Stillwater 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 Stillwater Pioneers. With rival Bixby moving up to 6A-1, the thorn is finally out of Stillwater’s side and they’re ready to contend for the gold ball. Stillwater Pioneers (6A-2 Preseason Ranking: #3) The Stillwater Pioneers come into the 2022 football season as the #3 team in our 6A-2 preseason rankings but it’s a little different in 6A-2. Choctaw, Booker T Washington and the Pioneers make up the top three teams in the preseason rankings and the difference between the three teams is very small. It’s more like 1A, 1B and 1C. All three teams have plenty of reasons why they should be in the top spot. The Pioneers are looking to bounce back in 2022 after falling short of another championship game appearance in 2021. The Pioneers went 9-3 and fell to Bixby in the semifinals and were beaten in district play for the first time in several years as well. With the majority of their starters back on offense, the Pioneers have the potential to be one of the higher scoring teams in 6A-2. Stillwater will lean on that offense, especially early on in the season while new faces get worked in on the defensive side of the ball. The Pioneers’ main losses to graduation were on the defensive side of the ball and new players will need to emerge if they’re going to contend with Choctaw and Booker T Washington. The Pioneers might get into a shootout or two because their schedule also features several teams that have quite a bit of firepower on the offensive side of the ball. But there’s no doubt that 6A-2 has plenty of excitement going into this season as a new era is beginning with Bixby moving up to 6A-1 and more teams will be contending for the gold ball. The Pioneers are not only one of those teams but they expect to be making a trip to Edmond in December. <hr /> 2021 Results (9-3 Record - Lost In Semifinals) Sept. 3 - Beat Edmond Santa Fe 30-20 Sept. 10 - Beat Mustang 32-28 Sept. 17 - Lost To Bixby 42-14 Sept. 24 - Beat Deer Creek 35-28 Sept. 30 - Lost To Del City 30-7 Oct. 8 - Beat US Grant 56-6 Oct. 14 - Beat Lawton 49-13 Oct. 22 - Beat Northwest Classen 70-0 Oct. 28 - Beat Midwest City 50-0 Nov. 5 - Beat Putnam City North 28-0 Quarterfinal - Beat Booker T Washington 35-26 Semifinal - Lost To Bixby 48-6 <hr /> Key Losses To Graduation Brayden Burke - Defensive Lineman Chance Clements - Linebacker Eli Williams - Defensive Back Gabe Brown - Linebacker Mason Butler - Wide Receiver Ty Smithton - Wide Receiver <hr /> Players To Watch [player_tooltip player_id="157517" first="Gage" last="Gundy"] - 2023 Quarterback We’ve written this before about Stillwater’s 2023 quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="157517" first="Gage" last="Gundy"] but it comes up again because it’s our favorite trait that he has. Gundy might have the strongest arm in Oklahoma, regardless of class. The football absolutely jumps out of his hand and gets to his target in a hurry. Wide receivers better be ready for some of these Gundy bullets because they’re usually coming in hot. Gundy also showed throughout his junior season that he could come up big in clutch moments. With one season under his belt and the majority of his skill players returning around him, Gundy and the Pioneer offense is going to be pretty potent this fall. [player_tooltip player_id="215207" first="Holden" last="Thompson"] - 2024 Running Back You can really include both Thompson twins in this breakdown as they were both breakout stars for the Pioneers last fall. [player_tooltip player_id="215206" first="Heston" last="Thompson"] is listed below but 2024 running back [player_tooltip player_id="215207" first="Holden" last="Thompson"] had an outstanding sophomore season splitting time at the running back position. While Heston is more of a threat at wide receiver, Holden did almost all of his damage on the ground. He finished with over 1,100 yards and 15 touchdowns as he led the Pioneers in rushing. We’re looking forward to seeing how the Pioneers utilize the Thompson twins because they are two of the fastest players on the team and provide plenty of versatility. [player_tooltip player_id="50786" first="JaKobe" last="Sanders"] - 2023 Offensive Lineman We’ve made no secret about our opinion of Stillwater 2023 offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="50786" first="JaKobe" last="Sanders"] over the last two years as he’s had a tight grip on the top spot in the 2023 offensive line group. Sanders has also jumped up into the top five for overall prospects and we think that’s where he belongs now that he’s