Christian Heritage 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 Christian Heritage Crusaders. They bring back the majority of their starters and move down to Class A so they should be considered a big threat in the class. Christian Heritage Crusaders (A Preseason Ranking: #7) It’s not very often that you see a team go 4-6, miss the playoffs and then find themselves in the preseason top ten the following year but that’s what you get with Christian Heritage coming into this season. The Crusaders are moving down to Class A after two seasons in Class 2A where they didn’t have nearly as much success. The Crusaders are hoping that the fresh start, along with bringing back the majority of starters will help them once again be a contender in Class A. Last season, they would go 4-6 on the season and miss out on the playoffs but there were bright spots throughout the season. Despite starting the season 1-4, the Crusaders would win three of their next four and had a shot to make the playoffs late in the season. With them dropping down to Class A, we expect them to have significantly more success. That success will start with the players that they bring back from last year’s team. Eight starters return on the offensive side of the ball and another eight starters return on the defense. Now, it goes without saying that at schools and small school programs like Christian Heritage, a lot of players play on both sides of the ball so there should be no surprise that the Crusaders are bringing back the exact number of starters on both sides of the ball. One challenge that Christian Heritage will have to overcome is a tough schedule. They’ll be tested early on and then the district features two-time defending state champion Cashion. One benefit might come late in the season as they’ll have two bye weeks in the final two weeks of the season. The Crusaders are hoping that by then, they’ve qualified for the playoffs and they can rest up before November rolls around. <hr /> 2021 Results (4-6 Record - Missed Playoffs) Aug. 27 - Lost To Oklahoma Christian School 28-12 Sept. 3 - Beat Stratford 27-6 Sept. 17 - Lost To Mount Saint Mary 49-21 Sept. 24 - Lost To Bethel 32-14 Oct. 1 - Lost To Purcell 42-14 Oct. 8 - Beat Lexington 28-0 Oct. 14 - Lost To Community Christian 51-13 Oct. 22 - Beat Crooked Oak 48-13 Oct. 29 - Beat Holdenville 43-19 Nov. 5 - Lost To Washington 59-0 <hr /> Players To Watch [player_tooltip player_id="384069" first="Bryce" last="Graham"] - 2024 Linebacker One of the leading tacklers from last year’s team was just a sophomore and that’s 2024 linebacker [player_tooltip player_id="384069" first="Bryce" last="Graham"]. The Crusaders return just about everyone from last year’s defense and Graham will be one of the leaders of that side of the ball. With nearly 100 tackles last season, we expect Graham to have an even better season this year with the experience he gained as a sophomore. Graham and this Crusader defense will have plenty of confidence after the playing last season. While they struggled at times throughout the year, that experience will help them this season as they move down to Class A. [player_tooltip player_id="38800" first="Kye" last="Davis"] - 2023 Quarterback One of the more experienced players returning for Christian Heritage is 2023 quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="38800" first="Kye" last="Davis"]. He has a ton of experience under center for the Crusaders over the last several seasons but it looks like the plan is for Davis to be much more for this team this fall. He’s listed at four different positions on the roster breakdown we received. So when he’s not under center playing quarterback, the Crusaders will be using him on defense and in other spots within the offense. The Crusaders do bring back a lot of experience from last season and they believe that Davis is one of their best and versatile athletes so they’ll try to capitalize on that as much as they can this fall. [player_tooltip player_id="384062" first="Nate" last="Jines"] - 2023 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Another versatile athlete in Christian Heritage’s 2023 class is [player_tooltip player_id="384062" first="Nate" last="Jines"]. We expect him to line up at wide receiver on the offensive side of the ball and then turn around and play some defensive back. Jines has a chance to be the leading receiver within the Christian Heritage offense this season. He put up respectable numbers last year but he won’t be settling for that this season. He wants to be the playmaker that can set this Crusader offense on fire. The Crusaders have the personnel to be an explosive offense. They just have to go out on the field and prove it this season. More Names To Know Caleb Gideon - 2025 Running Back/Linebacker Jon Warren - 2024 Offensive/Defensive Lineman Noah Moix - 2025 Wide Receiver/Defensive Lineman <hr /> 2022 Schedule/Games To Circle Aug. 26 - Oklahoma Christian School - Christian Heritage has opened up the season against Oklahoma Christian School in each of the last two years and they’ll do it again this fall. In week zero, the Crusaders will look to turn around their luck against the Saints as they’ve lost the last two meetings and they want to become more competitive this fall. OCS is still one of the top teams in Class 2A and this match-up will feature two really strong quarterbacks with Davis from Christian Heritage and OCS countering with one of the better quarterbacks in the 2024 class. Because of district opponents not playing this fall, Christian Heritage’s schedule is light this fall so they need all the momentum they can get and a win here will give them that. Sept. 2 - AT Western Heights Sept. 16 - Mount Saint Mary Sept. 23 - AT Hinton Sept. 30 - Crescent Oct. 7 - AT Minco Oct. 14 - Cashion - The last time Christian Heritage was in Class A, they were in the same district as Cashion and the two teams played some pretty competitive games. The Crusaders will come into this week seven clash looking to not only take down the two-time defending state champions, they’ll be looking to make a statement to the rest of Class A that they’re the new favorites to win the gold ball. These two teams are the top two teams in the district heading into the season and with only six teams in the district, there’s no doubt that this match-up will have playoff implications. It could decide the district championship as well. Oct. 21 - AT Watonga <hr /> Notable Christian Heritage expected to contend when they dropped down to Class A but what they did not expect was a district with only six teams. That’s the case as Oklahoma Christian Academy and Pioneer are not playing football this season, leaving Christian Heritage with just five district opponents. In fact, those two games happened to be the last two games on their schedule so as of right now, the Crusaders will not have a game in week nine or week ten. This brings up the rest versus rust debate. The Crusaders are hoping to make the playoffs and if they do, they’ll go three weeks in between games. A lot of their players play on both sides of the ball so the rest can help them. But going three weeks in between games is still going to be tough. <hr /> Championship History 0 State Championships