Road To Edmond: McAlester

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> The Class 5A state championship is set for 7PM on December 4th at UCO. For the first time since 2005, two east side teams will be playing for the Class 5A state championship. And that might not come as a surprise as it’s the top two teams from the start of the season as #1 McAlester faced off with #2 Collinsville. Prep Redzone Oklahoma will have the most in-depth championship preview and state title game content that you will find anywhere!. In this post, we take a look at the McAlester Buffaloes and their road to Edmond by looking back on the 2021 season. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Preseason - Ranked #1</strong></span> After making an unexpected run to the semifinals a year ago, McAlester came into this season as our number one team in the Class 5A preseason rankings. For the first time in years, a new team would be on top of a 5A class that had been dominated by Carl Albert, who won the last five state championships. In fact, Class 5A appeared to be pretty wide open when we came into the season, but McAlester got the edge as being the top team, edging out championship game opponent Collinsville, who has been #2 all season. With seven starters returning on offense and another seven back on defense, combined with how they ended the 2020 season, the Buffaloes looked like the team to beat in Class 5A. Led by junior running back [player_tooltip player_id="91049" first="Erik" last="McCarty"], who had a breakout season in 2020, and a very strong defense, McAlester looked like a championship contender once again and that’s how they played this season. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Aug. 27 – Beat Broken Bow 39-7</strong></span> The Buffaloes would open the 2021 season on the road against Broken Bow and it would be the first of many blowouts this season for the Buffaloes. McAlester would win 39-7 and McAlester’s junior star [player_tooltip player_id="91049" first="Erik" last="McCarty"] had a great night to open up his 2021 season, finishing with 185 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 carries throughout the night. He also had an interception on defense and a blocked punt. All in all, the McAlester defense forced five turnovers and as we’d come to find out, this Buffalo defense would be legit throughout the season. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Sept. 3 – Beat Sallisaw 57-6</strong></span> McAlester’s home opener would come in week one and they would make quick work of Sallisaw, winning 57-6. It would be the first of a couple 50+ point wins for McAlester this season. Senior quarterback Trent Boatright had a solid night with a pair of touchdown passes and also added a touchdown on the ground. McCarty wasn’t their leading rusher as Ethan Watkins led the Buffs in rushing yards, showing that they had more than one weapon in the McAlester backfield. Caity Clark also made program history by becoming the first female to score in McAlester football history. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Sept. 10 – Beat Ada 42-14</strong></span> McAlester would finish off non-district play with their annual rivalry clash with Ada on the road for the 96th edition of the game. The Buffaloes would keep on rolling and start the 2021 season 3-0 with a dominating 42-14 win over the Cougars. Boatright threw a touchdown and ran for two more touchdowns in the win. McCarty joined the scoring with nearly 170 yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns and that would be the first of eleven straight games with at least two touchdowns. Fellow junior running back Dakota Moton also had a big night on the ground with nearly 100 yards and a touchdown. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Sept. 24 – Beat Bishop Kelley 19-0</strong></span> After a bye week in week three, McAlester would hit the road in week four for their district opener in Tulsa against Bishop Kelley. At this point, you could tell that the defensive side of the ball had a chance to be pretty special and that was evident as they shut out the Comets in the week four victory. McCarty once again led the way with nearly 150 yards on the ground with three touchdowns as the Buffaloes completely shut down Bishop Kelley and made quite the statement to anyone doubting them as a contender in Class 5A. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Oct. 1 – Beat East Central 62-6</strong></span> McAlester would roll into the halfway point of the season with a home date against East Central and knock off the visiting Cardinals 62-6. Boatright would throw four touchdowns to four different wide receivers and the Buffalo defense was once again dominant in the win. The held East Central to well under 100 yards of total offense in the victory. The 56-point margin would be the biggest win for McAlester all season and at the halfway point of the season, McAlester found themselves with a perfect 5-0 record. