5A 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 5A. 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 Collinsville Cardinals For the first time in school history, the Collinsville Cardinals are state champions. Collinsville has certainly been close to getting the job done but the 2021 team will go down in history as the team that finished the job. Led by their senior "Big Three" of quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="51256" first="Andrew" last="Carney"], running back [player_tooltip player_id="61136" first="Brayden" last="Gilkey"] and wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id="64382" first="Oscar" last="Hammond"], the Cardinals would knock off McAlester in the 5A championship game in what has to be considered the best overall championship game from this season. The won a 42-35 instant classic between the top two teams in 5A. The Cardinals came into this season as our #2 team in the preseason rankings behind only McAlester. Those two teams would end up running the table and the Cardinals would take that top spot from McAlester in the title game. Collinsville was absolutely dominant throughout the season and had to deal with adversity on their way to a 14-0 season. They lost their star quarterback for several weeks right in the middle of the regular season but the Cardinal offense would adjust and Gilkey ended up being the star of this year’s offense as he finished with well over 30 touchdowns on the ground. When Carney came back late in the regular season, the Cardinal offense picked right up where they left off and absolutely dominated their final two regular season games against Pryor and Tahlequah, arguably their two toughest district opponents. After rolling to a first round win, the Cardinals would go back to back weeks against 5A powers Bishop McGuinness and Carl Albert. The Cardinals would run for over 500 yards to beat McGuinness in a shootout, setting up a semifinal showdown with five-time defending champion Carl Albert, a team that had ended Colllinsville’s season several years in a row. Collinsville made more history in the semifinal round as they were the first team to ever beat Carl Albert in the semfiinals, ending the Titans’ reign over Class 5A. In the state championship game, these two teams lived up to all the hype as it was the most anticipated game of all the championship match-ups and it was without a doubt the best game. After exchanging big plays and touchdowns all night, Collinsville took the lead with just under two minutes to play on an [player_tooltip player_id="51256" first="Andrew" last="Carney"] touchdown run. Carney finished the game with two passing touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns. The Cardinals would knock down a hail mary attempt from the Buffaloes to win their first ever state title. CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nwhwHQ-kjoU" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr /> PLAYER OF THE YEAR [player_tooltip player_id="91049" first="Erik" last="McCarty"] - 2023 Running Back/Defensive Back - McAlester McAlester came up just short of a state championship, losing an absolute classic to Collinsville in the 5A title game. Leading the Buffaloes and having one of the best individual performances that we saw all year was junior running back and defensive back [player_tooltip player_id="91049" first="Erik" last="McCarty"]. This junior is truly special and showed it all season with over 2,000 yards and nearly 40 touchdowns on the ground. But McCarty was much more than a dynamic running back. He put up monster numbers on defense with over 100 tackles and also had an impact in the special teams department unlike any other player we’ve seen this year. He finished the year with six blocked kicks. Because of all the numbers he put up and the overall impact he had on McAlester this year, he was the obvious choice for 5A Player Of The Year. And you can make the argument that he was the best OVERALL football player in the state this fall. He is one of eleven finalists for this year’s Prep Redzone Oklahoma Player Of The Year Award. <hr /> BREAKOUT STARS [player_tooltip player_id="38817" first="Brandon" last="Harper"] - 202? Wide Receiver - Noble Chris Shaputis - 2022 Defensive Lineman - Guthrie [player_tooltip player_id="219244" first="Isaiah" last="Gray"] - 2022 Running Back - Lawton MacArthur [player_tooltip player_id="64999" first="Macuric" last="Demry"] - 2022 Athlete - Will Rogers William Mason - 2023 Running Back - Coweta <hr /> OTHER TOP PLAYERS [player_tooltip player_id="51256" first="Andrew" last="Carney"] - 2022 Quarterback - Collinsville Bobby Belew - 2022 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back - Pryor [player_tooltip player_id="61136" first="Brayden" last="Gilkey"] - 2022 Running Back - Collinsville [player_tooltip player_id="38684" first="Buddy" last="Bizzell"] - 2022 Running Back/Linebacker - Carl Albert [player_tooltip player_id="38690" first="Chase" last="Faber"] - 2022 Linebacker - McAlester [player_tooltip player_id="219070" first="Colin" last="Fisher"] - 2023 Quarterback - Noble [player_tooltip player_id="38687" first="Gage" last="Hamm"] - 2022 Quarterback - Coweta [player_tooltip player_id="30990" first="Jalen" last="Reed"] - 2022 Wide Receiver - Ardmore [player_tooltip player_id="51871" first="Michael" last="Taffe"] - 2023 Running Back - Bishop McGuinness [player_tooltip player_id="64382" first="Oscar" last="Hammond"] - 2022 Wide Receiver/Safety - Collinsville <hr /> TOP STORYLINE Collinsville & McAlester Run The Table & End Carl Albert’s Reign For the first time since 2005, two east side teams squared off for the Class 5A state championship. And for the first time since 2015, someone other than Carl Albert was lifting the 5A gold ball. Collinsville and McAlester began this season as our #1 and #2 teams in the 5A rankings. Granted, we had McAlester #1 and Collinsville #2. However, those two teams were the big favorites coming into this season and nothing changed between July 1st when the preseason rankings were released and early December when those two teams squared off for the state championship. Class 5A was the only class where the top two teams in the preseason rankings would face one another with the state championship on the line. From the start of the season, these two teams were the heavy favorites to make a trip to Edmond in December and that’s exactly how it ended up playing out. However, as we start looking ahead to the new year, the west side might be ready to take back the crown after Collinsville and McAlester’s run this season. <hr /> EARLY LOOK AT 2022 Don’t get used to the east side being on top in Class 5A because in 2022, the west side could come back with a vengeance. Led by powers Carl Albert and Bishop McGuinness, the west side will feature several of the top teams in Class 5A. Del City drops down to 5A and adds another threat to that side of the state. Piedmont and Noble each have young rosters that will be ready to contend. As for Collinsville and McAlester, the Cardinals lose a lot from this year’s championship team. The Buffaloes will return [player_tooltip player_id="91049" first="Erik" last="McCarty"] but not much else around him on either side of the ball. A new team on the east side in 2022 will be Grove as they move up from Class 4A. It will be fun to potentially see McCarty and McAlester square off with Grove and their superstar running back [player_tooltip player_id="57158" first="Emmanuel" last="Crawford"]. Those two players combined for 77 rushing touchdowns this season. Class 5A should be more competitive than it’s been in recent memory but the majority of that competition could be coming from the west side of the state once again.