Ponca City Team Preview

Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy! It’s the month of July and that means it’s preview time! Throughout the month of July, we are publishing 100 team previews to get you ready for the 2022 season. This is something that began last year and has become even bigger and better this year. We’re looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state. From defending champs, to top contenders and dark horses, we’ll have complete coverage every single day with new teams from Class 6A down to A. In this post, we take a look at the Ponca City Wildcats. With momentum from last season, the Wildcats are hoping to punch their ticket to the playoffs. Ponca City Wildcats (6A-2 Preseason Ranking: #8) With the major reshuffling in 6A-2 with teams moving up and moving down, the class looks pretty different as we head into the 2022 season. Ponca City comes into this year as the #8 team in our preseason rankings for 6A-2 and they are the fourth highest ranked team in their district. A playoff appearance could be in their future but first, the Wildcats will look to build on what they started last season. Ponca City went 4-6 a year ago and missed out on the playoffs but they definitely showed improvement throughout the season. They would beat the teams they were supposed to beat and they closed the season with a big win over Muskogee in the regular season finale. The district the Wildcats were in was just brutal and getting into the playoffs from that district was just too tall of a task. This year, Ponca has a great shot of making the postseason and it all begins with the district they’re in and who they have coming back. Five starters return on the offensive side of the ball and another five starters return on defense. Ponca City will rely on those returning starters to get off to a fast start this season. Ponca began last season 1-4 but would go 3-2 the rest of the way. They’re looking to avoid that slow start and take plenty of momentum into district play. The Wildcats not only return ten starters total but they also got one of the better move ins this offseason in an 8-man standout in the 2024 class. More on him in “Players To Watch”. The Wildcats are looking to earn their way into the playoffs this season and they should be able to take care of business and punch their ticket to the postseason. <hr /> 2021 Results (4-6 Record - Missed Playoffs) Sept. 3 - Lost To Enid 6-0 Sept. 10 - Beat McLain 37-0 Sept. 17 - Lost To Ardmore 28-18 Sept. 24 - Lost To Sand Springs 30-13 Oct. 1 - Lost To Choctaw 36-0 Oct. 8 - Beat Putnam City West 43-6 Oct. 14 - Beat Bartlesville 34-7 Oct. 22 - Lost To Booker T Washington 41-10 Oct. 29 - Lost To Bixby 66-13 Nov. 5 - Beat Muskogee 35-28 <hr /> Key Losses To Graduation Cayson Badley - Offensive Lineman Tyson Dewberry - Defensive Back <hr /> Players To Watch [player_tooltip player_id="386742" first="Gavin" last="Cunningham"] - 2024 Wide Receiver The first of two 2024 pass-catchers for Ponca City is [player_tooltip player_id="386742" first="Gavin" last="Cunningham"]. We have Cunningham penciled in as a potential breakout star this fall for Ponca City. If they get the passing game going this season, we expect Cunningham to have a big year within the Wildcat offense. Cunningham has great size and speed and his hands are incredibly consistent as well. We’re looking forward to seeing how Cunningham looks in the offense this fall and whether or not he can help Ponca have one of the better passing attacks in 6A-2. Cunningham isn’t alone within the Ponca offense and the scary thing for defenses will be trying to limit both of these weapons. [player_tooltip player_id="299735" first="Kooper" last="Rich"] - 2024 Tight End Cunningham won’t be the only target that defenses have to worry about this fall. We mentioned earlier that 8-man move in that has quickly emerged as one of the top prospects in our 2024 rankings. Tight end [player_tooltip player_id="299735" first="Kooper" last="Rich"] is that prospect and we’ve been a fan of his game since we watched his film back in the spring. He is a big target but he’s so fun to watch once he gets the ball in his hands. His sophomore film looked like he was a college sophomore playing against JV players. It’s going to be a little bit different going from 8-man ball to 11-man and jumping up in competition to 6A-2 will also have an impact but we’re excited to see what he can do this fall. More Names To Know Gabe Roland - 2023 Linebacker Grant Harmon - 2023 Defensive Back Hudson Haas - 2024 Defensive Lineman Trycten Boyer - 2023 Offensive Lineman <hr /> 2022 Schedule/Games To Circle Aug. 26 - Guthrie Sept. 2 - AT Enid Sept. 16 - AT Sand Springs -In week three, after a bye week, the Wildcats will go back on the road to take on former district foe Sand Springs. Now that Ponca City is in the “west side” district of 6A-2, this match-up now becomes a non-district clash. And it’s the perfect measuring stick game to see exactly where the Wildcats are before they enter district play. Sand Springs is coming off a semifinal appearance and appears to be good enough to be a top five team this fall. Ponca City is wanting to follow in those steps and become a top five team and a team that could make it to the semifinals. Getting a win here will give them a ton of momentum before district play opens up the following week. Sept. 23 - AT Deer Creek Sept. 30 - Lawton -For the first time since week zero, Ponca City will return home in week five for a district clash with Lawton. After opening up district play on the road against Deer Creek, this will be a massive district clash as the Wildcats welcome the Wolverines. After Choctaw and Deer Creek, Lawton and Ponca City are the next top teams within this district in our preseason rankings. If Ponca City gets a win here in week five, they’ll reach the halfway point of the regular season in a great position moving forward. They’ll still have hopes of capturing a district championship or hosting a playoff game if they can get the win over Lawton. A loss will leave little room for error. Oct. 6 - Putnam City North Oct. 14 - AT Putnam City Oct. 20 - Capitol Hill Oct. 28 - Classen SAS Nov. 4 - AT Choctaw <hr /> Notable Ponca City is looking to end a lengthy playoff drought and we believe that they’re in as good of a position as any to do it this fall. Okay, for context, the Wildcats did participate in the 2020 playoffs during the Covid season where the OSSAA allowed any team that wanted to play in the playoffs a spot in the postseason. Prior to 2020, you have to go back to 2005 to find the last time the Ponca Wildcats played a playoff game. You have to go all the way back to 1986 to find the last time they won a playoff game. But we believe that could end this year. Ponca is definitely in the more favorable district in 6A-2 and they have as good of a shot this year of making the playoffs than any season in recent memory. As we saw last year in the 6A-2 playoffs, once they get there, who knows what could happen. <hr /> Championship History 0 State Championships