1st Round Top Stories
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Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! The 2022 playoffs opened up across Oklahoma and we saw quite the week in high school football. Weather definitely had an impact as quite a few…
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The 2022 playoffs opened up across Oklahoma and we saw quite the week in high school football. Weather definitely had an impact as quite a few games ended up having snow on the ground during the games. In this breakdown, we take a look back at Friday night’s outcomes and put a spotlight on some of the top stories coming out of the first round. Keep it locked in to Prep Redzone Oklahoma throughout the playoffs for more playoff content!
Beggs Routs Rejoice In Rematch
There were quite a few notable outcomes in the first round on Friday night but none grabbed as many headlines as Beggs going on the road and knocking off district champ and unbeaten Rejoice Christian 48-28. This is the same Rejoice Christian team that beat Beggs 70-16 back in week two. This is the same Rejoice Christian team that we had as our pick to capture the 2A title this year. Whoops. None of that mattered to Beggs on Friday night and specifically their star running back Red Martel Red Martel 5'11" | 195 lbs | RB Beggs | 2024 State OK . The Beggs junior recently committed to Kansas, becoming the first 2024 prospect in Oklahoma to announce his commitment. In the game, Martel absolutely could not be stopped. He went for over 400 yards of total offense as the Demons stunned Rejoice on the road and will now square off with Idabel in the second round and that will feature two of the best backs in the state with Martel and Idabel’s 2025 star Ravian Larry Ravian Larry 6'1" | RB Idabel | 2025 State OK .
Last Minute Winners
Several games would go down to the wire on Friday night but for Stigler and Wynnewood, they had some late game heroics that would help punch their ticket to the next round. For Stigler, they would have an 85-yard interception return for a touchdown with less than a minute to play to knock off two-time defending champion Holland Hall. The game was tied at 27 and the Panthers would then stun the Dutch with the pick six. Stigler moving on also means we will have a new state champion in Class 3A this season. Down in Class A, Wynnewood would knock off Minco 26-20 behind a touchdown pass from sophomore sensation Caden Knighten Caden Knighten 6'1" | 180 lbs | RB Pauls Valley | 2025 State OK . Tied at 20, Knighten and the Savages were driving down and while he did almost all of his damage on the ground, Knighten would throw the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute to play. In our previews, we had Knighten as a player to watch. He came out swinging in round one.
Overtime Classics
While these games didn’t have any last minute heroics, we did get bonus football with Bartlesville traveling to Lawton and Clinton hosting Bethany. First in 6A-2, Bartlesville made the three and a half hour bus ride southwest and would come home with a 36-30 overtime win over the Wolverines. In the win, sophomore running back PJ Wallace would have a really good game as he helped the Bruins win their first playoff game since going to the semifinals in 2015. Down in Class 4A, you had the defending champions from Clinton knocking off Bethany 34-27 in overtime. Clinton led 20-6 at halftime but Bethany senior Taylor Heim Taylor Heim 6'4" | 185 lbs | ATH Bethany | 2023 State OK would lead Bethany back. He would account for four total touchdowns and threw his fourth with about a minute left to send it to overtime. But Clinton’s defense would hold in overtime on fourth down and the defending champions would survive and advance to the next round, where they’ll travel to Poteau.
Runner Ups Avenge Title Losses
In Friday’s first round games, we had two rematches of state championship games from last year. And in both instances, the team that lost a year ago would get a little revenge by knocking off the defending champs in the title rematches. In Class 5A, McAlester would pull away from Collinsville 27-14 and in Class A, Ringling would beat Cashion 36-12. The Class A title rematch was more of a foregone conclusion with Ringling coming in unbeaten and Cashion rebuilding this year after losing a special senior class and back to back state championships. In Class 5A, it was a rematch of last year’s most entertaining state title game and it was definitely more of a toss up coming into the game. But McAlester would play a complete game with offense, defense and special teams and that would carry the Buffaloes to the 27-14 win. Now, McAlester marches on and will face off with Piedmont after Piedmont upset district champ Midwest City.
5A-2 Sweeps The 1st Round
We mentioned this being a possibility in our 5A playoff preview with one district sweeping the first round games and it happened with 5A-2 sweeping the first round over 5A-1. Carl Albert beat Lawton MacArthur 45-7, Bishop McGuinness beat El Reno 46-24 and Guthrie shut out Elgin 17-0. But the biggest outcome was Piedmont going on the road and knocking off district champion Midwest City in a shootout, winning 60-47. In that same preview, we talked about how 5A-2 was arguably the toughest district in the state, not just in Class 5A. This district showed just how strong they are by sweeping 5A-1 in the first round and moving on to the quarterfinals. It will be much tougher for them to pull the sweep again in the quarterfinal round but after watching these teams beat up on each other during the regular season, they’ve been looking forward to beating up on some of the other teams in Class 5A.