moved to the center position. Sanders has only gotten better and better since his breakout freshman year. Since moving to center last season, Sanders looks more natural and has a great shot of being the next big center prospect to come out of Oklahoma. The OSU commit will be a four-year starter for Stillwater. [player_tooltip player_id="349796" first="Josh" last="Ford"] - 2024 Tight End Looking for a breakout player that might not be a big name now but it’s only a matter of time? We’ll answer that with Stillwater 2024 tight end [player_tooltip player_id="349796" first="Josh" last="Ford"]. We checked out Stillwater in person this spring during a team camp in Owasso and were immediately drawn to Ford with how big he was. Ford will be lining up at tight end and give Gundy a great mismatch as he’ll be bigger than just about any linebacker or defensive back that tries to cover him. Ford is also listed as a defensive end on the roster and he could provide the Pioneers a boost on the defensive side of the ball as a rush end on third down passing situations. [player_tooltip player_id="199948" first="Noah" last="Roberts"] - 2023 Running Back Stillwater 2023 running back [player_tooltip player_id="199948" first="Noah" last="Roberts"] had a stellar junior year while splitting carries with Thompson. Roberts finished with nearly 700 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns on the season. Roberts is definitely a 2023 prospect that we’ll have an eye on when fall rolls around because of the different positions he can play. Roberts can line up at running back, wide receiver and he’s even worked this offseason at the linebacker position or on defense in general. Between Roberts and Thompson, the two nearly reached 2,000 rushing yards on the season. The Pioneers have some serious talent returning among the skill positions on offense. More Names To Know Garhett Reese - 2023 Defensive Back [player_tooltip player_id="215206" first="Heston" last="Thompson"] - 2024 Wide Receiver [player_tooltip player_id="287385" first="Jude" last="Ropp"] - 2023 Offensive Lineman Julius Talley - 2023 Defensive Back [player_tooltip player_id="349954" first="Trent" last="Hardesty"] - 2023 Wide Receiver Zac Tyson - 2023 Linebacker <hr /> 2022 Schedule/Games To Circle Aug. 26 - Greenwood, AR. - A new opponent on the schedule for this season is Greenwood out of Arkansas and the Pioneers will open up the season against them in week zero. Stillwater rarely plays teams from out of state so this will be a new experience for the Pioneers. The Pioneers routinely played over in NW Arkansas at the Shiloh Christian 7v7 tournament but this will be a little different with playing in the fall. The Pioneers haven’t played a team from a different state in over a decade with the last time coming in 2010 as they faced Springdale Har-Ber out of Arkansas. Greenwood is a successful Arkansas program and will challenge the Pioneers. Sept. 9 - Yukon Sept. 16 - Norman Sept. 23 - US Grant Sept. 30 - AT Booker T Washington - There’s no doubt that the top district game in 6A-2 happens as Stillwater travels to Tulsa to face Booker T Washington. With Bixby exiting 6A-2, there immediately became a "Big Three" in 6A-2 and that was Booker T Washington, Choctaw and Stillwater. You knew two of those teams would be in the same district and that ended up being the Hornets and the Pioneers. So the district championship could be on the line in this match-up and it’ll only be week five. The Pioneers will also be facing a Hornet team that they eliminated from the playoffs last year. They certainly haven’t forgotten about that loss and will be ready for this one. Oct. 7 - AT Sand Springs Oct. 13 - Bartlesville Oct. 21 - AT Putnam City West Oct. 28 - AT Tahlequah Nov. 4 - AT Muskogee <hr /> Notable Stillwater’s schedule this season is going to be a little unbalanced so the home fans better see them before it’s too late. The Pioneers open up the year with four consecutive home games and then just one home game the rest of the way. Starting in week five when they travel to Tulsa to face Booker T Washington, the Pioneers will play five of six games on the road to close out the regular season. The Pioneers are also very clearly in the mix for one of the top two spots within the district so they should be able to secure a home playoff game. But with the 6A-2 redistricting shuffle, the Pioneers are now in the "east side" district of 6A-2 so they’ll have quite a few district games that include 90+ minute bus rides. <hr /> Championship History 1 State Championship 1967 - Beat Okmulgee 15-7