Bartlesville Team Preview

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!   It's the month of July and that means it's preview time! Throughout the month of July, we are publishing 100 team previews to get you ready for the 2022 season. This is something that began last year and has become even bigger and better this year. We're looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state. From defending champs, to top contenders and dark horses, we'll have complete coverage every single day with new teams from Class 6A down to A. In this post, we take a look at the Bartlesville Bruins. With a new head coach, the Bruins are looking to become a contender once again in 6A-2.   Bartlesville Bruins (6A-2 Preseason Ranking: #9)   For the third time in the last several seasons, the Bartlesville Bruins have a new head coach. Harry Wright takes over the Bruin football program, replacing Jason Sport who was the head coach for the last three seasons and went 9-21 during that time frame. Wright returns to Oklahoma after coaching in Arkansas for nearly the last decade. When he was in Oklahoma, he was an assistant coach at McAlester nearly a decade ago when they had one of the best offenses in 5A football and were state title contenders. He believes that Bartlesville could be a consistent playoff team in 6A-2 and he'll look to turn this Bruin program around in a hurry. They went 2-8 last season and missed the playoffs. The first step to competing for the playoffs is just competing in general. The Bruins lost all eight games last season by at least 20 points and they'll obviously look to erase that stat and be competitive week after week.   One thing that could quickly turn around this Bartlesville program this year is experience. They bring back nearly all 22 starters from last season. They return ten starters on offense and another ten starters on defense. That will provide a massive boost to the Bruins this fall. The non-district schedule is also manageable and they could take a lot of momentum into district play if they're able to start 3-0 or even 2-1. The Bruins should be pretty good on the offensive side of the ball with plenty of experience coming back and by the end of the season last year, they were starting to put up some points. Bartlesville has a good mix of young talent and experienced veterans that should make this a rather fun year for the Bruins.   2021 Results (2-8 Record - Missed Playoffs)   Sept. 3 - Beat Claremore 15-14 Sept. 10 - Lost To Sapulpa 34-14 Sept. 17 - Lost To Collinsville 42-7 Sept. 24 - Lost To Bixby 71-0 Oct. 1 - Lost To Booker T Washington 66-0 Oct. 8 - Lost To Muskogee 49-14 Oct. 14 - Lost To Ponca City 34-7 Oct. 22 - Beat Putnam City West 41-19 Oct. 29 - Lost To Sand Springs 41-20 Nov. 5 - Lost To Choctaw 55-21   Key Losses To Graduation   Gage Keaton - Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Hunter McClintock - Linebacker Ridge Brewington - Offensive Lineman   Players To Watch   [player_tooltip player_id="154219" first="Cooper" last="Wood"] - 2024 Offensive/Defensive Lineman One of the younger and talented prospects that Bartlesville brings back is 2024 offensive and defensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="154219" first="Cooper" last="Wood"]. The young Bartlesville big man has the size to be a lineman at the next level, we just have to figure out what side of the ball he's going to be on. Wood will be lining up on the offensive and defensive line and there's no surprise there as he's a beast on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The Bartlesville offensive line has the chance to be a strength of the team this year and with some young playmakers on the offense, they could have a very bright future. Wood is part of that future and it will begin this fall with the Bruins.   [player_tooltip player_id="388632" first="JD" last="Atterberry"] - 2023 Athlete Bartlesville's 2023 standout [player_tooltip player_id="388632" first="JD" last="Atterberry"] is perhaps the best athlete returning to the Bruins for the 2022 season. When you combine the speed and strength of Atterberry, it's hard to argue that he should be considered one of the best on the team. He runs a 4.5 40 yard dash and is one of the top lifters in the program as well. Atterberry will be used like a swiss army knife and will play a variety of positions on both sides of the ball. he brings a wealth of experience back to the Bruins and Bartlesville will try to put him in as many big moments as possible, whether that's offense or defense. He's a 2023 prospect that we're going to keep an eye on this fall.   [player_tooltip player_id="388633" first="PJ" last="Wallace"] - 2025 Running Back/Linebacker One of the younger playmakers that Bartlesville coaches are really excited about is 2025 standout [player_tooltip player_id="388633" first="PJ" last="Wallace"]. He will play on both sides of the ball, like most players at certain points in the game. On offense, we expect to see Wallace at the running back and he'll also be used as a pass catcher within the offense. Wallace is a good looking athlete and could really help the Bruin offense this fall. On defense, he's going to add more depth to the linebacker group and secondary. He's one of Bartlesville's better young athletes and like we mentioned with Wood earlier, there's a chance that Wallace is a big part of the future for the Bruins over the next few years.   More Names To Know   Ashton Lydon - 2023 Linebacker Kaden Brown - 2023 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Nate Neal - 2025 Quarterback Shaun Lickliter - 2023 Offensive Lineman   2022 Schedule/Games To Circle   Sept. 2 - AT Claremore Sept. 9 - AT Sapulpa Sept. 16 - Collinsville - After back to back road games to open up the season, Bartlesville will return home and begin a three-game stretch exclusively in front of the home fans to close out the month of September. Defending Class 5A champion Collinsville comes to town as the Cardinals look to dominate the Bruins once again. This is a perfect measuring stick game for the Bruins before they head into district play. The Cardinals are defending state champions but they look completely different after losing the majority of their starters. With Bartlesville bringing basically everyone back from last season, they'll have an advantage in that category. A win here could geive them a ton of momentum. Sept. 23 - Booker T Washington Sept. 30 - US Grant Oct. 7 - AT Putnam City West Oct. 13 - AT Stillwater Oct. 21 - Sand Springs Oct. 28 - AT Muskogee - This match-up is an intriguing one to us because it features two teams that went 2-8 last season and missed out on the playoffs but they both bring basically everyone back and expect to scratch and claw for one of those four playoff spots this year. Bartlesville will hit the road in week nine to take on the Roughers, who have a very young but talented roster and they expect to turn things around immediately this fall after last year's 2-8 mark. Depending on what's happened earlier in the season, the Bruins might still be in the playoff hunt or they might already be eliminated and will go into this week nine game looking to play spoiler. Nov. 4 - Tahlequah   Notable   In the first two years of 6A-D2, the Bruins made the playoffs in each season. They would even make the 2015 semifinals but came up short of making it to their first ever state championship game. However, after going all the way to the 2015 semifinals, the Bruins had missed out on the playoffs four straight seasons. They were able to snap that streak in 2020 when every team in the state could qualify for the playoffs and the Bruins opted into the playoffs. However, this year, they want to earn their way into the postseason by finishing in the top four of their district. But the district is once again going to be one of the toughest in the state with three district foes in the top four and four total teams in the top six. The four playoff teams from this district will absolutely be battle-tested by November.   Championship History   0 State Championships

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