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Oct. 8 – Beat Durant 56-20</strong></span> McAlester improved to 6-0 for the first time in a decade with a 56-20 victory over Durant in week six. McCarty would once again find the end zone on three occasions after only carrying the ball six times before his night was over. Moton ended up being the leading rusher for McAlester with just over 150 yards in the win. This put McAlester at 6-0 and it set up a huge clash on the road in week seven against a top five team in Coweta. While McAlester had played some tough teams, the Coweta game would be the real test. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Oct. 14 – Beat Coweta 33-2</strong></span> If this would be the biggest test of the 2021 regular season, McAlester passed with flying colors. The Buffaloes went on the road and absolutely dominated Coweta from start to finish with a 33-2 victory. It would have been a shutout if McAlester hadn’t had a special teams blunder where the snap on a punt went out of the back of the end zone. McCarty finished with over 100 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and a jump pass touchdown to start the fourth quarter that would be the final nail in the coffin of Coweta. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Oct. 22 – Beat Edison 52-17</strong></span> McAlester would host Edison in week eight for homecoming and it would be a celebration for the Buffaloes as they knocked off the Eagles 52-17, moving one step closer towards capturing the district championship. For the fourth time in eight games, McCarty would have a hat trick of rushing touchdowns with three TD’s and nearly 150 yards on the ground. Also in the running game, fellow junior Dakota Moton had a career night with well over 150 yards and two touchdowns as McAlester improved to 8-0 on the season. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Oct. 29 – Beat Shawnee 54-20</strong></span> In week nine, the Buffaloes would hit the road once again to take on Shawnee and McAlester had plenty to play for as a win would clinch their first district championship since 2016. Shawnee simply could not keep McCarty out of the end zone as he would score four times on the ground, which to that point was a season-high and he also had a 50+ yard receiving touchdown in the victory. McAlester would put up 50+ points for the fifth time this season and they would go into the final week of the regular season at 9-0. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Nov. 5 – Beat Will Rogers 54-12</strong></span> With McAlester already knowing their playoff seed as district champs, there wasn’t much drama as McAlester kept rolling in week ten. While the majority of 5A was battling it out for seeding purposes, McAlester beat up on Will Rogers 54-12, to cap off a perfect 10-0 regular season. McCarty would add three more touchdowns on the ground and he would go into the playoffs with 26 rushing touchdowns on the ground. The McAlester defense would once again cause havoc and forced four interceptions on the night. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>1st Round – Beat Sapulpa 48-14</strong></span> The first round of the playoffs would have McAlester at home against Sapulpa. The Buffs would move on behind a strong performance from Boatright and McCarty once again. In the passing game, Boatright threw for five touchdowns in the win while McCarty would also add two touchdowns and nearly 150 yards on the ground. McAlester would punch their ticket to the quarterfinal round with the victory and up next would be a game against the toughest opponent they’ve had since Coweta as Guthrie would come to town. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Quarterfinals – Beat Guthrie 27-21</strong></span> You knew coming into the week that Guthrie-McAlester had the makings of an instant classic with how both teams were playing at this point of the season, especially in the running game and on defense. And that’s exactly what we got as the Buffaloes found a way to survive and advance, beating Guthrie 27-21 and heading back to the semifinals for a second consecutive season. It would take a season-high 23 carries and nearly 200 yards with a pair of touchdowns from McCarty to get the job done but the Buffaloes were headed to the final four. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Semifinals – Beat Lawton MacArthur 42-13</strong></span> We were supposed to see a match-up of two of the best running backs in the state in this semifinal clash as McCarty and Buffaloes took on [player_tooltip player_id="219244" first="Isaiah" last="Gray"] and Lawton Mac. What we got was McCarty running wild and the Buffaloes emphatically punching their ticket to the state championship game. McCarty had a season-high 203 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He would also reach 34 rushing touchdowns on the season, breaking McAlester’s single-season record that he set as a sophomore. The Buffaloes would rumble right into the title game with a perfect 13-0 record. And the two teams that had been #1 and #2 all season, McAlester and Collinsville, would meet for the title.