Midwest City keeps pace in district with shutout of Ardmore

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

Midwest City took its show on the road last Thursday night in a 52-0 win against Ardmore.

The Bombers (5-3, 4-1) turned in their most dominant performance of the season. They racked up more than 500 yards of total offense and earned their first shutout of the season.

“It feels good to be playing good football this time of year,” said coach Darrell Hall after the game. “We controlled the game, and our guys are playing well.”

Lasiera Laviolette and Jaylan Woody both rushed for more than 100 yards. Laviolette had 12 carries for 127 yards and three touchdowns. Woody added 11 touches for 118 yards and one score.

Senior quarterback Kenneth Colston turned in another solid performance leading the offense. He threw for 191 yards with two touchdowns.

Josiah Johnson led the team in receiving with five catches for 87 yards and one touchdown.

“We were able to throw the ball, run the ball, and Kenny (Colston) did a good job directing the offense,” Hall said.

Defensively, Midwest City forced two turnovers and held the Tigers (0-8, 0-5) to less than 100 yards of offense.

“It felt good to get a shutout, we’ve been working for that all year,” said Aiden Brown. “We had our backups in at the end and they kept us strong.”

Tarique Knighten had an interception and a fumble recovery along with four tackles. Aiden Brown led the team with eight tackles including one tackle for loss. Woody had seven tackles followed by Kiewon Landrum and Hakeem Olawuyi who both had six.

The Bombers scored on their first four possessions of the game. Laviolette scored on runs of 3 and 58 yards. On the third possession, Colston found Johnson open down the middle of the field for a 52-yard touchdown pass, making it a 21-0 score at the end of the first.

“He (Colston) called my play, I saw the safety come down and I was wide open,” Johnson said.

Midwest City widened their lead with a pair of touchdowns in the second.

Laviolette took a run around the right side for a 34-yard gain down to the Tigers 1. On the next play, Laviolette muscled his way up the middle for a one-yard score with 9:37 in the second.

The Bombers rolled the dice on fourth-and-20 and it paid off big. Lincoln King caught a screen pass from Colston and turned it into a 43-yard score.

David Arriaga missed a 22-yard field goal try with about a minute left in the second.

Midwest City led 35-0 at halftime.

The Bombers kept rolling in the second half with three more scores.

Jaylan Woody scored on a short run in the third for a 42-0 lead.

Then in the fourth, Jahimm Mahmoud broke a 41-yard touchdown run making it a 49-0 score.

Arriaga later made up for an earlier miss with a 32-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the 52-0 victory.

Midwest City travels to Noble (3-5, 3-2) on Friday night for another key contest. If the Bombers can get by the Bears, they would likely have a shot at the district title in the regular season finale against Elgin on Nov. 3. Elgin is the only unbeaten team in the district followed by Midwest City and Lawton MacArthur which are both 4-1.