Rejoice Christian Eagles OK 2023 Team Preview
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It’s the month of July and that means it’s preview time! Throughout the month of July and into August, we are publishing well over 100 in-depth team previews to get you completely ready for the 2023 football season. This is something that began in 2021 and has continued to get bigger every single year. We’re looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state. From defending champions, to top contenders and plenty of dark horses, we’ll have complete coverage every single day with new teams from Class 6A, all the way down to the addition of 8-man coverage this year with Class B and C. In this post, we take a look at the Rejoice Christian Eagles.
Rejoice Christian Eagles
Preseason Prep Redzone Ranking: #10
Preseason Coaches Ranking: #4
Rejoice Christian came into the 2022 football season hungry for state championship success. The Eagles knocked on the door of Class A a few years ago but the 2022 squad felt like one of their better teams in a short school history. And in the first month of the season, the Eagles backed up the preseason hype, going on the road and beating a 3A ranked Cascia Hall team and then dominating a week two showdown with Beggs. Rejoice would lose their star quarterback early on in district play but the Eagles would not be slowed down to close out the regular season. The Eagles would go 10-0 on the season and run away with the district championship. That set up a first round rematch with a Beggs team that was up and down throughout the season and a team they had beaten by 54 points in week two. Their quarterback returned but was not himself and the Eagles fell in an upset loss to the Demons. All of a sudden, a season that seemed so promising was over. But there is a silver lining. Because of that quarterback injury, the Eagles have a little more experience at that position coming into this year and the Eagles are right back to having some hype around them coming in.
The Eagles return five starters on the offensive side of the ball and the quarterback will be one of the better athletes in Class 2A. He proved that throughout the 2022 season when he was filling in at quarterback. The Eagles will need some new names to step up in the skill department but we think that Rejoice has what it takes to light up the scoreboard again in 2023. One area that will need to see some quick improvement is the defensive side of the ball as they return just three starters on that side. And several of the starters that come back will be playing on both sides of the ball. And when you look at the Rejoice schedule, they play a few teams that can light up the scoreboard and have excellent offensive units. So those new starters on defense are going to have to grow up fast. After playing a tough non-district slate in the first few weeks, we’re going to know just how strong this Rejoice team is. If it’s reminiscent of last year’s start, we anticipate that the Eagles are going to play deep into November. The goal is December and the Eagles definitely feel like they have unfinished business this season.
2022 RESULTS (10-1 Record – Lost In Class 2A 1st Round)
Aug. 26 – Beat Cashion 49-13
Sept. 2 – Beat Cascia Hall 42-27
Sept. 9 – Beat Beggs 70-16
Sept. 23 – Beat Salina 67-6
Sept. 30 – Beat Claremore Sequoyah 42-34
Oct. 7th – Beat Adair 58-14
Oct. 13 – Beat Vinita 55-28
Oct. 21 – Beat Nowata 59-0
Oct. 27 – Beat Caney Valley 70-6
Nov. 4 – Beat Pawhuska 77-30
1st Round – Lost To Beggs 48-28
Key Losses To Graduation
Bryce Revard – Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Chance Wilson – Quarterback
Dalton Close – Defensive Lineman
Jay Miller – Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Marshall Hefner – Offensive/Defensive Lineman
Solo Morton – Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Players To Watch
We mentioned earlier that Rejoice had a silver lining with their star quarterback going down for half of the season. That silver lining was the emergence of 2025 quarterback Cale Marley Cale Marley 5’9″ | 170 lbs | ATH Rejoice Christian | 2025 State OK as he moved into that role and absolutely excelled. He would throw for ten touchdowns and then added 15 touchdowns on the ground. He had several games where he put up numbers that you only see on video games. And Marley wasn’t just a standout on offense. He turned around and finished with over 70 tackles and a handful of sacks and interceptions. We’re very curious to see what kind of numbers Marley is going to put up on offense with a whole season to start. As a true dual-threat quarterback, we could see him flirting with 1,500 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards.
Highlights
While Rejoice has some firepower coming back on the offensive side of the ball, we mentioned earlier that the defense is going to have quite a few new faces. With eight new starters on defense, they’ll lean on the few guys they have coming back to bring those new starters along. 2024 linebacker Camden Ryan Camden Ryan 6’0″ | LB Rejoice Christian | 2024 OK is a prospect that we think will be able to take on that role and do very well. Ryan had a really strong junior season and he finished with nearly 100 tackles on the year. We think that Ryan is not only going to take more of a leadership role with some of the new starters on defense, but he’s going to up his production and be their leading tackler this fall. Last season, Ryan was a breakout star for their defense and this year, he attacks a new role.
