It wasn’t the most inspiring first half from an offensive standpoint.

The Kingfisher Yellowjackets needed a win Friday at Purcell and to rack up as many district points as possible to keep alive their hopes of winning a 3A-1 championship.

Yet KHS and the Dragons, who were winless in district play, headed to the locker room tied up 0-0.

Kingfisher’s drives in the first half resulted in a pair of turnovers on downs, a lost fumble and the end of the half.

So it made sense - after the lengthiest of halftimes - that the Jackets came out with much more fire in the second half.

They marched nearly 70 yards in just a few plays… and fumbled near the goal line.

Only this time, fortune was on the Jackets’ side.

Right tackle Donovan Dunn saw the potential turnover and pounced on it in the end zone.

Big guy touchdown. And that was the second- most unlikely TD of the night as KHS dominated the second half in a 34-0 victory.

So the Jackets did accomplish their goals with the win and the max 15 district points.

They enter this week’s massive showdown with Mount St. Mary with a 7-1 overall mark and a 4-1 re-cord in district games.

The Rockets will come into Kingfisher on senior night with the same 4-1 district record, keeping the two teams tied at the top with Marlow.

At least one team will fall to 4-2 by the end of next week.

Kingfisher goes into Week 9 off its first shutout of the season.

It was a far cry from last year’s 57-42 shootout on the same field.

“That offense doesn’t get shutout very often,” said KHS head coach Reagan Roof of the Dragons’ flexbone. “So for us to go in there and do that - especially after what happened last year - I was pretty proud of that.”

After Dunn put KHS on top, Brody Boeckman was a human missile on the kickoff and tackled the Dragon returner at the 8.

The bad field position and a threeand- out by the Jacket defense had the Dragons punting from deep in their own territory.

It was discovered at the last second that KHS only had 10 men on the field.

Carson Nusz sprinted into position moments before the snap that sailed over the punter’s head and into the end zone.

Three Jackets surrounded the ball and it was Nusz - the senior - who came out of the pile with his first career touchdown.

The next quick Purcell possession led to another punt and this one was blocked by Eduardo De La Torre, who added to his impressive senior season resume in more ways than one.

His block set up the Jackets at the Purcell 40.

Steel Snodgrass gained 20 yards on two runs and the drive eventually ended with Brett Calamateo scoring on an 11-yard run.

After going scoreless in the first half, Kingfisher put 20 points on the board in the third quarter.

“Normally in that halftime situation, I would have been upset and got after them pretty good,” Roof said. “But we weren’t playing bad…we just had a couple of mistakes and didn’t have the ball a lot.

“But we knew what they were doing on defense, so we made those adjustments and talked to the guys about creating their own energy because the atmosphere was pretty dull. The kids do a good job of taking care of that.”

The Jackets got to 27 points less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.

A Purcell turnover on downs was followed by a 33-yard pass from River Roof to Boeckman.

That helped set up Drew Snider’s 3-yard touchdown run.

Later in the fourth, Kingfisher got its final touchdown when Collin Farrar read a Purcell pitch, knocked it out of the air, scooped it up and ran it in from 35 yards out.

The Jackets had one last defensive stand as senior Jagger Braun picked off a pass on the last play of the game.

It capped a stellar night for that unit as it gave up just 182 total yards.

Most of that came on the ground in the form of 165 yards, but it also took 50 attempts to get them.

Almost none of those yards were up the middle thanks in no small part to Dunn.

He stuffed anything near the first two gaps and finished with six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

Boeckman led the team in tackles for a second straight week with 11. Five of those were solo.

Brason Pinkston and Calamateo had nine stops apiece.

The offense rallied for 319 total yards, 239 of them on the ground.

Snider had another century-mark effort as he gained 113 yards on just 10 carries with a long of 44 yards.

Calamateo gained 81 yards on eight attempts.

Roof handled most of the passing plays and was 4 of 6 for 72 yards.

Farrar caught four total passes for 47 yards.

The other positive for Kingfisher was the lack of bad or mishandled snaps.

The Jackets have been without starting center Taegen Pool the last two weeks.

Dunn filled in against Marlow in Week 7 with some mixed results.

The coaching staff was scrambling last week to find another solution.

On Wednesday, De La Torre, normally a tight end, volunteered his duties.

“He did a really good job snapping the ball and he also blocked really well,” Roof said. “For just two days of practice at the position, that was a heck of a performance.”

The Jackets will need another this week.

The Rockets, 6-2 overall, average 44.6 points a game and blend an explosive passing offense with a powerful run game.

They give up 24.5 points a contest.

They did fall to North Rock Creek on a rainy evening two weeks ago, but also own a 35-34 win over Marlow in which they trailed 21-0 early.

“This is a really good team,” Roof said. “You look at them on the roster and you watch them on film and you see they’ve got some kids who look the part and play the part.”

A Mount St. Mary win would lock up the district for the Rockets provided they win at Purcell in Week 10.

For Kingfisher, a win would lock up second place - and the home playoff game in the first round that comes with it - and also keep alive the Jackets’ hopes of winning a district title.

“There’s a lot on the line,” Roof said. “We’re going to work hard this week to be ready for it.”