Midseason Surprise Teams

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!   It's hard to believe but as the calendar has flipped to October, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2022 regular season as we enter week six. Before you know it, we'll be into November and we'll be talking about the playoffs and eventually state champions will be crowned. After the first half of the season, we take a look back and put a spotlight on five teams that were flying under the radar back in August but they are not only considered surprise teams, we need to start considering these teams for making runs in November. Here's a look at five surprise teams heading into the second half of the season!   ELGIN (5-0)   The Elgin Owls top the list because we're doing it alphabetically, but you can make the argument that the Owls are the biggest surprise team this season. Elgin hasn't had a winning season since 2010. They went 0-9 just two seasons ago in 2020. Plus you throw in the fact that the Owls were moving up from 4A to 5A and you have three big reasons not to have high expectations coming into this season. And now only is Elgin 5-0 on the season, but they've been absolutely dominant and made perhaps the loudest statement last week when they shut out perennial playoff team Ardmore 35-0. Despite missing some of their top playmakers, the Owls still blanked Ardmore and completely dominated on the defensive side of the ball. They contained Ardmore quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='98174' first='Cal' last='Swanson'], an Illinois commit, and the Ardmore offense couldn't get anything going. Some of Elgin's toughest district games are still ahead of them, including road games against Noble next week and then Lawton MacArthur in week nine.   ELK CITY (4-1)   Fresh off making a run to the Class 4A semifinals last year, maybe we shouldn't be surprised by Elk City jumping out to a 4-1 record and taking control of their district. However, coming into this season, the biggest question around Elk City would be how they would replace running back Daylan Thompson, who was one of the best running backs in Class 4A last season. In addition to that, they also had a Clinton problem where they lost to their district rivals in the regular season and then again in the semifinals. Well, it looks like both of those issues are solved as the Elks have had no problems on the offensive side of the ball. And last week, they would get some revenge on Clinton by knocking off the defending state champions 14-12. With the win, you have to consider Elk City the new favorite in the district. They have another tough district test coming up next week when they host Chickasha. But if they're able to have wins over Chickasha and Clinton, they'll have some work to do but they'll all but lock up the district crown.   MULDROW (5-1)   We've written quite a bit about Muldrow's start to this season but mainly behind the emergence of a star at running back in senior [player_tooltip player_id='287380' first='Trenden' last='Collins']. As we've written before, Collins has always been on the radar as a college prospect but it was as a defensive back. This year, he's moved to running back and has become one of the top rushers in the state. He already has 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns on the season. The Bulldogs suffered their first loss last week when they fell to Berryhill. Even in the loss, Collins still went for nearly 150 yards and a touchdown. And that performance was actually a season-low for Collins on the year. Muldrow got off to a fantastic start to the season with a 5-0 record, but the second half of their season will have all of the challenges within their district. They go to Seminole this week before traveling to fellow surprise team Stigler next week. And they host top-ranked Lincoln Christian in week nine. The Bulldogs expect a return to the playoffs, the only question will be what playoff seed will they earn?   STIGLER (6-0)   Speaking of Stigler, they join district foe Muldrow in the surprise category. And it's not that Stigler is 6-0 on the season, it's the fact that they've blown out everyone on their schedule to date. They have this week off, and they'll need it before heading into a three-week stretch where they face off with three of the toughest teams in their district. They'll host Muldrow, travel to Lincoln Christian and then host Berryhill. The Panthers have been outstanding so far this season, with their closest game being a 26-point win over Seminole. One of the breakout stars from last year was Stigler quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='206488' first='McKade' last='Peery']. As a sophomore, Peery showed that he was one of the better dual-threat quarterbacks in Class 3A. He's picked up right where he's left off and is doing more damage with the passing game. Peery has thrown for 18 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions on the season. He's also added nearly 400 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground. But as we mentioned, we're about to find out how serious Stigler is over the next three weeks.   VINITA (5-0)   We head down to Class 2A for our final surprise team of the first half of the season with the Vinita Hornets, who find themselves out to a 5-0 start. Vinita should have gotten everyone's attention in their district opener when they beat up on Pawhuska to the tune of 40-16. But like several of the other teams on this breakdown, the toughest district opponents are still on the schedule and Vinita has a showdown with Rejoice Christian on the road coming up next week. That will be a fantastic quarterback match-up as Rejoice is led by star quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='157515' first='Chance' last='Wilson']. But the Hornets will counter with their senior quarterback Paul Glasscock. The senior standout is one of the top passers in the state. He's thrown for nearly 1,500 yards and over 20 touchdowns already this season with only 1 interception. The Hornets have absolutely lit up the scoreboard every week this season and have become one of the top scoring teams in Class 2A. But that week seven road test against Rejoice Christian will be the biggest test to date.

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