Midwest City needed two touchdowns from Jacob Reed to beat Putnam City West. One did the trick last Friday against Putnam City.
Reed gave the Bombers the lead when he scored on a 5-yard run with 11.9 seconds left in the first half. Midwest City’s defense did the rest — holding Putnam City scoreless all night for a 7-0 senior night win at Rose Field.
“We felt pressure on defense, but it just felt great to be here with my teammates and play on senior night,” said senior Arlenza Whittenberg.
Midwest City seniors Markus Herd (98) and Demontre Gatewood (8) sandwich Putnam City’s Amareion Newsome last Friday night during a district football game at Rose Field. The Bomber defense held the Pirates to 114 yards in a 7-0 win on senior night. (Staff photo by Jeff Harrison)
The Bomber defense held the Pirates to just 115 yards of total offense as they earned their second shutout of the season. The unit leads all of Class 6A with just 13.1 points allowed per game. Jaidon Hayes-Robinson led with 15 tackles and two sacks. Demontre Gatewood had 13 tackles and two sacks and Evan Fields recorded 10 tackles and a forced fumble that helped seal the win.
Midwest City racked up nearly 300 yards of offense, but turned the ball over three times and struggled to put points on the board against Putnam City.
“It was an ugly win. But I’m glad to have a win,” Midwest City coach Darrell Hall said. “We were able to move the ball between the hashes, but then we’d get to the twenties and couldn’t get anything done.”
Quarterback Preston Colbert threw two interceptions in the first half, but steered the Bombers to the end zone on their final possession of the first half. Colbert completed 4-of-5 passes for 50 yards on the drive. His final pass of the half was a 22-yarder to DeClaudio Irvin, which set up Reed’s 5-yard touchdown run.
Midwest City’s Preston Colbert makes a pass to the sidelines Friday against Putnam City. (Staff photo by Jeff Harrison)
In the second half, Midwest City moved the ball across midfield five times, but couldn’t score. The Bombers appeared to have their second touchdown when Colbert connected with Irvin for a big play down the home sidelines. But Irvin fumbled the ball around the 5 and the Pirates recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
Putnam City also sacked Colbert twice on fourth down and forced two punts in the second half.
The Pirates, who struggled to move the ball all night, provided a scare in the final minute of the game. On a halfback pass, Keair Wilkins hit Eric Butler streaking down field. Senior Evan Fields tracked Butler down and stripped the ball near the Bomber 20. Whittenberg recovered the loose ball to end the threat.
“He (Butler) got behind us and I think he would’ve scored if Evan didn’t get there,” Hall said. “We had been screaming about a double pass all game and that time of the game they did it.”
Midwest City ran out the final seconds of the clock for their second consecutive win.
With the victory, Midwest City stays tied with Putnam City West for the District 6A-II-1 lead. The Bombers improve to 5-2 overall and 4-1 in district. Putnam City drops to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in district.
Colbert was 15 of 22 passing for 230 yards with two interceptions. Juwan Walker had 106 receiving yards. Irvin had 80 yards receiving.
Astin Anderson led the way on the ground with 42 yards on 11 carries.
Midwest City will play on the road for the final two weeks of the regular season. They travel to Enid Friday night and Stillwater on Nov. 4.
