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By: Chris Evans
Time to put that $3.00 a gallon of gasoline into the ride and head up the back roads of Oklahoma. The top-ranked Guthrie Bluejays travel to Woodward and finish the regular season on Senior Night inside Boomer Stadium.
The radio broadcast, on Hot 93.7 FM KSPI, will be on a tape-delay due to an exhibition Oklahoma State basketball game with Panhandle State. Guthrie-Woodward will be played in it’s entirely following the basketball post game show.
The Bluejays are in search of an undefeated regular season, which, of course, has never happened before . Guthrie improved to 9-0 last week with a 24-21 workmanlike defeat of the defending state champions Carl Albert.
A win Friday night would match the most in Guthrie High School history, tying last years total of 10 and just two victories shy of the 2002 State championship season.
Both Guthrie and Woodward are in the play-offs. Woodward has made it for the first time since 2001, while Guthrie, under head coach Rafe Watkins, has made the playoffs six of the last seven years, a streak that began in 2001.
Unlike the Bluejays, The Boomers know who they play and will be on the road for the first round of the playoffs at Lawton Mac. Guthrie will host the first two rounds, assuming they win their first round against an opponent that has yet to be named. Guthrie will not know who they play until the results of the Duncan-Ardmore matchup have been posted. The Bluejays could play Ardmore or Western Heights in Jelsma Stadium next week.
Friday’s match-up has two friends and quarterbacks coaching against each other on the sidelines. Watkins and head coach Scott Myers, both growing up in smaller towns than Guthrie, have competed against each other and are now doing the same at larger schools.
Watkins, the Prague alum, talks about how Myers has been around winning programs everywhere where he has been. Myers won a state championship while playing at Chandler High School, and while Woodward has struggled the last few seasons in a rebuilding process, the Boomers are back in familiar territory: The Playoffs.
Myers, in his third season at Woodward, has made some personnel and tactical changes to the Boomer offense this season. He’s moved his running back and from a years ago to quarterback and has converted his quarterback into a wide receiver. Those changes appear to be the right decisions.
Woodward signal caller Cooper Harrison has shown balance between rushing and passing, while David Nelson leads the team in receiving.
Harrison is more of a running threat, but has shown times where he can throw the ball, despite double digit interceptions in the wide-open Boomer offense.
The Boomers are averaging 18 points a contest, but have struggled scoring points in their five loses. Woodward has only managed a total of 19 points in games against Elk City, Guymon, Weatherford, Carl Albert, and Noble. Noble dropped the Boomers last week 27-6, in Noble.
Coach Myers has been a typical 5-2 defensive type guy, but this season has gone to a 4-2-5 defense and likes to stunt and bring pressure from the edges. On the season the Boomers allow 13 points a game, but have given up 67 points in the last two weeks to Carl Albert and Noble.
To hear Coach Watkins and Coach Myers thoughts on the game please visit our podcast page at www.guthriesportspage.mypodcast.com.