Top Storylines From Non-District Play

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!   Non-district play is now in the books as we enter week four and the start of district play across Oklahoma. After nearly a month of football across the state, we've seen several storylines emerge throughout the various classes. From team and overall class storylines to individual storylines as well. In this post, we take a look at five storylines from the first month of football across Oklahoma.   BIXBY STILL JUST AS DOMINANT IN 6A-1   So we'll start by throwing this out there, this is only a partial storyline because the Spartans have only won one of their three games this year against 6A-1 competition. They opened the year with a dominant second half performance against Owasso. After that, they beat up on an Arkansas team and Sand Springs. The real test to the Spartans comes over the next seven weeks when they face 6A-1 competition week in and week out. But despite losing several key seniors from last year's team, the Spartans look just as dominant as we've seen from them in the last four years. And let's be honest, until Bixby loses a game, they are going to be near the top of the headlines every single week. At this point, you have to put the Spartans as the favorites to capture the district championship and it really looks like they might be on a crash course with Union for a date in Edmond. But there are a few other teams that will have something to say about it. And at the front of that line is two-time defending 6A-1 champion Jenks. The Trojans are 2-1 but they have limped out of the starting gate with injuries everywhere. Bixby and Jenks square off on ESPN in week ten. The Trojans should be healthy by then and gearing up for another championship run. But right now, the Spartans look like they might run the table during the regular season for the fourth consecutive season and go into the playoffs with a 59-game winning streak.   CLASS 6A-2 IS WIDE OPEN   We wrote this last December and it's ringing true so far after a month of football. When the Bixby Spartans walked off the UCO field last year with their seventh state championship in eight years, all of 6A-2 rejoiced. With Bixby moving up to 6A-1, the dynasty went to 6A-1 with it and 6A-2 would become more competitive. And it's not only played out like that, it's been more than we could have imagined. At the start of the season, we thought three teams were at the top with Booker T Washington, Choctaw and Stillwater. We thought after that you had teams like Deer Creek, Muskogee and Sand Springs that could make some noise. As it stands right now, Stillwater is on top of 6A-2 but I think you can make an argument for almost every one of those teams mentioned to potentially make a run at the gold ball. You can certainly make that argument for the top four teams. In order, it's Stillwater, Choctaw, Muskogee and Deer Creek. All four teams are off to good starts to the season. For some people, they might see Muskogee at 3-0 and see that as a surprise after they went 2-8 last season. But all the pieces have been in place for the Roughers to have this kind of start. But they'll be tested when they hit the road to face Sand Springs on Friday night. Deer Creek made plenty of noise when they beat Mustang a few weeks ago. That defense has the potential to be the best in 6A-2. Stillwater has avoided some scares but they're playing excellent football, especially on the offensive side of the ball and Choctaw has the best quarterback prospect in the state under center. So for the first time in a long time, the title race in 6A-2 is going to be fun to watch throughout the rest of the year.   INJURIES HURTING TOP PLAYERS & TEAMS   Injuries are apart of football and they happen every single season. This year, they've hit some of the top players and some of the top teams throughout the state. But as it's been well documented, one championship program has been hit incredibly hard and that's two-time champion Jenks. The Trojans have managed the injuries as well as they could have and find themselves with a 2-1 record after non-district play. The Trojans have missed double digit starters at various times and they also have missed star running back [player_tooltip player_id='47955' first='Jaiden' last='Carroll'], who had to sit out the last two games. As we mentioned earlier, Jenks might not be 100 percent right now, but they'll look very different when the playoffs roll around. While Jenks might be getting right by the time playoffs roll around, a few players on contenders have had their senior seasons cut short. Owasso star wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id='45651' first='Cole' last='Adams'], an Alabama commit, had his season end in the first game in week zero when he was hurt in the loss to Bixby. That same week, Coweta jumped into the number one spot in Class 5A after a win over Carl Albert. But the following week against rival Wagoner, quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='51055' first='Carson' last='Laverty'] had his season come to an end with a shoulder injury. While those two players had their seasons cut short, we've also seen some star players sit out with nagging injuries. Choctaw quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='38780' first='Steele' last='Wasel'], Guthrie running back [player_tooltip player_id='268441' first='Isaiah' last='Hammons'] and Stillwater offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id='50786' first='JaKobe' last='Sanders'] all missed time due to nagging injuries. However, all three are expected to return now that district play is here.   IS CLASS 2A A TWO-TEAM RACE?   Every season, we usually think that Class 2A is the most competitive and deep class within the state. That's been the case really since Class 3A went back to being a 32-team class and some great teams dropped down to Class 2A. But this year, 2A looks like two teams are at the very top and then there's a gap before you find the next contender. Rejoice Christian and Washington have not only started the year 3-0, they've also been dominant in the process and have played some really good teams throughout their non-district schedule. Right now, it's hard to see anyone other than Rejoice Christian or Washington raising the gold ball. Washington knows what it takes to make it to Edmond. They've had to settle for the silver ball in the last two seasons and came into this year as the favorite to win it all. Meanwhile Rejoice has made a statement nearly every week they've played and have the early favorite for the state's top player at quarterback. But here's the thing, if these two teams run the table, they can't both make it to Edmond. And we see that from time to time where the top two teams in a class end up on the same side of the bracket. But it's even worse here. If Rejoice and Washington win out, they would face off against one another in the quarterfinals like they did last season. The top two teams in Class 2A and only one will make it to the semifinal round. So while Class 2A appears to be a two-team race right now, these two top dogs being on the same side of the bracket will open the door for another team to step to the table and make a run.   WILSON EARLY FAVORITE FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR   We mentioned Rejoice Christian having the early favorite for the state's top player at quarterback and that's senior [player_tooltip player_id='157515' first='Chance' last='Wilson']. The Montana State commit was a finalist for our Player Of The Year award last year and right now he looks like a lock to be a finalist for the award for the second straight season. And if the season ended today, it's hard to argue that any other player has been better than Wilson after the first month of the season. The numbers are incredible but it's not just the numbers, it's the way he leads this Rejoice offense and it's the teams that they've gone up against. They absolutely smashed Cashion on the road in week zero and followed it up with a runaway win over Cascia Hall in week one. Those are two top five teams in Class A and 3A respectively. Then in week two, Wilson and the Eagles torched Beggs in one of the more dominant wins we've seen this season and it was Wilson's best performance to date. So far this year, Wilson has thrown for over 1,100 yards and ten touchdowns while completing 66 percent of his passes. Wilson has also shown off the state championship track speed by running for over 300 yards and seven touchdowns. Wilson and the Eagles are more than likely going to dominate their way through the district. They have some tricky games along the way and we have their week ten game with Pawhuska circled. But Wilson will probably be done by halftime in a lot of the games over the next seven weeks. If Wilson continues at the pace he's on and helps lead Rejoice to a deep run in the playoffs, he'll run away with the 2022 Player Of The Year award in the process. It's very early, but nobody's been able to catch him on the field and nobody might catch him in the award race.

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