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By: Chris Evans
The Guthrie Bluejays appear to be heading toward a home regional come later this season, but the Jays might ask the OSSAA if they could play on the road.
Suppose the Guthrie coaching staff will not go to that extreme, but after Saturday nights loss to Deer Creek questions are popping up with the play of the Jays inside Guthrie High School gymnasium.
The Antlers, ranked 20th in Class 5A, took advantage of 28 third quarter points to surprise, the fifth ranked, Jays 79-54. Guthrie falls to 14-2 on the year while Deer Creek shoots their way back to a .500 record at 9-9. The loss snaps the Bluejays six game winning streak.
Guthrie holds a 3-1 home record, but have struggled in three of those four games with a double overtime victory over Stillwater, just an 11 point victory over a Piedmont team that has struggled all season, and now a loss to Deer Creek, who entered without a winning record. Perhaps the best home game this season was a 19 point homecoming win over a 5-12 Western Heights.
The game with Deer Creek is the last game that will be considered for play-off positioning. 5A Coaches will be making their decisions this weekend and will look at the Jays 14-2 record. Guthrie is one of eight teams in Class 5A hoping to host a four team regional in three weeks.
Short term goals are winning the North Division of the Suburban Conference and playing for a conference championship and that will be decided Tuesday night. El Reno is currently ranked eighth with a 13-4 record. Guthrie defeated the Indians 66-47, on January 15th, in El Reno. However, the Jays-Indians winner is the North champion. El Reno is also a team hoping to land a regional.
The long term goal is still likely in hosting a regional while the short term goal will come down to Tuesday's game. A win over Deer Creek, on Saturday, may have wrapped up both goals, but will now have to wait.
Despite losing to Shawnee earlier in the week, Harrah has won the South Division waits the winner between Guthrie and El Reno to play for the conference championship. The loser between Guthrie and El Reno are likely to play in the third and fourth place game on Super Saturday, February 9th.
In the loss to Deer Creek, senior Kent McDonald led the way for Guthrie with 19 points. Junior Donte' Foster posted 15 and freshmen Kentrell Brothers chipped in with 11.
Guthrie 61, Western Heights 44
Despite trailing 14-8 in the first quarter, Guthrie would go in the half on top 25-22 and would then out score the Jets 36-22 in the second half, on Friday night, at Western Heights High School.
Leading the charge for Guthrie was Donte' Foster with a game high 25 points. Aslo, in double figures for Guthrie was senior Kent McDonald with 13 points.
The win extended their win streak to six games before being snapped the following night. Guthrie started the season with an eight game winning streak.
To hear the thoughts from Guthrie head coach Pete Papahronis on the Deer Creek game, conference play, and regional assignments please go to our podcast page by Clicking Here!