Grove Ridgerunners OK 2024 Team Preview

Get 25% Off Your Subscription By Entering Knight25 In The Coupon Code Area. Enjoy!   It's the month of August and we're continuing our preview series! Throughout the month of July and now into August, we are publishing well over 100 of the most in-depth team previews that you'll find anywhere to get you completely ready for the 2024 football season. This is something that began for us at PRZ-Oklahoma in 2021 and it continues to get bigger and better every single year. We're looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state in every class. From defending champions, to the top contenders and plenty of dark horses and other teams to know, we'll have complete coverage every single day. There will be multiple previews dropping every single day! In this post, we take a look at the Grove Ridgerunners!   Grove Ridgerunners   Preseason Prep Redzone Ranking: UR In Class 4A Preseason Coaches Ranking: UR In Class 4A   Head Coach: Ron Culwell - 8th Season - 50-37 Record At Grove   2023 RESULTS (5-5 Record - Missed Playoffs)   Sept. 1st - Beat Miami 23-14 Sept. 8th - Beat Jay 48-46 Sept. 15th - Lost To Wagoner 35-14 Sept. 22nd - Beat Edison 45-0 Sept. 29th - Lost To Claremore 30-14 Oct. 5th - Beat W. Rogers 40-14 Oct. 13th - Beat Nathan Hale 49-0 Oct. 20th - Lost To Collinsville 24-17 Oct. 27th - Lost To Pryor 46-7 Nov. 3rd - Lost To Bishop Kelley 38-27   2023 Offensive Scoring Average: 28.4 Points Per Game 2023 Defensive Scoring Average: 24.7 Points Per Game   The Grove Ridgerunners came into the 2023 football season following a memorable 2022 campaign that saw them go 10-0 during the regular season and make it all the way to the Class 5A semifinals. They fell to eventual state champion Carl Albert but they would also lose a lot to graduation that offseason. So coming into 2023, the Ridgerunners were looking to rebuild and they definitely went through some growing pains. With the majority of their starters gone, Grove would go 5-5 and miss out on the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Before making four straight playoff appearances from 2019-2022, the last playoff appearance came in 2010. Grove would start the season with a solid record, going 3-1 with the only loss coming to Wagoner. They fell to Claremore in week five and then won two straight to go into the final three weeks with a 5-2 record. Three straight losses to Collinsville, Pryor and Bishop Kelley would keep Grove on the outside looking in on the playoffs. The season came to an end with a 5-5 record and the Ridgerunners could simply not overcome all the losses they had to graduation. But as we say all the time when we're talking about a team that went through “growing pains” during the previous season., that tends to pay off the following year when that inexperience turns into veteran leadership.    2024 OUTLOOK   The Ridgerunners come into the 2024 football season with the majority of their starters returning but they'll still have a few new faces on both sides of the ball. Six starters return on the offense but the majority of their returning starters are skill players. The quarterback and some of his top weapons at wide receiver return from an offense that averaged nearly 30 points per game last season. We think that the Ridgerunners will not only improve on that mark in 2024, but if they get some of the new guys to step up in a big way, they could be one of the more improved offenses in the class this season. Defensively, the Ridgerunners bring back six starters on that side of the ball and it's a similar story as the offense. If Grove gets solid play from their front seven, they have talent in the secondary and this is a defense that could improve from last year's team. But overall, we really like what the Ridgerunners have coming into this season and we think that they should definitely be a team that contends for a playoff spot and perhaps even more. The biggest boost to Grove is a return to Class 4A this season. They competed in Class 5A for the last two years and while they made it to the 2022 semifinals, they also had one of the best running backs in the state. Now, they're back in a class that they are more familiar with and should be able to go right back to contending for a spot in the playoffs when that time comes.    KEY LOSSES TO GRADUATION   Dakota Douglas - Offensive Lineman Ian Richard - Tight End/Linebacker Scott Cox - Offensive/Defensive Lineman   PLAYERS TO WATCH    We've mentioned how much we like the firepower that returns on the offensive side of the ball but the defense is not lacking playmakers by any means. Senior defensive back [player_tooltip player_id='1369179' first='Aiden' last='Davis'] returns to the Grove secondary, where he was very productive last season from his safety position. Davis would finish with nearly 100 tackles on the season and this year, he's looking to get over the century mark in that category. The Grove coaches are high on Davis and his hitting ability. He's your prototypical safety who plays center field and can absolutely lay the hammer down. He's also expected to be productive on offense as Grove's starting tight end this season.     