2024 wide receiver and safety Josh Hendricks Josh Hendricks 6’0″ | 175 lbs | ATH Rejoice Christian | 2024 State OK has been a prospect that we’ve watched for two years now. It began in the offseasons when Hendricks was a standout for Sooner 7 in various 7v7 tournaments across this part of the country. As a wide receiver and safety, Hendricks is going to be one of the top two-way players in Class 2A this season. And what Hendricks does on offense is going to be something we watch very closely this fall. He’ll be Marley’s top target in the passing game and he routinely finds his way behind defenses and gets open to make plays. On defense, Hendricks finished with nearly 100 tackles on the season and his recruitment is starting to really take off. We think that Hendricks will see his offensive production explode this fall.
Highlights
Rejoice Christian has a few offensive linemen that we like coming into this season as that group has the chance to be pretty special when it comes to Class 2A. One of the prospects we’re keeping an eye out for is 2024 big man Tommy Mulkey Tommy Mulkey 6’5″ | OL Rejoice Christian | 2024 State OK at one of the offensive tackle positions. He immediately passes the eye test when you watch him in person. He stands 6’5 and is listed at 300 pounds. He had a really good spring and college coaches also started taking notice. After talking with a few coaches from Rejoice this spring, they were incredibly complimentary on the Rejoice big man and they talked about the improvement that he’s shown since the start of his junior season. We think that Mulkey has a chance to climb the ranks among Class 2A offensive linemen.
More Names To Know
Drevin Reed – 2024 Running Back
Harrison Raney – 2024 Offensive Lineman
Hunter Hensley – 2024 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back
Jace Jenkins – 2024 Running Back/Defensive Back
Maverick Price
Maverick
Price
6'0" | K
Rejoice Christian | 2024
State
OK
– 2024 Kicker
Nathan Price
Nathan
Price
6'1" | 300 lbs | DL
Rejoice Christian School | 2024
OK
– 2024 Offensive/Defensive Lineman
2023 Schedule/Games To Circle
Aug. 25 – Cashion
Sept. 1 – Cascia Hall
Sept. 8 – AT Beggs
– This one is pretty self-explanatory as there’s no doubt that this game will be one of the more highly anticipated games early on in the season in Class 2A. Rejoice absolutely dominated the regular season meeting and then fell flat in the first round of the playoffs as Beggs had a rare first round win over a district champion. And when these two teams take the field in week two, we expect some fireworks on the offensive side of the ball as both teams have some absolute playmakers. We saw plenty of points last year when these two met and don’t think it’s changing in 2023.
Sept. 22 – AT Salina
Sept. 29 – AT Claremore Sequoyah
– The top district match-up on the schedule comes in week five as the Eagles go on the road to face off with Claremore Sequoyah. Rejoice and Sequoyah are the top two teams in the 2A rankings to come out of this district so it’s easy to think that this game will decide the district championship. It’s also going to be the third consecutive game on the road for the Eagles so Rejoice will have to be ready for an absolute battle at the halfway mark of the regular season. Last year, Rejoice won 42-34 and that was their closest win during their unbeaten regular season.
Oct. 6 – Adair
Oct. 12 – AT Vinita
Oct. 20 – Nowata
Oct. 27 – AT Caney Valley
Nov. 3 – Pawhuska
Notable
Rejoice Christian has a nice streak going as they head into the 2023 season but one other streak came to an end last year. This year will be their 12th season playing within the OSSAA since joining in 2012 when they played 8-man football. Ever since joining in 2012, the Eagles have made the playoffs every single season. And they’ve been able to accomplish that in three different classes. They spent the first two years in Class B before transitioning to 11-man football in Class A for six years. Then they joined Class 2A in 2020. As for the other streak that came to an end last season, it was a streak within the streak. Does your head hurt yet? The Eagles have made 11 straight playoff appearances but the upset loss to Beggs in the first round was the first time Rejoice failed to win at least one playoff game. The Eagles had won at least one playoff game in every playoff appearance before 2022. The Eagles look to continue their playoff streak this fall and start a new one with playoff victories.
Championship History
0 State Championships