Patriots missile upset bid
KHS hangs tough early, but top-ranked Metro Christian pulls away, 42-7
KHS SENIOR linemen Noah Friesen (65) and Wrigley Kennedy (70) look to make room for the ball carrier during a game earlier this season. The duo helped KHS to multiple sustained drives against Metro Christian, but the Jackets ultimately fell 42-7 on Thursd
Metro Christian Academy entered Kingfisher as one of the highest-ranked teams in Class 3A.
The Patriots headed back to Tulsa having solidified their designation as contenders.
Kingfisher showed an early spark, but couldn’t keep it going Thursday in what turned into a 42-7 defeat at home.
The loss ended a twogame win streak by the Jackets, which fell to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in District 3A-1.
Metro Christian, meanwhile, is now 7-0 and 4-0 and all but wrapped up the district crown.
“We knew we were going to have to be really good on both sides of the ball for four quarters,” said KHS head coach Jeff Myers.
“We had our moments, but just not enough of them.”
The Jackets chewed nearly 6:00 off the clock on the opening drive of the game.
In keeping Metro’s high-powered offense on the sideline, KHS managed five first downs on the drive, but fumbled it over once inside the red zone.
That turned out to be a common occurrence.
After the opening drive, Kingfisher struggled to move the ball until the final 90 seconds of the half.
That’s when they drove 70 yards as Jax Sternberger made third-down completions to Damian Haynes, Paytun Burnham and Tristun Burnham.
His pass to Cade Covalt put the Jackets at the Metro Christian 1 with under two seconds to play in the half.
On the final play of the half, Sternberger took the snap under center, got solid surge up front and a not-sogentle nudge from behind as Jake Reagan and Harrison Evans helped push him into the end zone.
Unfortunately for KHS, the visitors had scored three touchdowns prior to that.
It did, however, give KHS some momentum at half.
“Even though we had to kick off to them to start the second half, we knew if we got a stop and then scored again to pull within seven, we could really put some pressure on them,” Myers said.
It didn’t happen. The Patriots needed just two plays to go 79 yards to start the second half.
The score was a 72-yard run by Tagg Campbell. It was also the longest scoring drive - in number of plays - for the Patriots in the quarter.
KHS drove inside the Patriot red zone in an attempt to answer, but Seth McCoy broke on a Sternberger pass and returned the interception to the KHS 36.
Campbell scored on the next play for a 35-7 lead.
Haynes’ solid return put KHS at the Metro 49 on the ensuing drive, but it ended with a punt.
On the next snap, Kirk Francis dropped a pass over Breck Nauman’s shoulder for a 75-yard score.
The Patriots had extended their lead to 35 points in less than five minutes of game time.
“It happened pretty fast,” Myers said. “They made some big plays and we just couldn’t answer.”
KHS had one more drive reach the red zone, only to see it end with an interception.
The Jackets managed 279 total yards.
Sternberger was 18 of 29 passing for 154 of them.
Another 125 was managed on the ground.
Metro entered as a passheavy team, but was able to gobble up 241 yards on 28 carries.
Campbell, who also had a pair of 1-yard TD runs in the first half, ended his night with 187 yards on just 11 carries.
Francis threw for 245 by completing 15 of 22 attempts. He had two touchdowns, including a 10-yard pass to Mario Darrington to make it 21-0 at 1:37 of the second quarter.
Nauman had seven receptions for 142 yards to lead the Patriots.
Kingfisher’s defense was led by Tanner Parker’s seven tackles.
Sternberger and freshman Kasen Blair had six apiece.
Offensively, Barton managed 69 yards on 11 rush attempts.
Paytun Burnham and Harrison Evans had four catches apiece. Burnham’s covered 31 yards and Evans had 21 yards.
The loss means KHS will likely hit the road in the first round of the playoffs.
“We’ve got to earn our way there first,” Myers said.
The Jackets travel to Mc-Loud this week before coming back home to host North Rock Creek in Week 9.
“We’ve got to win those two to make sure we lock up our spot and we can’t win them both if we don’t take care of business in the first one,” Myers said.
“We didn’t play very well the last time we went there (McLoud), so we need to regroup this week, refocus and get ready to take care of our business.”