6A-1 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. Up first today is Class 6A-1. 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 Jenks Trojans For the 18th time in school history, the Jenks Trojans ended the season by lifting the gold ball. Jenks also captured the title for the second consecutive season after winning it all in 2020. Jenks would knock off rival Union in the title game to move one spot closer to Ada’s record for most state championships in state history with 19. Jenks began the year at #3 in our preseason rankings for 6A-1, despite coming in as defending champion. It didn’t take long for them to take the top spot in those rankings back and they would never let it go. After giving Bixby their toughest game of the season, the Trojans would never lose following their week one loss to the Spartans. Jenks would shut out Union in week two, dominate Broken Arrow in week five and take care of Edmond Santa Fe to really clinch the district championship. All three of those wins would come on the road as the Trojans would win their first district title in a few seasons. The Trojans would get a scare from Mustang in the semifinals but other than that, it was a dominating season for Jenks from start to finish. The Trojans were led by a two-headed monster at running back with [player_tooltip player_id="47955" first="Jaiden" last="Carroll"] and [player_tooltip player_id="157457" first="Jalyn" last="Stanford"]. Then you had a Jenks defense that was among the absolute best in Oklahoma this season with legitimate guys at all three levels. The Trojans would lean on that running game and defense to carry them to the state championship in 2021. In the title game, Jenks would actually fall down 15-0 to rival Union as the Redhawks scored on the first play of the game and it seemed like their offense was on a roll. However, Jenks would absolutely dial in on defense and completely shut down the Union offense following an explosive first quarter. Jenks would use their strong rushing attack plus a defensive touchdown to run away with championship #18. CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS <iframe title="YouTube video player" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jm2jdyRHh2M" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <hr /> CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR [player_tooltip player_id="61129" first="Colemon" last="Thurber"] - 2022 DL - Jenks & [player_tooltip player_id="47955" first="Jaiden" last="Carroll"] - 2023 RB - Jenks Out of all of our season in review posts, Class 6A-1 is without a doubt the toughest to pick just one player of the year and so we’re bending it and going with two. And honestly, narrowing it down to two was even a tough assignment. So we’re going one offensive player and one defensive player from the state champion Trojans. Jenks was the most dominant team in Class 6A-1 from start to finish and these two players helped lead them to the title. First, junior running back [player_tooltip player_id="47955" first="Jaiden" last="Carroll"] gave the Trojans a consistent presence in the backfield after transferring to Jenks from Booker T Washington. Jenks’ biggest question mark revolved on the offensive side of the ball as they had to replace key parts off 2020’s title team. Carroll gave the Trojans a reliable player at the running back spot and he delivered. He finished with just shy of 200 carries for nearly 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also caught three touchdowns and had a pick six. Carroll did most of the heavy lifting on the offensive side of the ball this season. And on a defense that was one of the best in the state, regardless of class, how do you pick just one player? We could make the argument for three to four different guys on this Jenks defense but we’re going with senior defensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="61129" first="Colemon" last="Thurber"]. The Jenks senior is one of the most disruptive defensive ends in the state and simply has not gotten enough credit for the superb career that he has had at Jenks. This season, Thurber finished with 121 tackles and four sacks on the season. He also got plenty of tackles for loss and had an insane amount of QB hurries as Thurber lived in opposing backfields all season. <hr /> BREAKOUT STARS [player_tooltip player_id="188013" first="Demarius" last="Robinson"] - 2025 Running Back - Edmond Santa Fe Ethan Bilgrien - 2022 Linebacker - Jenks [player_tooltip player_id="157457" first="Jalyn" last="Stanford"] - 2023 Running Back/Defensive Back - Jenks [player_tooltip player_id="204031" first="Tias" last="McClarty"] - 2023 Quarterback - Norman [player_tooltip player_id="98178" first="Ty" last="Walls"] - 2023 Wide Receiver - Jenks <hr /> OTHER TOP PLAYERS [player_tooltip player_id="38697" first="AJ" last="Brown"] - 2022 Defensive Lineman - Jenks [player_tooltip player_id="67771" first="Antonio" last="Smith"] Jr - 2022 Running Back - Union [player_tooltip player_id="45651" first="Cole" last="Adams"] - 2023 Wide Receiver - Owasso [player_tooltip player_id="61131" first="Duncan" last="Parham"] - 2022 Linebacker - Norman North [player_tooltip player_id="108886" first="Gavin" last="Frakes"] - 2022 Quarterback - Norman North [player_tooltip player_id="101403" first="Jake" last="Clifton"] - 2022 Linebacker - Owasso Marcus Dockins - 2022 Athlete - Moore [player_tooltip player_id="38672" first="Maurion" last="Horn"] - 2022 Running Back/Defensive Back - Broken Arrow [player_tooltip player_id="38703" first="Rovaughn" last="Banks"] - 2022 Athlete - Union [player_tooltip player_id="38667" first="Talyn" last="Shettron"] - 2022 Wide Receiver - Edmond Santa Fe <hr /> TOP STORYLINE A Freshman Emerges For The Trojans Jenks had a quarterback battle going into the 2021 season and it continued as the season began. Junior quarterback Ike Owens battled with freshman [player_tooltip player_id="188014" first="Shaker" last="Reisig"] for the QB1 spot and Owens would start the first two games for the Trojans. However, on the morning of the week two Backyard Bowl with Union, the Trojans would move to Reisig as their starting QB and the freshman would never let go of the spot. Both players would get plenty of playing time and complimented each other well but it was clear that the Jenks offense was rolling with Reisig behind center. The young freshman had plenty of hype around him coming into the season and he’s backed up the hype with his play on the field. It’s been decades since Jenks went to a freshman as their starting QB but it appears that they have their guy for the next three years. <hr /> EARLY LOOK AT 2022 Mark your calendars for November 4th, 2022. Week ten of the 2022 football season will see the Bixby Spartans facing off with the Jenks Trojans and more than likely the district championship will be on the line. Bixby moves up to 6A-1 in 2022 and they bring with them a wealth of championship experience. They won seven of the eight state championships in 6A-2 since 6A was split into two divisions in 2014. They also bring into 2022 a 49-game winning streak, the longest winning streak by an 11-man program in state history. The last team to beat the Spartans? Jenks. With the Spartans moving up to 6A-1 in 2022, the Tulsa-area "Big Four" becomes a "Big Five". Class 6A-1 just became more of a gauntlet than ever before and will be one of the better classes to watch in the new year and moving forward.