unpredictability and potentially not having one or two flat out dominant teams will make the race to Edmond very entertaining throughout the season.