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By: Chris Evans
The Guthrie Bluejays had a lot to play for on Friday night. It showed on the field, in the stands, in the press box, on the sideline, and most importantly on the field. Guthrie defeated Deer Creek 58-0, inside Jelsma Stadium, in front of an estimated 4,000 fans.
Guthrie was embarrassed a year ago, when Deer Creek gave the Bluejays a 19-7 loss in Edmond, which was indeed one of the few motivating factors in the game as Bluejay coaches, players, and fans knew the ‘Jays were the better team. Indeed, they proved they were right, 365 days later.
“This meant a lot to us tonight. We have been looking at it, and for a year it has been eating at me cause we played really poorly,” Watkins said as he compared last season’s game to this years contest.
Before the ‘Jays hit the field they showed off a new look by replacing their silver pants for the all black pants to go along with their home blue jersey’s with white numerals and blue socks when they came back onto the field. As soon as the game got started it would not take long for Deer Creek to feel black and blue.
Guthrie put up 28 points in the first half and came back with 30 more in the second half. The ‘Jays were led offensively by junior running back Clayton Smith, who had a career high 169-yards on 16 carries and five touchdowns. Each carry would be eventful for an Antler to bring down the force of Smith who scratched, clawed, spun, and battled for every yard he got. Smith would have runs of 20, 30 and 61-yards.
“He is so tough and he will not go down. He has a desire to excel and he made us better tonight, and if he continues to do that we are really going to be tough to defend on offense,” Watkins explained about his hard running junior running back.
By the end of the night, Guthrie would amass for 408 yards of total offense while holding Deer Creek to 87 yards of total offense. The Antlers were averaging 205 yards of offense in their first two games and had allowed just 108 yards of offense before running into the hard hitting, superior Bluejay football team.
“There is no way I expected this. I thought we were a two or three touchdown team better. When we get rolling we can put up some points. We got some weapons,” Watkins said of the lopsided 58-0 score.
Senior playmaker Kye Staley got the ‘Jays on the board for the first time at the 4:14 mark with a 3-yard run to cap off a six play 43-yard drive. Guthrie would take their 7-0 lead into the second quarter. Antler featured running back Tyler Price would be injured on his first carry of the night, on what appeared to be a leg injury when he took a pitch toward the far side and was tackled by junior Josh King in the open field.
Smith would get his first of five touchdowns at the 10:45 mark of the second quarter with a 4-yard run that ended a 57-yard drive that took seven plays.
Guthrie would not get on the board until 9 minutes later, but would score twice in the last two minutes of the half. The first came when senior Israel Escoe returned a punt, to the house, on an 85-yard punt return. Not to be outdone quarterback Keaton Callins found Staley, in stride, wide open for a 65-yard touchdown pass just before the half to take a 28-0 halftime lead.
Before the ‘Jays could get to the end zone, on their way to the baseball locker room, the team was held up by Watkins. He would deliver a message of not letting up and being happy with a 28-0 halftime lead.
In the first half, Guthrie held the Antlers to 33-yards on 26 plays, including 26-yards rushing on 21 attempts resulting in a dismal one of eight on third down conversions. On the flip side, Guthrie had 184 yards of offense in the first half with 106 yards on the ground and 78 through the air.
The Bluejays would get the ball first in the second half and went on a 2:59 drive that was finished off by a 2-yard run for Smith, and Guthrie had a 34-0 lead. Despite a comfortable lead in the second half, players, coaches, and fans showed a lot of emotion throughout the contest.
Senior J Hensley would be called upon to put some more points on the board with 3:42 to play in the third quarter, Hensley connected on a 21-yard field goal, and by the end of the night would have a total of 10 points to go along with 10 kick-offs, and a few punts for good measure.
Smith would later scamper in from 5-yards out to push the lead 44-0 on a four play drive that took less then two minutes to score, but the ‘Jays would score :09 seconds later. Thanks to special teams coach Ric Meshew and the “Men in Black”(name given to the special teams by Meshew).
Hensley, who had been putting the ball in the end zone all night, was called upon to kick a little shallow kick and see if the ‘Jays could run down and cover up the live ball in which they did, and Smith just needed one play to score from 9-yards out to push the blowout to a 51-0 score.
The final touchdown of the night would come from? Yep, Smith. This time from 61-yards out on a great run to send the ‘Jays to a 3-0 record heading into district play.
“Coach Watkins talked about all week how we needed to win this game, and show that they did not have anything on us. My offensive line and receivers blocked well for me,” Smith said.
While Watkins quickly denied the black pants were the reason for the success on the night, but he did explain they were very influential.
“We broke out the black pants. The kids have wanted them for a couple of years. When I said we had black pants the kids erupted and it was easy getting them going. It was the easiest pre-game speech I have ever had,” Watkins said.
Guthrie will wash the black pants and get back out the practice pants and prepare for the Harrah Panthers next Friday, in Harrah, to open up district play. Harrah defeated Tecumseh, 17-14 on Friday night.