Bombers blanked in opener

By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon

The last time Midwest City hosted Piedmont was during an unexpected snowstorm in the first round of the playoffs two years ago.

The temperature was quite a bit warmer Friday night as the Wildcats returned for the season opener at Rose Field.

But the result was the same.

The Wildcats again left with a victory as they shutout the Bombers 13-0 in the non-district contest.

Midwest City’s defense was ready to go Friday night against Piedmont. But missed opportunities on offense kept them off the scoreboard in the season opener.

“We were our own worst enemy tonight,” said coach Darrell Hall. “Piedmont is a good team, don’t get me wrong. But we didn’t capitalize when we had chances.”

Senior running back Jahhim Mahmoud provided much of the offense for the Bombers as he ran for 172 yards on 22 carries.

Sophomore quarterback Roman Manella showed some flashes with his arm. He was 5 of 16 for 54 yards.

Piedmont’s DreAndre Burton ran for one score and Noah Ward hit two field goals in the 13-0 win.

Midwest City moved the ball deep inside Piedmont territory on its first two possessions but came up empty.

The first drive ended with a failed fourth-down play from the 36.

Piedmont answered with their only touchdown drive of the game. Burton broke a tackle and bounced to the outside for a 14-yard touchdown with 4:12 in the first. That made it a 7-0 score.

Mahmoud helped push the Bombers into the red zone on their next possession. He carried the ball five straight times – the final was a 13-yard run down to the Piedmont 12. But the Bombers couldn’t get the ball in end zone as Roman Manella was sacked on fourth down.

Late in the second quarter, the Wildcats used a rare pass play to set up a score. Quarterback Grayson May threw a 40-yard flea flicker to Carter Hainrihar that moved the ball down to the Midwest City 14. Ward later knocked through a 34-yard field goal as time expired in the half.
Piedmont led 10-0 at halftime.

Midwest City moved the ball again on their first drive of the second half, but again came up empty. The Bombers were flagged for three false starts on the drive. Then on fourth down, Manella tried to hit Josiah Johnson across the middle, but he couldn’t get a handle on it.

The Bombers got the ball back on a fumble recovery. The Wildcats fumbled a pitch and Felix Fuentes recovered the loose ball.

Midwest City couldn’t make anything happen and had to punt away. A bad snap sailed over the punter’s head and Piedmont recovered inside Bomber territory.
The defense held the Wildcats to another field goal from Ward and 13-0 lead with 9:01 in the fourth.

Midwest City drove the ball across midfield one more time but were stopped on fourth down.

Jaeshawn Grigsby led the team with 10 tackles including seven solo tackles. Kiewon Landrum had seven tackles and one sack, while Hayden Parent finished with seven tackles.

“I was extremely happy with the defense,” Hall said. “We put them in bad positions a lot of times because we went for it on fourth down a lot. We gave Piedmont some short fields but our defense was able to sustain it.”

The Bombers have a tough game ahead of themselves as they travel to Carl Albert on Friday night. The Titans are looking for their third straight Class 5A state title.