Throwback Thursday: Class 3A

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We're getting closer to spring football all across the Oklahoma but it's still too far away! So we're taking a look back at the 2022 season every Thursday with a “Throwback Thursday” post. We continue the series today with a look back at Class 3A. We look at the state champion Heritage Hall Chargers and their run back to the mountain top in Class 3A. We also look at all of the individuals that played a big part in the story of the 2022 season with a breakdown on the 3A Player Of The Year, as well as acknowledging all of the All State selections from the class. Then we finish it off with a look at some of the top storylines from last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Keep it locked in to Prep Redzone Oklahoma each Thursday for another “Throwback Thursday” post. And check back on Monday when we continue our “Champion Check In” series with an in-depth look at the reigning 3A state champions from Heritage Hall.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>2022 STATE CHAMPION</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong><em>Heritage Hall Chargers (13-1)</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Heritage Hall came into the 2022 season as the #3 team in our Class 3A preseason rankings and they remained in that spot for the majority of the season, up until they captured another state championship. The Chargers brought back the majority of their starters and the offense was going to get a boost from their new quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='207182' first='Andy' last='Bass']. The junior signal caller had to sit out his sophomore season and even before the 2021 season, the Chargers knew they had something special with Bass, even if he had to miss that '21 season. And it didn't take long for him to have a big impact for the Chargers in 2022.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Heritage Hall opened their 2022 season on the road against 2A rival Millwood on a rainy Thursday night in Oklahoma City. It had rained for hours prior to kickoff, making the grass field at Millwood a mud pit fairly quickly. Bass would lead the Chargers to a 35-28 win and they were off to the races in 2022. The following week, they suffered their only loss of the year when they fell to Clinton at a somewhat surprising outcome. But they bounced back immediately with a 43-0 win over John Marshall in the non-district finale.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Chargers went into district play with a 2-1 record and a boost from the return of senior standout [player_tooltip player_id='155875' first='River' last='Faulkner'], who had to sit out the first three games of the year. The Chargers had a new district slate after the redistricting shuffle but they were still the favorites to capture the district crown. The Chargers were dominant in their new district but their three toughest opponents were in the final three weeks of the season, with the last two games both coming on the road. It didn't slow down the Chargers as their closest game in district play was a 24-point win in week ten against defending 2A champion and new district foe Marlow.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Chargers were rolling at the right time and they didn't stop once the playoffs began. They beat up on Anadarko and Stigler in the first two rounds with ease. Then came a top five showdown with Verdigris in the semifinals. Heritage Hall won by 21 and would punch their ticket to the championship game after three consecutive losses in the semifinal round. The Chargers were big fans of the redistricting shuffle because that put them on opposite ends of the bracket from Lincoln Christian, the team that had beaten them in the semifinals every year from 2019-2021. And they would see a team from Tulsa in the title game but it was Metro Christian after they beat Lincoln in their semifinal clash.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Class 3A championship game would kick off the first week of title games in Edmond on Thursday night. And the Chargers and Patriots set the bar fairly high with a title game for the record books. Heritage Hall would run for nearly 500 yards and Metro Christian would pass for over 600 yards but the Chargers would win the wild record-breaking shootout 72-56 to capture their first state championship since 2018. Led by their dynamic backfield duo of Bass and Faulkner, the Chargers ended 2022 with another gold ball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>3A Player Of The Year</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_player":["38790"],"_player_evaluations_0_player":"field_62ab9d62ecf2c","player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_override_profile_image":"override-player-profile-image","player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"","_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"Arguably the best passer this season in Oklahoma was Metro Christian senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='38790' first='Kirk' last='Francis'] and it wasn't particularly close. The senior would help lead Metro Christian back to the state championship game and they would finish with a 13-1 record and Francis played some of his best football in the semifinal and championship games. In those two games alone, he threw for over 1,000 yards combined. Francis would finish off the season with nearly 4,400 yards and 58 touchdowns. He definitely benefitted from playing in a Metro Christian offense where they threw the ball the majority of the time on offense. But Francis was also one of the more efficient quarterbacks while putting up some absolutely monster numbers. Francis' senior season will go down as one of the better single seasons from a quarterback in recent memory. Francis has been one of the top quarterback prospects for several years now and he showed why this fall as he ran away with the 3A Player Of The Year award.","_player_evaluations_0_evaluation":"field_62aba51aecf34","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6454196b2fac0"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>3A All State 1st Team Selections</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='38790' first='Kirk' last='Francis'] - 2023 Quarterback - Metro Christian<br>[player_tooltip player_id='38813' first='Reese' last='Roller'] - 2023 Linebacker - Verdigris<br>[player_tooltip player_id='155875' first='River' last='Faulkner'] - 2023 Athlete - Heritage Hall</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>3A All State 2nd Team Selections</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='38783' first='Tryce' last='Lewis'] - 2023 Offensive Lineman - McLoud</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>3A All State 3rd Team Selections</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='110756' first='Brytan' last='Gaddy'] - 2024 Defensive Back - Sulphur<br>[player_tooltip player_id='268323' first='John' last='Washington'] - 2023 Athlete - Lincoln Christian <br>[player_tooltip player_id='157510' first='Kenyon' last='Bigbow'] - 2023 Offensive Lineman - Anadarko<br>[player_tooltip player_id='268340' first='Tagg' last='Campbell'] - 2023 Defensive Back - Metro Christian<br>[player_tooltip player_id='287380' first='Trenden' last='Collins'] - 2023 Athlete - Muldrow</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"medium"} --> <p class="has-medium-font-size"><strong>TOP STORYLINE</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Private Schools Continue To Dominate</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Until something changes, this will routinely be the overwhelming storyline when it comes to Class 3A football. That's what it was before the season and after the year, it remained the same. For the third straight year, two private schools would meet in the state championship game. And as we've always said, we are not on one side of the argument or the other, we're just stating what has been a massive theme in terms of 3A football. We do believe that change is inevitable and also believe that the ball is starting to roll on there being a change in the landscape of high school football which would put private schools in a separate class from the public schools for playoff football. And we're not saying whether that's good or bad. Just stating facts and opinions from what we've heard. But throughout the year, private schools did make up the majority of the top five teams within the class. And when the semifinals took place, three of the final four teams were private schools. And we'll look at 2023 in our next section but we'll go ahead and give you a heads up right now that private schools will more than likely make up the top two Class 3A teams heading into next season. And when our 3A season preview comes out in August of 2023, don't be surprised to see this once again be the leading storyline heading into the new season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->