Victory puts Eagles in rare air

Del City beats Durant for first undefeated regular season since 1993

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

Del City had already clinched the district title.

But that didn’t mean they didn’t have anything to play for in last week’s regular season finale.

The Eagles (9-0, 7-0) looked as impressive as ever as they beat Durant 48-10 on senior night at Robert Kalsu Stadium.
The win capped the first undefeated regular season since 1993.

“It feels great being undefeated for the first time in 30 years,” said senior Ladanian Fields. “It feels great winning with my brothers and keeping that CDEPT (the team’s motto Commitment. Discipline. Effort. Pride. Toughness) mentality.”

Coach Robert Jones praised his team for overcoming challenges all year.

“Think about where we started with the Choctaw game and all emotion and things that went with that, and then to be able to come back and win nine in a row and go undefeated is incredible,” Jones said. “That’s overcoming adversity. I told our kids that’s how you attack life. If someone hits you in the mouth, let’s respond and go about it like how we did this year.”

Jones said they’d celebrate the undefeated regular season before getting back to work for the playoffs. The Eagles host Pryor (5-5, 4-3 District 5A-4) at 7 p.m. Friday in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs.

“It’s the playoffs and it’s do or die. We’ve been upset when we were a high seed, so we need to learn from those mistakes and not overlook an opponent because they’re a four seed,” he said.

Del City dominated Durant (5-5, 3-4) all night.

Quarterback River Warren and wide receiver Ladanian Fields were in sync in the passing game. The pair connected for two thrilling touchdowns. On the team’s first possession, Warren found Ladanian Fields for an 11-yard touchdown pass. In the second quarter, Ladanian Fields made a leaping grab over a defender for a 33-yard touchdown.

“I saw the ball coming and just said ‘I have to get this,’” Ladanian said. “It was just me, him and the ball so I had to get it.”

Ladanian Fields led the team with five catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Warren was 9 of 14 passing for 139 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.

Kedarrius Palmer had the team’s other touchdown catch.

The Eagles showed depth at running back. Rodney Fields ran for 69 yards and one touchdown on five carries, while also scoring an interception return on defense. Rickland Holmes finished with 55 yards and one score and Shayden Greene added 53 yards.

Del City took control early with a pair of scores from the Field cousins in the first quarter. Ladanian Fields caught a 51-yard pass down the sidelines and later scored on an 11-yard screen pass.

On defense, Rodney Fields picked off a pass and returned it 19 yards for a score. That made it a 14-0 score with 5:34 in the first.

The Eagles continued to push their lead in the second. Warren and Ladanian Fields connected for their second touchdown of the night, and Holmes broke a 30-yard touchdown run for a 28-0 lead.

Durant snapped the Eagles’ scoring run with a 48-yard field goal in the second.

Rodney Fields added a 65-yard touchdown run to make it a 36-3 score at halftime.

In the second half, Warren added his third touchdown of the night, hitting Palmer for an eight-yard score with 4:23 in the third.

Durant scored on the final play of the third to make it 43-10.

Del City’s second-string defense closed out the game with an impressive goal line stand. They forced an incompletion on fourth-and goal from the 14, keeping the Lions out of the end zone on last time.

The Eagles host Pryor on Friday night. The winner will face Guthrie/Lawton MacArthur in the quarterfinals.