Published: November 03, 2007 11:08 pm         

Pioneers own worst enemy in 2007

• Small mistakes cause big problems for Stillwater in regular-season finale

Stillwater High’s up-and-down season continued on Friday night.

In need of a win at Broken Arrow to secure second place in District 6A-3, the Pioneers — much like the first nine weeks of 2007 — were good one minute but average the next.

The Tigers, who lost to SHS at Hamilton Field in Week 10 of the 2006 season, may have been the better team this time around, but an inconsistent Pioneer squad certainly aided their cause in a 28-21 Broken Arrow victory.

“It was pretty much a playoff-type game with some good intensity,” said SHS coach Rusty Atkins, whose squad takes a 6-4 record into next week’s playoffs. “(Broken Arrow) was able to find some things in the middle of our defense and take advantage. They played physical football, and we were able to match that in the second half, but it still came down to the small mistakes we’ve been making all year.”

Time and again, Tiger sophomore tailback Jerrod Green found running room in the middle of the Pioneer defense. The 160-pounder finished with 132 yards on 25 carries and moved his season total to 914 yards.

Senior Kelsey Davis, playing for an injured Cale Fulps, completed an efficient 8-of-13 passes for 160 yards with his 66-yard scoring toss to Taylor York the difference in the game.

Stillwater’s offense, averaging 26.1 points per contest through nine games, got off to another slow start. Through two quarters, the Pioneers had totaled 53 yards with only 25 on the ground.

A Chris Perry fumble inside the 10-yard line led to BA’s second touchdown and put SHS in a 14-0 hole. It came on the first play after a 63-yard Broken Arrow punt put the ball at the SHS 7-yard line.

Kendall Hughes returned a fumble 48 yards for a touchdown for SHS’s only first-half points. It was the defense’s fourth TD this season.

A 26-yard run by Green on BA’s next series put the ball at the Pioneer 30-yard line, and SHS dodged a big bullet when a sprinting Austin Standage broke up a sure touchdown on a halfback pass.

The first series of the second half saw Hughes record a sack, his fifth of the season, on third down. The Pioneers responded with a 49-yard TD drive highlighted by Josh Cousins’ 11-yard reception on third-and-5 at the 44-yard line.

Over the next 14 minutes, Broken Arrow would convert 3-of-4 third down conversions, two of them coming on an 11-play, 75-yard drive that gave the Tigers a 21-14 advantage.

SHS would tie the game with a time-consuming 61-yard drive that saw Perry run for 28 of his 62 total yards and Lane White hit Chance Rathbun for 31 yards on a post pattern.

The back-breaker came two minutes later when, on second-and-16 after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on BA, Davis hit York with the game-winner.

SHS’s final chance ended with an incompletion on fourth-and-9, a play after the Tigers’ fifth sack of the evening.

SHS won the turnover battle — BA lost two fumbles and Matt Zapata intercepted a pass, while the Pioneers lost one fumble — and also saw the Tigers get penalized six times for 60 yards.

SHS is 2-8 all-time against Jenks, the 6A-4 champion. The Pioneers’ last victory over Jenks came in the 1994 playoffs when Josh Holliday, Robert Turner, Chad Axton and Denshio Cook led a 20-14 victory.



Numbers watch

Senior Austin Dean led SHS with nine tackles against Broken Arrow. The linebacker also recovered a fumble for the second time in 2007. Zapata’s interception was his fourth and the team’s 16th. The senior safety also had seven tackles to move his team-leading total to 73.



Chart watch

BA gave SHS senior Grant Field plenty of attention on Friday, holding him to three catches for 44 yards. It pushed his career total to 98 for 791 yards, the fourth-best total in school history behind Trey Waters (125), John Martin (103) and Leonard Jones (100).

Perry moved his career rushing total to 1,765 yards, the seventh best total in school history. Rick Fagan’s 1,862 yards ranks No. 6.

White completed 15-of-29 passes for 157 yards on Friday and now has 1,823 career yards, the eighth-best season in school history. He passed Jason Schroeder on Friday night and needs 145 yards to pass Kenny Field for seventh.

     

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