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By: Chris Evans
The Guthrie Bluejays will play their final regular season game inside Jelsma Stadium, and will honor 16 football seniors, along with senior cheerleaders and band members, as the ‘Jays take on the Noble Bears.
Before the start of the game the football players will be honored, and at the half the cheerleaders and band members will be recognized at the half.
The match-up between Guthrie and Noble will be the most intriguing game heading into a Bluejay game since Deer Creek, back on September 14th.
Both teams enters Thursday’s game 4-0 in the district and have secured play-off spots, which Guthrie coach Rafe Watkins says he will not be surprised to see Noble more relaxed and may come out with every play at their arsenal to try and take a shot at the superior Bluejays.
Noble started the season 1-2, but had tough loses against good, ranked teams in Duncan, Shawnee, and Ada. In the first game against Duncan, Noble had five starters suspended and loss 38-0. In Week 2, however, Noble defeated Shawnee 18-13 without the services of Tucker Brown, but still yet a good win for the Bears program.
Since dropping a 21-13 to Ada in Week 3, Noble has won four games in a row by a score of 146-28. Noble will bring an offense that wants to run the ball with their double tight I-formation.
Quarterback Chad Davidson, a junior, started nine games a year ago in his sophomore season where he rushed for 324 yards and five touchdowns and passed for 348 yards.
Noble coach Ray Crawley has depended on the running game of junior running back Brandon McElhaney. Last season McElhaney had just 20 carries, but did manage 95 yards.
As most people have come accustom too, Noble will be a big and strong football team particularly on the lines of scrimmage. The Bears will be led by offensive linemen Thomas Rollin. Rollin is a 6-3” 265 pound junior and will anchor the right side of the line of scrimmage.
Guthrie is Oklahoma’s best rush defense and allows opponents just 23 yards rushing, and allows just 70 yards of total offense, another state’s best. Senior linebacker Jack Dumas leads the team with 72 tackles. Fellow senior linebacker Justin Chappell is second on the team with 50 tackles.
Some may question if the ‘Jays are looking toward Carl Albert next week and possibly over looking this Bear team can let that thought slip away. A Watkins led team is 4-2 against Noble during his tenure and both loses have come inside Jelsma Stadium in 2003 and 2004.
In the 2004 game, Guthrie had a 17 point lead with five plus minutes to play in the fourth quarter, and Noble would come back to push Guthrie out of the play-offs.
Noble, a year ago, was a play-off team despite going 3-7 in the regular season and would finish the season 3-8 after dropping their first round play-off game against Lawton MacArthur, who was the state runner-up.
Guthrie Bluejay football can be heard on Hot 93.7 FM KSPI with Chris Evans, Casey Porter, Chris LeGrande, and Craig Fleck. Pre-game show starts at 7:00 and kick-off at 7:30. The pre-game show will have Jack Dumas, Kye Staley, and Coach Rafe Watkins.
