On the very first snap of the game last Friday night, Bridge Creek’s Zach Overstreet lobbed a pass to a wide open Abe Williams.

The latter was already behind the Kingfisher defense and had nothing but green artificial turf between himself and the end zone.

A massive gain was already in hand and the touchdown appeared imminent.

“We preach all the time as coaches about doing what you can to make them snap it again,” said KHS head coach Reagan Roof.

“Make them earn every single thing they get.”

Carter Stephenson must have been listening.

The Jacket senior ran down Williams from behind and tackled him at the 10 yard line.

Though Williams gained 63 yards, he didn’t score.

And Bridge Creek eventually didn’t score that possession.

TheJacketdefensebowed up and forced a turnover on downs and continued to do it the rest of the night.

Eventually the offense caught up and Kingfisher rolled to a 49-19 victory.

“Carter running him down was huge and it set the tone for the rest of the night,” Roof said.

Now the Jackets are 3-0 entering district play for the first time since 2017.

It was Kingfisher’s third straight game against an unbeaten foe. Cashion was 1-0 while Clinton and Bridge Creek were both 2-0 entering those games.

While the KHS defense put itself in a pickle on the first possession, the offense turned right around and did the same on the next one.

The Jackets fumbled it over to Bridge Creek at the 18, giving the Bobcats great field position once again.

The defense held strong and forced a field goal attempt.

The kick was blocked by Brody Boeckman and then caught by Collin Farrar and returned 92 yards to the Bridge Creek 8.

That series of plays - the fumble and the blocked kick - was emblematic of much of the rest of the first half.

Something was always happening and most of it though not all - worked in Kingfisher’s favor.

It included three more combined turnovers by the two teams, two more turnovers on downs, a fumbled kickoff return, a kickoff return for a TD and three oneplay touchdown drives.

By halftime, Kingfisher led 35-7 and only after scoring the first five TDs and giving up the aforementioned kickoff return for a score with 13 seconds left in the half.

Though the Jackets did rack up the points, they weren’t always easy.

After Farrar returned the block kick inside the 10, he capped the drive (after a KHS penalty) with a 14-yard touchdown catch on a precision-placed ball thrown by Brett Calamateo.

The Jackets’ next three possessions, however, saw the Jackets punt, throw an interception and turn it over on downs.

“They did some things on defense that they hadn’t yet shown on film,” Roof said. “And it took us a little while to adjust.”

The game was still 7-0 more than two minutes into the second quarter when a familiar force asserted himself.

Eduardo De La Torre ran down Overstreet on a rollout play and forced a fumble.

Drew Snider pounced on it and gave KHS the ball at the Bobcat 6.

Calamateo scored on a running play on the next snap.

After KHS forced a threeand- out, it turned into the big-play strike.

River Roof dropped back and floated a pass to Brody Boeckman, who was streaking down the home sideline after beating his man at the line of scrimmage.

Boeckman hauled in the pass for a 50-yard touchdown.

The piling on continued when Bridge Creek failed to field the ensuing kickoff. Jayzen Surveyor obliged the Bobcats by jumping on it to give KHS the ball at the 23.

On the next play, Roof hit Calamateo out of the backfield.

The junior did the rest and scored on the pass play.

In a span of less than 2 minutes of game clock, KHS went from up seven to staking a 28-0 lead.

They weren’t done. Closer to the end of the half, Farrar picked off an Overstreet throw and returned it to Bobcat territory.

That set up a 41-yard scoring drive that saw Farrar end it.

He lined up just off the line of scrimmage, ran a pattern to the sideline and hauled in a 5-yard TD from Roof with 25 seconds left in the half.

The Bobcats did steal some momentum with a kickoff return before the end of the half, but it didn’t stick.

Farrar gathered his second interception of the night on the first snap of the second half.

That set up a 59-yard scoring drive that included a 28-yard run by Calamateo, a 15-yard run by Snider and a pass to Stephenson on third down that moved the chains.

Snider got his first TD with a 5-yard run at 7:19 of the quarter, giving KHS a 42-7 lead.

Payton Martin, who ran back the kickoff, busted off a 57-yard TD run on the next possession, but Snider got the points back for KHS.

His second touchdown was a 31-yard scamper with 2:09 left in the quarter, also about the time the clock started to run continuously for the rest of the game.

Kingfisher’s defense held Bridge Creek to 110 rushing yards with half of those coming on Martin’s touchdown run when the game was decided.

The Bobcats had 142 through the air and a bulk of those came on the very first snap of the game and 25 more on a late TD.

KHS forced three turnovers and had nine tackles for loss.

“They saved us, especially early,” Roof said of that unit. “If we don’t have those big stops by the defense, the game could have played out in a much different way.”

Surveyor, Snider and Stephenson led the way with six tackles apiece.

Snider had a team-high four tackles for loss.

Jagger Braun added five stops while Boeckman, Braydon Livingston and De La Torre were each in on four. De La Torre delivered 2 1/2 sacks. Roof was 8 of 11 for 127 yards. He bounced back from his first career interception to throw his first three career touchdowns…all before halftime. Calamateo was 3 for 5 for 37 yards and a TD. Boeckman caught four passes for 77 yards while Farrar had three for 23 and two scores. Stephenson added two catches for 30 yards. Snider ran it 12 times for 84 yards. KHS had 135 rushing yards as a team. “We kept chipping away with the run game and finally wore them down,” Roof said. “We were able to break some bigger runs as the game went on.”

Calamateo added 47 yards on his 12 carries.

KHS makes its second straight road trip this week, this time to open District 3A-1 against North Rock Creek.

And for the fourth time in as many games, it’s an undefeated foe. The Cougars, off last week, enter with a 3-0 mark.

“They’re similar to Cashion in that they have a lot of really good skill kids,” Roof said. “And their line might be a bit better.

“You’re going to hear me say this a lot the rest of the way because our district is so tough, but we’re going to have to play well to win.”