A Look Back At 2024 In Class 4A

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!   The 2024 football season is in the books and was certainly a memorable one. This week, our postseason content really kicked into high gear and today, we continue our “Looking Back” series for each class. In this breakdown, we're taking a look back at the 2024 football season in Class 4A. Blanchard came into the year as the defending champion but this class revolved around three heavyweights that ended up squaring off, with Elgin making school history with their first ever title. We look back at the season as a whole, crown the 4A Player Of The Year and take an incredibly too early look at 2025.   ELGIN GOES WIRE TO WIRE AS 4A'S BEST   At this time last year, Elgin was still in Class 5A and we thought the Owls, considering what they had returning, had the potential to be one of 5A's best. But in April, following an emergency redistricting shuffle, the Owls dropped down to Class 4A and for us, they immediately became the team to beat. Elgin began the season as the number one team when our preseason rankings came out in June and they went wire to wire as 4A's top team. They finished the season unbeaten and captured the school's first state championship in football with a classic victory over Tuttle in the state championship game. This was a historic win for a program that had never been to the semifinal round, let alone the championship game.   On paper, Elgin looked incredibly experienced and talented on both sides of the ball. They had one of the more experienced quarterbacks with [player_tooltip player_id='211570' first='Tres' last='Lorah'] returning with an offensive line, headlined by [player_tooltip player_id='629029' first='Antoni' last='Kade Ogumoro'] and [player_tooltip player_id='497346' first='Jace' last='Williams'] that was one of the best units in the state, regardless of class. And they had a few players that were ready to have breakout seasons in 2024 like junior [player_tooltip player_id='472321' first='Ritson' last='Meyer'] at the running back position. But again, this was a program that had never been in this position before. And throughout the year, they were in the same conversation with programs like Tuttle and Wagoner who were no strangers to contending for championships. The Owls responded by beating both of those championship programs and bringing a gold ball back to southern Oklahoma.   TUTTLE COMES UP SHORT IN MEMORABLE SEASON   In that championship game, Elgin would have to earn it against a Tuttle team that had a very memorable 2024 football season. The hype train got rolling in the offseason when Tuttle got several additions to their program that made the offensive side of the ball look like it could be one of the best in Class 4A. Junior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='473754' first='Cruz' last='Campbell'] emerged this season as one of the top quarterbacks in the state of Oklahoma. Senior wide receiver and UTEP signee [player_tooltip player_id='211560' first='CJ' last='Simon'] also gave the Tigers a deep threat that not many teams could contend with. Fellow senior [player_tooltip player_id='215570' first='Brady' last='McAdoo'] was one of the more complete players in the state in 2024 and this offense absolutely dominated throughout the year.   Tuttle made it to the title game and had to settle for silver but we think they could make another run to Edmond in 2025. Campbell is back at quarterback and one of the more underrated players on this year's team was fellow junior [player_tooltip player_id='1400727' first='Shawn' last='Rounsaville Jr'] at the running back and linebacker position. That 1-2 punch will give Tuttle arguably the best backfield duo in Class 4A. And then you throw in the fact that Tuttle will be using that silver ball as a major motivator throughout the offseason and you have a team that will be hungrier than ever to get back on the field in 2025. They'll need some new playmakers to emerge but this is a team that was outstanding to watch in 2024 and we don't see much changing in 2025.   WAGONER ROLLS BUT CHANGE IS COMING   Wagoner came into this season once again expecting to contend for the state championship. They won the 2022 state title and they finished as runner ups in 2023. The Bulldogs were hungry to not only make it back to Edmond, but to lift the gold ball once again. And for 12 weeks, Wagoner was definitely right there in the conversation with Elgin and Tuttle but the ran into the eventual champions in the semifinals and the season came to an end at 12-1. But in those 12 victories, Wagoner was absolutely dominant. Their closest victory during that stretch was a 21-point win over district rival Cushing. But things could be changing in a big way in Wagoner.   First off, the Bulldogs are going to be hit hard by graduation and it starts with their best player. Senior quarterback and linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='530573' first='Kale' last='Charboneau'] had a season to remember on both sides of the ball and finished up his career as one of the school's all time best at both positions. But Wagoner has shown they can reload and withstand losses to graduation. But as of right now, Wagoner doesn't have a head coach. Longtime head coach Dale Condict took the Muskogee job in December and for the first time in two decades, the Bulldogs will have a new face on the sidelines. 2025 will begin a new era of Wagoner football.   UNPREDICTABLE 4A-4 DISTRICT   When it came to Class 4A in 2024, those three top teams, Elgin, Tuttle and Wagoner took up a lot of the headlines but there was still entertaining football being played everywhere and in some cases, it became incredibly unpredictable. District 4A-4 was the perfect example of that. Ada, Broken Bow, Hilldale, Poteau and Sallisaw all battled it out for seven weeks, exchanging blows throughout but Ada would come out on top as the district champ. It's not often that you see traditional power Poteau finish fourth in the district but that's what ended up happening. Just when we thought we had a solid idea of what would happen in this district, things changed the following week with an outcome that we didn't see coming. Even Broken Bow made plenty of noise throughout the season and the Savages came up short on making the playoffs all together. There was no doubt that this was an entertaining district throughout the 2024 season.   4A PLAYER OF THE YEAR   [player_tooltip player_id='215570' first='Brady' last='McAdoo'] - Athlete - Tuttle   You could make the argument for several different players here but we're going with Tuttle senior [player_tooltip player_id='215570' first='Brady' last='McAdoo'] because he impacted the game in just about every way you can do so. Offensively, McAdoo was one of the team's top targets in the passing game with 38 catches for nearly 800 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also had five rushing touchdowns in short yardage situations. Defensively, McAdoo finished with nearly 50 tackles and a pair of interceptions. And then in special teams, the Tuttle senior would take four punts back for touchdowns this season and he was one of the state's best punters. But Tuttle was absolutely dominant all season and he was not used all that often in punting situations. He was a complete player for the Tigers as they made a run to the Class 4A state championship game. That game didn't end the way they'd like but it was a terrific season for McAdoo and the Tigers. He's been a player on our radar for a while now but it all came together this fall.   WAY TOO EARLY LOOK AT 2025   So Elgin will come into the 2025 football season as the defending champions but they are going to have a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball. Having Meyer returning at running back will certainly help but new names will need to step up if they're going to defend their title. As we mentioned earlier, Tuttle is going to be incredibly hungry to make it back to Edmond and we think they'll have the firepower to possibly make it back there. Wagoner is a complete wildcard at this point because they aren't going to be lacking talent but we have no idea what direction they'll be going once the head coach is hired. District 4A-4 became completely unpredictable and a lot of these teams bring back some of their best players so we could end up seeing the same thing play out in 2025. Then you have other programs that feel like they'll be ready to take that next step. Bethany has a lot of talent returning from the 2024 team so they'll be a major player to watch in the fall. Broken Bow narrowly missed out on the playoffs but they might have the most dynamic player in Class 4A football at the quarterback position. This was a class that was headlined all season by three teams but as of right now, it looks like 2025 could be about as wide open as we've seen in the last several years.

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