Carl Albert throttles Bishop McGuinness

Titans to face Guthrie in clash for first

By Jacob Sturm
Midwest City Beacon

The ball just kept finding the hands of Trystan Haynes, and that only meant good things for Carl Albert’s football team when it took on Bishop McGuinness on Friday evening.

In the Titans’ 49-7 victory, Haynes stood out amongst a slew of skilled position players to contribute to the fireworks happening on Jim Harris Field.

Haynes opened up the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Kevin Sperry Jr. at the 9:35 mark in the first quarter, then quickly scored from 67 yards out on another passing sequence at the 7:43 mark of the opening quarter before making an interception on the first play Bishop McGuinness got the ball back.

The Carl Albert coaching staff certainly noticed.

“That’s what we were saying in the first quarter, you know, ‘have a game, six’” Carl Albert coach Mike Dunn said. “One of the coaches walked by and said that to me… These guys, they do it every day in practice. When your best guys go out and they compete, and they go out and they practice hard and they play with all kinds of effort, it’s just contagious with everyone else. And (Trystan’s) one of those guys.”

Haynes would finish the game with five catches for 182 yards and three touchdowns, to go along with the interception.

Carl Albert (8-0 overall, 4-0 in 5A District 2) held a 42-0 lead at halftime before the battle became defensive-minded, leading to plenty of opportunity for rotations with next to no risk. By the end of the third quarter, most starters nights were concluded.

Sperry finished 10 of 16 for 267 passing yards and four touchdown passes, numbers sure to please the likes of Dillon Gabriel, who was in attendance to watch The University of Oklahoma commit operate, and even added a rushing touchdown of his own to the six-touchdown output from the Titans’ offense.

Bishop McGuinness (4-3, 2-2) eventually found its footing defensively, forcing a few Carl Albert punts in the second half despite the opening half struggles defending the Titans’ offense.

Haynes said the offensive display was expected due to the preparation they commit to in practices.

“As receivers, we saw what the cornerbacks looked like and we knew what we had to do this week,” Haynes said. “We saw that they played a lot of man, so we really prepared for the man defense.”

Haynes played large portions of the night defensively, too. That aforementioned interception was just one of the highlights of the swarming Carl Albert defense that held Bishop McGuinness scoreless until the final 1:25 of the game.

The challenge now shifts to carrying that success into a matchup with undefeated Guthrie on Friday.

“We’ve just got to prepare next week like we prepared this week,” Haynes said. “Take every practice, do it at full speed and get ready to go next week.”
“Kind of like this week, it doesn’t take any extra motivation to get up for Guthrie,” Dunn said. “That’s always been a big-time rival. I think, in the state of Oklahoma, we’ve played them more than we’ve played anyone else. It’s a big-time rivalry. There’s been a bunch of back and forth throughout the years… It’ll be a big-time game.”