Southmoore Team Preview

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> Stay tuned to Prep Redzone Oklahoma every day as we release more individual team previews as we get closer to the start of the 2021 football season. In case you missed it, you can check out our Preseason Rankings <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/06/2021-preseason-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>RIGHT HERE</strong></a>. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Overview (Class 6A-D1 Preseason Ranking: #9)</b></span> The Josh Norman era began in 2020 for the Southmoore Sabercats as Norman became the school's next head coach. Norman was among a select few of coaches that was hired before the global pandemic shut everything down and closed schools for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year. Norman had roughly three months as the head coach before the shut down but he was going into his first year in charge of the program in the middle of a pandemic. That's obviously not the ideal scenario for first year head coaches. However, despite the pandemic, Norman was able to lead Southmoore to a playoff appearance in a 3-8 season. The Sabercats would drop their first three games of the season and start 0-3. Things didn't look like they would be changing but Southmoore would win their first district game in an overtime thriller over rival Moore. The Sabercats would rattle off three district wins and that was enough to punch their ticket to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Now, they head into year two under Norman and expectations are a little higher. The team had plenty of growing pains in the first year of a new head coach but they have plenty of talented players coming back on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. We expect the Sabercats to be improved in year two under Norman. Will they be able to make another trip to the playoffs and finish off the year with a winning record? Those two things have to be the goal coming into the season. The Sabercats are in a tough district but they're ready for the challenge. <hr /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>2020 Results (3-8 Record - Lost In Class 6A-D1 1st Round)</strong></span> <strong>Aug. 28 -</strong> Lost To Booker T Washington 28-10 <strong>Sept. 3 -</strong> Lost To Deer Creek 30-24 <strong>Sept. 11 -</strong> Lost To Westmoore 34-27 <strong>Sept. 25 -</strong> Beat Moore 28-27 (OT) <strong>Oct. 1 -</strong> Lost To Mustang 50-36 <strong>Oct. 9 -</strong> Beat Putnam City 21-17 <strong>Oct. 15 -</strong> Lost To Owasso 43-13 <strong>Oct. 23 -</strong> Beat Edmond North 21-20 <strong>Oct. 30 -</strong> Lost To Union 48-7 <strong>Nov. 6 -</strong> Lost To Norman North 59-10 <strong>1st Round -</strong> Lost To Westmoore 41-17 <hr /> <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Players To Watch</span></strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="38710" first="Noah" last="Peters"] - 2022 Quarterback</strong> As mentioned earlier, the Sabercats had some growing pains last year and that certainly applies to the quarterback position. However, coming back for his second season as the starter, we expect senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="38710" first="Noah" last="Peters"] to not only be much improved but potentially be a breakout player in 6A-D1. He’s going to have some talent at the skill positions around him, including his leading receiver from last year. He was a threat to pass and run the ball last year and the expectation is that he’ll continue that this fall. We won’t be surprised if Peters ends up being one of the top QB’s in the district. <strong>Tyler White - 2022 Athlete</strong> The player that we think could end up being the top overall athlete on this Southmoore team is senior Tyler White. The Southmoore standout was outstanding last year as a running back and a linebacker. He wasn't their leading rusher on offense but he averaged nearly 10 yards per carry and showed some electric abilities at the position. It was on defense that White was more of a gamechanger as he ended up leading the team in tackles with over 100 during his junior campaign. If White goes to the next level as a running back and then also keeps that same ability on defense, White will be a two-way star for the Sabercats. <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">More Names</span></strong> <strong>Joshua Clay - 2022 Offensive Lineman</strong> <strong>Kyus Henry - 2024 Defensive Back</strong> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="159271" first="Reece" last="Moffett"] - 2022 Wide Receiver</strong> <hr /> <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Notable</span></strong> Despite losing their last two regular season games, the Sabercats were able to get into the playoffs on their own merit as the fourth seed out of the district. We’ve mentioned it plenty of times during these previews how teams were allowed to play in the playoffs if they wanted to and it wasn’t just the top four teams in each district. This was done because of all the Covid cancellations and postponements. Plenty of schools were able to snap lengthy playoff droughts because of that but Southmoore found a way in by winning games. The Sabercats ended up finishing in fourth, ahead of Mustang, despite losing to Mustang earlier in the season. They had to think that their playoff hopes were done after week nine but that wasn’t the case as they would end up finishing fourth and punching their ticket to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Sabercats are still looking to snap a playoff losing streak as it’s been over a decade since they’ve won a playoff game. They’ve lost six straight playoff games since making a semifinal run in their first ever playoff appearance back in 2009. <hr /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>2021 Schedule/Games To Watch</strong></span> Aug. 27 - Booker T Washington Sept. 3 - AT Deer Creek <strong>Sept. 10 - Westmoore</strong> - This first one is easy and doesn't need a lot of explaining. Southmoore and Westmoore will square off in their annual rivalry game in week two and the Sabercats certainly want another shot at the rival Jaguars after last year. Westmoore got the best of Southmoore twice and ended up ending their season in the first round of the playoffs. Southmoore will be determined to get a win here as they have week three off before district play opens up. If the Sabercats are going to make two straight playoff appearances, they'll need some momentum going into it. Sept. 24 - AT Moore <strong>Oct. 1 - AT Mustang</strong> - We could have picked a few district match-up's and put a highlight on them but this one is going to be important. Owasso and Union are certainly the heavy favorites in this district. Norman North is another team that appears to be a borderline lock for the playoffs. So the fourth seed is going to come down to several teams for one spot. In fact, the back to back stretch with Moore and Mustang will go a long way to deciding who ends up in that fourth spot. Southmoore will need to get a win here as they can't afford on 2020 repeating itself. Oct. 8 - Putnam City Oct. 14 - AT Owasso Oct. 22 - Edmond North Oct. 29 - AT Union Nov. 5 - Norman North <hr /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Championship History</strong></span> <em><strong>0 State Championships </strong></em>