Favorite Games Covered In 2023

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!   The 2023 football season has come to a close and it's time to start taking a look back at the year in football before we move on to the offseason and looking ahead to 2024. Every day for the next four weeks, we'll have more postseason content on Prep Redzone Oklahoma. From our Season In Review series to player awards and of course our All State teams. Check back each day for a new postseason post on the 2023 season, ONLY on Prep Redzone Oklahoma. In this post, we take a look back at some of the best games we covered in 2023. We saw some outstanding football and we've narrowed things down to our favorite games from this year. Four games from the regular season and four games from the playoffs.   WEEK 6 - BLANCHARD 20, TUTTLE 6   What We Wrote In Week 6: "It was obvious before the game even began that whoever handled the nasty north wind best throughout the night was going to get out of this district clash with a win. #3 Blanchard was that team as they would score 20 unanswered points in the second half to beat #4 Tuttle 20-6. The headline, in addition to Blanchard taking control of the district race, was that the Lions did not score an offensive touchdown. Tuttle turned the ball over eight times on the night and Blanchard would score three defensive touchdowns to get the win."   Looking Back Now: At the time, it felt like this game would decide the district championship. That ended up being the case as Blanchard would finish 7-0 in district play and Tuttle's only stumble was here in week six. Blanchard would go on to capture the state championship after they beat Wagoner, which we have coming up later on in this breakdown. This game wasn't the prettiest as this district clash featured double digit turnovers. It wasn't the instant classic that these two teams played back in 2022, but it was certainly a memorable game that we covered in 2023.   WEEK 8 - CARL ALBERT 24, GUTHRIE 21   What We Wrote In Week 8: "It's not often that a highly anticipated game lives up to all the hype and then some. But that's exactly what we saw in Guthrie on Thursday night as top-ranked and defending champion Carl Albert survived and escaped “The Rock” with a 24-21 victory over the #3 Blue Jays. Junior quarterback and Oklahoma commit [player_tooltip player_id='432374' first='Kevin' last='Sperry'] was the hero on Thursday as he tossed a five-yard touchdown to fellow junior [player_tooltip player_id='377954' first='Marcus' last='James'] on fourth down with less than a minute to play to give the Titans the win. Just in case you were still on the fence, it is crystal clear now. Sperry is one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Oklahoma."   Looking Back Now: When we look back at all of the games we covered in the regular season, this week eight match-up is at the top of the list. While it wasn't win or go home like in the playoffs, it still decided the district championship. And it ended up being Carl Albert's toughest test on their way to a perfect season and a second straight state championship. Sperry's performance was one of the more memorable performances we saw this season. Sperry spent the majority of the second half being harassed by the Guthrie defense. He was banged up on multiple plays and still came back for the game-winning touchdown.   WEEK 8 - BISHOP KELLEY 42, CLAREMORE 41   What We Wrote In Week 8: "On Thursday night, we saw a Class 5A instant classic in Guthrie as #1 Carl Albert beat #3 Guthrie 24-21. On Friday night, Class 5A had our spotlight and lived up to the hype as #8 Bishop Kelley handed #5 Claremore their first loss. The Comets rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Claremore 42-41 on Friday night. Senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='911901' first='Stice' last='Smith'] played like one of the best quarterbacks in the class as he threw for over 100 yards and three touchdowns and ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns in the win. There were plenty of fireworks on Friday night as both teams went back and forth throughout the night and the Comets would hit another gear in the final eight minutes."   Looking Back Now: One night after the Carl Albert-Guthrie classic, we saw another great contest that featured offensive fireworks throughout the four quarters. This win would help Bishop Kelley clinch the district championship. But Claremore would go on to make it all the way to the semifinals while the Comets would fall to rival Bishop McGuinness in the quarterfinals. Bishop Kelley's rally began in this game began when Claremore missed an extra point and that opened the door for the Comets to come back and eventually get the win. The Comets fell short of a deep playoff run but this was a memorable comeback, late in the regular season.   