When we talked about the offensive firepower that is returning for Grove this season, the conversation could definitely start with junior [player_tooltip player_id='1045560' first='Isaac' last='Sheffield'] at the wide receiver position. Last year, Sheffield would finish the year with over 600 yards and nine touchdowns receivings. He also produced in the running game and he returned kicks, taking three of them back for scores. Needless to say, Sheffield is absolutely electric when he gets the football in his hands. We watched him in person at several 7v7 tournaments this offseason and he routinely was one of the more reliable pass catchers in attendance. This year, he could emerge as one of the top pass catchers in Class 4A.     Senior [player_tooltip player_id='486287' first='Jackson' last='Gain'] moved over to quarterback last season and became one of the better dual-threat quarterbacks in the class. He put up some solid numbers throughout the 2023 season but he got hurt late in the regular season. Gain would go down in week seven and he would miss the final three games. Coincidentally, the Ridgerunners would go 0-3 without their starting quarterback. This season, we think that Gain could be one of the legitimate breakout stars in Class 4A this season. If he stays healthy and plays the full year, he could see his production absolutely explode. We saw him this spring at the Wagoner team camp and he passed the eye test.    MORE NAMES TO KNOW   David Cox - 2025 Linebacker Deringer Hollenbeck - 2025 Linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1286538' first='Jacob' last='Gain'] - 2025 Wide Receiver Laird Thompson - 2025 Defensive Lineman   2024 SCHEDULE/GAMES TO CIRCLE   Sept. 6th - AT Vinita Sept. 13th - Jay Sept. 20th - AT Sapulpa - In week three, Grove will have their final non-district game and tune up before they enter district play. They'll hit the road and face a Sapulpa team that is a top ten team in our 6A-2 preseason rankings. These two squads were in Class 5A but got moved back in April. While Grove went down to 4A, Sapulpa actually moved up a class. These two have only met once in recent history. That was a 70-28 Grove victory in the first round of the playoffs back in 2022. Sept. 27th - AT Catoosa Oct. 4th - Cushing - The first half of the regular season comes to an end in week five when Grove hosts Cushing. This is a very intriguing 4A clash because both teams come into this season with offenses that can definitely show a lot of improvement in 2024 because of the firepower they bring back. And both teams have proven that they can win this district and compete in Class 4A. The winner of this week five game is going to be in a good spot in the district standings and in the district title race. Oct. 11th - AT Fort Gibson Oct. 17th - Miami Oct. 25th - Wagoner - In week eight, Grove hosts familiar foe Wagoner and this is the first time that they've met in a district contest since one of the weirdest endings to a football game we've ever seen. In 2021, Grove took an intentional safety on the final play, losing 22-20. But that also helped them lock up the district championship. The last two seasons, they've met in non-district play with Grove winning in 2022 and Wagoner winning in 2023. This series has been one-sided in favor of Wagoner and Grove looks to turn things around. Nov. 1st - AT Oologah Nov. 8th - Skiatook   NOTABLE   Grove is one of several teams across the state that really benefited from some OKC-area private schools winning a court decision against the OSSAA. The Ridgerunners were originally supposed to run it back in Class 5A again in 2024 and 2025 when the classes and districts were laid out last fall. But when those private schools won their case in April and those classes and districts got thrown out, it was time to go back to the drawing board. And during that emergency redistricting shuffle, they used updated enrollment numbers and based on that, Grove went from being one of the smaller schools in Class 5A to one of the bigger schools in Class 4A. So after going 5-5 and missing the playoffs as a 5A squad, Grove is back in Class 4A and like we mentioned, the last time they were in Class 4A, they would capture their district championship.    LAST FIVE SEASONS   2023 - 5-5 - Missed Playoffs 2022 - 12-1 - Lost In Class 5A Semifinals 2021 - 10-2 - Lost In Class 4A Quarterfinals 2020 - 7-4 - Lost In Class 4A 2nd Round 2019 - 5-6 - Lost In Class 4A 1st Round   CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY   0 State Championships

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