Chandler’s defense domainted Dewey Friday night, as shown on this play. From left are Kale Winters, Maddox Metheny, Landon Massie and Coniah Ritchie. Photo/Brian Blansett BRIAN BLANSETT Darius Wade romped for five touchdowns and Chandler’s defense bent but didn’t break at Dewey Friday night, leading the Lions to a 38-7 victory in the regular season finale.
The Lions finished with a 7-3 overall record and 5-2 record in district, good for third place. Now they’ll head to Kiefer Friday night for the first round of the playoffs. The Trojans are 8-2, having lost to Class 2A powers Jones and Kingston.
It’s the seventh straight year for the Lions to make the playoffs under head coach Jack Gray. That’s a school record.
Wade, a junior, was the beneficiary of Dewey’s focus on stopping Chandler’s passing game. He broke scoring runs of 81, 5, 6, 5 and 31 yards.
“We wanted to throw the ball, but they were set up in a very prevent-ish pass defense,” Gray said. “So, we went back to the running game and did a great job running the ball.
“When we get into the running game and the I-back is touching the ball every time, it gives him a lot of ability to break some long runs.”
Wade ran 81 yards for a touchdown on Chandler’s first offensive snap of the game. Dewey had driven to the Chandler 19 and ran nearly six minutes off the clock before missing a 36-yard field goal.
Wade was back in the end zone five minutes later after a 5-yard run, making the score 14-0.
He got his third touchdown of the night midway through the second quarter, running six yards for the score. Touchdown No. 4 came just after halftime on a five-yard run.
Levi Becktol, whose kicks were money all night, booted a 39-yard field goal with 2:55 in the third quarter, making the score 31-7 Wade recorded his fifth touchdown of the night when he ran 31 yards for his fifth touchdown with 11:10 left in the game.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Lions, who went 2-3 the first half of the season. Those first five games were against Stroud, ranked No. 7 in Class 2A-II; Lone Grove, ranked No. 9 in Class 3A; Clinton, ranked No. 15 in Class 4A; Metro Christian, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A-1 and one of two unbeaten teams in the class; and Sequoyah, ranked No. 5 in Class 2A-1.
“We played a lot of freshmen early on,” Gray said. “A lot of the freshmen were playing like freshmen, but those guys have slowly become sophomores and they’re older now.
“They’ve responded very well to how much we’ve had to move them around and do things.”
Gray said this year’s thinner roster has created some practice challenges and sometimes required coaches to be on the practice field with the scout team. Still, he said, the team has done well.
“That’s the thing I’m most proud of,” he said. “Most coaches around the state, if you said ‘hey, you’re in large 2A and you have 23 kids and five seniors,’ most people would think it’s going to be hard to win two or three games, but these guys have won seven.
“I’m very proud of them. We’ve asked a lot of them, but they’ve responded.
Now it’s on to Kiefer, with Friday’s kickoff set for 7 p.m.
The Trojans are coming off a 66-8 bashing of Okmulgee.
Their season has followed much the script as the Lions’. They started off 2-2 after losing to Jones, 36-8, in their second game and to Kingston, 28-14, in their fourth.
Since then, they’ve peeled off six straight wins with a cumulative score of 321-42 and have shut out three opponents.
The winner of the Chandler-Kiefer game will advance to face the winner of third-ranked Washington and Chisholm next week.