WEEK 9 - HOMINY 23, WOODLAND 20   What We Wrote In Week 9: "In a game that featured #1 Hominy hosting #4 Woodland in a battle of unbeaten teams, with the district title on the line, the Bucks survived at home to win 23-20. It was senior night and two seniors provided fireworks at the end. Senior star quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='386581' first='Jaxon' last='Woods'] was once again the hero as he launched a 40-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left for the game-winning touchdown. As good as Woods was, it was was fellow senior Byron Marshall coming down with the reception in between two Woodland defenders at the goal line for the score."   Looking Back Now: It was yet another game that would end up deciding the district championship and both teams would make runs to the semifinals. In fact, only two districts were represented in the final four for Class A. Hominy and Woodland from A-5 and then you had Fairview and Hooker from A-1. One thing that also stands out when we look back at this game was the frustrations from both sidelines. The officiating crew had a tough night in this one and both teams had very valid gripes by the end of the night. It was also our first chance to see Woods in person and he lived up to the hype.   5A 1ST ROUND - COLLINSVILLE 23, COWETA 20   In the first round of the playoffs, we made the rounds to several different games on this Friday night. But after stops at Holland Hall, Metro Christian and Cascia Hall, we ended the night in Coweta. The Tigers led Collinsville at halftime and were in control for most of the second half. The Collinsville defense came up big when they were down 20-13 in the fourth quarter. They forced a turnover on downs and a few plays later, sophomore quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='402384' first='Skyler' last='Moorman'] found sophomore wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id='805100' first='Ben' last='Daniels'] for a 70+ yard touchdown to tie the game at 20. The Cardinals would then get the ball back with a little over three minutes remaining and Coweta would never get it back. Collinsville went on a drive and [player_tooltip player_id='1085256' first='Justice' last='McMath'] would kick a 32-yard field goal as time expired to win 23-20.   6A-1 SEMIFINALS - JENKS 33, UNION 27   The latest chapter of the Jenks-Union rivalry was written in the 6A-1 semifinals. Jenks would stun rival Union 33-27 after trailing 21-0 early on in the second quarter. As well as Union started, they couldn't keep it up as turnovers and drives stalling would plague them. Jenks rallied and got right back in the game early on in the third quarter. Sophomore running back [player_tooltip player_id='402378' first='KD' last='Jones'] would take over in the second half. Jones scored on a 59-yard scamper to put the Trojans up 25-24 with a little under ten minutes to play. The Jenks defense would hold Union to just a field goal and the Trojans were down to their final drive but the door was left open as they only trailed 27-25. The Trojans would drive and convert on a big fourth down and Jones would score from 27 yards out with less than a minute to play. The win would punch their ticket to the state championship game and Union lost in the semifinals in dramatic fashion for the second straight year.   4A STATE TITLE - BLANCHARD 19, WAGONER 14   We had to wait a little over two hours after a weather delay to get to our first state championship game of the two-week stretch in Edmond. But it was worth the wait and Blanchard knocked off defending champion and top-ranked Wagoner 19-14 to capture the Class 4A gold ball. Quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='363852' first='Carson' last='Cooksey'] led the way and finished off an impressive career with a state championship. But the Blanchard defense came up big once again. We mentioned earlier in this post about the Blanchard defense forcing eight turnovers in the week six win over Tuttle and all three of their touchdowns came from the defensive side of the ball. In the state title game, they were back at it, forcing six turnovers in the win. And the defense would still need to hold Wagoner up as the Bulldogs had a couple shots at the end zone in the final seconds.   6A-2 STATE TITLE - MUSKOGEE 28, STILLWATER 26   The other memorable championship game from this year was the 6A-2 title clash between Muskogee and defending champion Stillwater. Less than a month after playing in week ten, these two squared off in a rematch and the Roughers won 28-26 to capture their first state championship in nearly four decades. Muskogee junior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='211556' first='Jamarian' last='Ficklin'] took over this game and set the tone early on that the Roughers were going to finally bring a gold ball back to Muskogee. But for the second straight week, the Roughers would have to come up with a stop on defense, on a two-point conversion to clinch the win. The week prior, they held Deer Creek to punch their ticket to the title game. And after giving up a touchdown to Stillwater, they got a stop on the two-point conversion, recovered the onside kick and that was it as Muskogee climbed back to the top of Oklahoma high school football.

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