The best part of this time of year is the opportunity to chase our area teams down the Road to the Gold Ball. Admittedly, we were spoiled last year as we watched DCLA, Cherokee and Hennessey win gold balls and Kingfisher play for one in Stillwater.
With that in mind, I looked forward to week 11 of the season with two trips on my schedule. Friday night meant a nearly four hour trip out to the panhandle to watch the Okeene Whippets take on Texhoma in Class A action, followed by a trip to South Haven on Saturday afternoon to call the Cardinals against Baileyville B&B in the 8-man II substate game.
Rolling out of Enid around two o’clock Friday afternoon, I looked forward to a long drive across Northwest Oklahoma and hoped the payoff at the end of the drive would be worth it. I’ve driven THROUGH Texhoma many times, but this is the first time I had actually stopped.
I was feeling good…arrived plenty early…had a nice set up in the press box…except for one BIG thing. The cellphone that I was counting on using for the broadcast would not call out. I had three bars which should have been plenty of signal and the AT&T coverage map showed decent coverage in the area as well.
It could have been a crisis, but a couple of great people bailed me out. William Sproal (I hope I got the spelling right) is a manager for the Okeene football team who graciously let me use his cellphone to broadcast the game. Unfortunately, he had not brought his charger. This is where a member of the staff at Texhoma High School stepped up. He sent a student to his house to grab his charger from his bedroom. Ten minutes later I was ready to go and a lot less stressed. Thanks William….as well as some great people in Texhoma.
The game, on the other hand, made the night for myself and a lot of Whippet fans who made the trip a long one. The Red Devils kicked an early field goal then intercepted a Bret Wardlaw pass and took it back for a touchdown to take an early 11-0 lead. Wardlaw injured his knee in the first quarter and would not get off the sidelines. It was sad to see a gamer like Wardlaw end his high school career only able to watch his teammates battle from behind.
Texhoma built up a 25-0 lead in the second quarter before Okeene second-string quarterback Scott Dobrinski led touchdown drives to end the first half and begin the second half to trim the lead to 25-14. Neither team would score again.
It was a disappointing ending for the Whippets and the Wardlaws (head coach Jeff and son Bret), but I was glad to find out that Southern Nazarene University, led by former Whippet star Brady Wardlaw, clinched a NAIA playoff spot on Saturday afternoon with a win over Langston.
The long drive home began soon after the game ended…I made it back to Enid at 2 a.m. 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Eight hours of driving, a three-hour broadcast and one hour trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do without a cellphone!
After a short night, Rick Evans and I headed north to South Haven for the Kansas 8-man II substate game between the Cardinals and the number one team and defending state champion, Baileyville B&B.
Rick jumped at the chance to watch this game because he just loves good football and was interested in seeing how the best 8 man teams in Kansas compared to Oklahoma. Neither one of the teams would disappoint.
Baileyville B&B won the game 42-20 for their 25th win in a row and their 50th win in their last 51 games. B&B jumped out 14-0 and looked like they might cruise, but South Haven rallied to close to 20-12. At that point, B&B fullback and linebacker Cody Heiman proceeded to take over the game. The 6-3, 229 pound senior took over on offense, running out of the Wildcat formation after starting tailback Mitch Engelken got injured, and laid some punishing hits and was all over the field on defense.
Heiman is a stud and he wasn’t the only good player on the Falcons. Coach Evans said that Heiman is the best player he’s seen this year and that B&B would be more than competitive against the best in Oklahoma. His running style reminded Coach of another Kansas legend, Centralia native John Riggins. I couldn’t disagree with his assessment.
We lost two of our area teams, but both of them showed well and left you with no doubt that the Whippets and the Cardinals will be back and ready to take that next step in 2012.
