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By: Chris Evans
Two teams with two different directions following Friday nights game between the third ranked Guthrie BlueJays and the Noble Bears.
Guthrie travels to Noble with an 8-1 record and will host a first round play-off game against an opponent to be named following the Jays-Bears game. Meanwhile, Noble, 4-5, will close out their season with Senior Night and prepare for basketball and wrestling season.
Noble, despite a tough schedule, has won two of their last three games and took Shawnee down to the final 20 seconds in last weeks 28-21 loss. The Bears gained 279-yards of offense with 186 of those yards coming on the ground.
Throughout the season, Noble has haunted themselves with turnovers, but did not commit any turnovers in the loss to Shawnee.
Bears head coach Ray Crawley will start quarterback Chad Davidson. Davidson is a 5'8" and 160 pound senior that will carry the ball in the quarterback duck play. The quarterback duck play is when the quarterback takes the snap under center and spins and runs with the ball.
Bears will showcase Jake McElhany (5'6" 180 pound) at running back and Will Starr (5'8" 180 pound) at wide receiver.
Guthrie has won five of the last seven meetings, and under the watch of Jays head coach Rafe Watkins and have never suffered a defeat in Noble (3-0).
Last season, Guthrie dominated Noble 69-0 and the previous season 49-0. The last Noble win over Guthrie was back in October of 2004.
Watkins said besides natural nicks and bruises that you have after 9-weeks of the season that the Jays are currently healthy. Senior Josh King, who was sat out in last weeks game, will be back in the line-up against Noble. King leads a defense that is the stingiest in 5A by allowing just 7-points.
Guthrie, who ranks third in 5A in total yards allowed, is allowing 190-yards of offense and 100-yards rushing. Tulsa Kelly and Bixby are 1-2, respectfully.
The Guthrie offense also ranks third in total offense with 351-yards a game. The Jays, who are led by quarterback Keaton Callins, average 187-yards in the air which is best in 5A. The Jays rushing number is currently at 164-yards and ranks among the top 10, in 5A.
Callins leads 5A in passing with 1684-yards and 22 passing scores. Miami's Turner Trent is second in touchdown passes with 14. Callins friend and teammate Donte' Foster leads 5A in receiving with 649-yards and 10 receiving scores.
You can catch the Jays and Bears game on the Triple Play Sports Radio Network on 105.1 FM and streaming live here on GSP. The pre-game show starts at 7:00 from Noble.
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