Choctaw stings Antlers, 54-7
Back-to-back dominating wins fuel Jacket run for playoff berth
Choctaw High School’s Yellowjackets secured th
Choctaw’s Tyrel Bell leaves the Deer Creek defense behind on his way to 87 yards for 12 points. (Photo by Ryan Horton)
eir bACiggest win of the year Friday when they rolled Deer Creek, 54-7.
Less than a minute into the game JD Kolb ran 44 yards to put Choctaw in the lead.
One minute later Choctaw would let Deer Creek answer with a 40-yard scoring play, but that’s all the Jackets would allow Friday as CHS went virtually uncontested in the remaining 46 minutes of the District 6A-II-1 showdown.
Choctaw sailed to the end zone on its first seven possessions, building a 48-7 halftime advantage.
The Jackets rolled to 54 points in 62 plays by the end of the night.
Choctaw put up 436 yards of offense, and only allowed 148.
“I thought we played a pretty good game. This was a team that was fighting for a playoff spot as well so our kids stepped up and did a tremendous job,” said head coach Todd Dilbeck following the big district win.
The Jackets appeared to have worked out any problems with their passing game as quarterbacks Dylan Weaver and Hudson Woods connected on 10 of 12 for a combined 91 yards and three TDs.
To finish off the Jacket onslaught, Woods connected with Zane Coleman on a 19-yard pass for six which put Choctaw safely at 54 points with less than seven minutes left to play.
Collin Armstrong was credited 27 yards receiving including a 13-yard TD play from Weaver.
Kabron Lam and Jaryn Curry each made two catches for a total of 15 yards. One of Curry’s was worth six points.
Ethan Crews and Dakota Armstrong each made a 9-yard reception.
Deer Creek didn’t stand a chance against Choctaw’s run game, which was clearly too fast, shifty and powerful.
The Jackets put up 345 yards in 50 runs as running backs Tyrel Bell and Kolb caused different kinds of big problems for the Deer Creek defense.
Kolb ran for 196 yards and two TDsin 30 plays.
Bell followed with 87 yards for his two TDs in only six plays as he was utilized on defense most of the night.
Weaver and Woods each had 30 yards rushing, while Prince Dearion had five and Pacey Spencer was credited two.
Liam Jones added six extra points and only had to punt one time.
Choctaw’s defense kept the Antlers near their own end zone all night. The defending Jackets forced four fumbles, picked two interceptions and forced Deer Creek to punt five times.
One of those key turnovers was credit of DJ Carpenter who pressured the Deer Creek QB and jumped on the fumble at the 3-yard line. One play later a pass to Curry put CHS up 45-7 with six minutes left before halftime.
Incredibly, just 10 seconds later Choctaw was threatening again from the Deer Creek 32-yard line after the Jacket defense swarmed to another key turnover. The offense would capitalize with a pass to Armstrong for six a little over a minute later, and CHS would go into halftime leading 48-7.
Choctaw’s Blake Green made two interceptions by the end of the night.
“ We’re getting better every week, and the kids have done a great job. Everyone is understanding and starting to play their role, and that’s huge,” said Dilbeck. “We’ve been so close, and now we’re getting our momentum.”
Choctaw (5-4, 3-3) is looking to secure a shot in the Class 6A-II State Playoffs with a win over Putnam City West (6-3, 4-2) Friday. PCW is currently tied for second in the district, while Choctaw has already beaten No. 1 Midwest City and dominated No. 2 Lawton.
However, Choctaw had some trouble finishing early in district play, which resulted in giving up big leads to lose close games with Stillwater (6-3, 3-3), Putnam City (4-5, 2-4) and Enid (3-6, 2-4) by a combined 15 points.
The Jackets are confident they’re improving every week, and working out any problems to prepare for their shot at a Class 6A-II State Championship. Evidence of their progress is a 52-26 doubling defeat of Lawton at Senior Night immediately followed by the 54-7 romp in Deer Creek.
“We just went out and executed,” said Weaver. “Staying consistent and really focused is what we’re doing, and we’re going to finish, finish, finish.”
While playoff potential is in the back of their minds, with just one regular season contest left the Jackets are focused on finishing Putnam City West.
“That’s going to be a dog fight, but our team is going to show up. We’re getting better every week,” said Jones. “We haven’t made the full impact that our team is capable of, because we have a lot of talented kids on our team. We’re getting hot at the right time, and right now we’re just focused on PC West.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Putnam City Stadium.
