Texhoma captures District A-1 championship

October 28, 2012

Texhoma’s Bryson Beattie (13) tries to escape Okeene’s Chance Bedwell (10) and Blake Boekman (22) Friday night in Texhoma’s 41-20 win over the Whippets. Staff photo/Shawn Yorks

TEXHOMA, Okla. — The Texhoma Red Devils have pretty much ran roughshod over their opponents this season. But sooner or later, the 4th-ranked Red Devils were going to have to face adversity. Texhoma faced it Friday night at Wheatbowl Stadium against Okeene, and came out of it un-scathed with a 41-20 victory over the Whippets, winning the District A-1 championship.
Okeene was physical and fast, and the Red Devils may have had a letdown early after last week’s 55-14 win over Fairview.
“It could be, a little bit, but I’d say it was more than anything Okeene is a really good team,” said Texhoma head coach Aaron Witten. “Their three losses are to some of the best teams in the state in their class. (Fairview, Thomas and Cashion).
“They’re always going to be tough. We knew coming in they were going to be the best defense we’ve seen.”
Texhoma faced adversity in other ways, as well, namely penalties at the most inopportune times — three of which called back Red Devil touchdowns — and adversity in the form of an inadvertent official’s whistle that called back another Red Devil score.
The Whippets (5-4 overall, 4-2 District A-1) keyed on Texhoma’s top running back Bryson Beattie, but not before Beattie hit Okeene up for a 95-yard touchdown run on Texhoma’s third offensive play of the game.
But a holding penalty called the score back and put Texhoma (8-0, 6-0) on its own 10.
The Red Devils kept chipping away behind Beattie and quarterback Jack Powers, driving to the 35 yard line after a pass from Powers to Chance Meyer.
Powers took a keeper on the next play, bounced around the right side and raced down the sideline, breaking three tackles before the play was called dead by the officials as Powers was home-free to the end zone.
After a conversation, the officials called it an inadvertent whistle and gave the Red Devils the ball at the 35. Okeene’s Tucker Jones recovered a fumble on the very next play.
“We got some big plays called back — four touchdowns called back on penalties,” Witten said. “A bad whistle. Just a lot of bad things happened. You’ve got to handle adversity and be able to get the win, and we did.”
After holding Okeene on its next possession, Texhoma finally found the end zone with a 72-yard scoring drive — the highlight of which was a 67-yard catch and run from Powers to Nathan Knitig for the touchdown at the 9:43 mark of the second quarter.
But Okeene answered with a touchdown of its own on a 55-yard drive that took nine plays and was capped by a 1-yard plunge by Scott Dobrinski. The kick failed and the score was tied at 6.
Texhoma ended the first half scoring with a 42-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yartd pass from Powers to Brandon Gipe. Meyer’s extra point was good and Texhoma led 13-6 at the half.
The Red Devils of old were back in force to start the second half, scoring on a 50-yard pass from Powers to Beattie for a 20-6 advantage just three plays into the second half.
Texhoma was driving on its next possession, and Powers had broken free on what looked like another long scoring run … but it was called back on a holding penalty, putting the ball on the Okeene 41. But the Red Devils sputtered, with two bad snaps to Powers backing them up to their own 48 and giving the ball back to the Whippets on downs.
Texhoma’s defense stepped in to set up the Red Devils’ next score. After Okeene had driven to the Texhoma 31, Chance Meyer stripped the ball away from Dobrinski and returned it to the Okeene 31.
Five plays, a penalty and the refs charging Texhoma with a timeout after a fan called it from the stands, Texhoma was in the end zone as Powers powered in from the 3 with 36 seconds left in the third for a 27-6 lead.
Okeene scored early in the fourth to make it 27-13, and the Red Devils answered, as Meyer scored — twice — on the ensuing drive.
Starting at its own 30, Texhoma drive to the Okeene 24 on a big run by Meyer, and scored on a 24-yard Meyer run. But it was called back on a hold.
No worries.
Powers ran from the 34 to the 13, setting up Meyer’s 13-yard scoring run for a 34-13 lead with 4:37 left.
“They’ve got to pick their poison, what they want to do, who they’re going to take away,” Witten said. “People are going to try to take Bryson away, and someone else is going to have to step up,” Witten said. “Nate Knitig with another big catch, Chance Meyer. Offensive line is going to have to open up holes. We’ve got so many backs that can run the ball, we’ve got to beat people up front.”
Okeene scored quickly in retaliation, needing just three plays as Trent Turner raced in from 48 yards to make it 34-20.
“Defense played well, we didn’t tackle as well as we have,” Witten said. “(Turner’s) a big, tough kid. He’s the best running back we’ve seen all year. He’s tough to handle. We’ve got to tackle a lot better, get back to some fundamentals and get stuff fixed.”
Texhoma’s high-powered offense put in one last score when Beattie capped a 60-yard drive with a 2-yard run. Beattie was the workhorse of the drive with five carries on the 6-play drive.
Texhoma ends the regular season next week at Hooker, who looks to capture the fourth playoff spot in the district. It’s a big rivalry, and the Bulldogs (6-3 overall, 4-2 district) will face Tulsa commit Joe Bean.
“It’s Hooker-Texhoma, this is a big game, they’re going to play us as hard as they’ve played anybody all year,” Witten said. “Joe went off on us last year. He had a great game. We’ve got to contain him, play our style of football and beat them up front. It’s going to be a heck of a game.”

1 2 3 4 F
Okeene 0 6 0 14 20
Texhoma 0 13 14 41

2nd Quarter
T — Nate Knitig 67 pass from Jack Powers. Run Failed (6-0)
O — Scott Dobrinski 1 run. Kick failed (6-6)
T — Brandon Gipe 2 pass from Powers. Chance Meyer kick (13-6)
Third Quarter
T — Bryson Beattie 50 pass from Powers. Meyer kick (20-6)
T — Powers 3 run. Meyer kick (27-6)
Fourth Quarter
O — Dobrinski 2 run. Kick good (27-13)
T — Meyer 13 run. Meyer kick (34-13)
O — Trent Turner 48 run. Kick good (34-20)
T — Beattie 2 run. Meyer kick (41-20)