Bartlesville High football drops nail-biter to No. 1-ranked team in the state
Bartlesville High School’s football team hasn’t yet proven itself to be great.
But on a scale of one to 10, the Bruins are likely 9.95 when it comes to being greatly competitive.
Not that that helps in soothing the heartbreak of losing. Still, consider these results:
On Friday, the Bruins led the No. 1 Class 6A-II team in the state — the Muskogee Roughers — 27-23 going into the fourth quarter. Muskogee squeezed out the win, 30-27, and held on thanks to a controversial pass interference call on the Bruins with 1:17 left that allowed Muskogee to run out the clock.
Two weeks ago, Bartlesville led the defending Class 6A-II state champion Stillwater Pioneers, 10-7, until Stillwater scored with 1:16 left and recovered the ensuing kickoff to win, 14-10.
Last week, Bartlesville missed a field goal on the last play of regulation and fell to the Sand Springs Sandites, 30-27, in overtime.
With just a wriggle of fate’s fingers and the Bruins could easily be 8-1 or 7-2 on the season and 6-0 in district.
In reality, they are now 3-6 and 3-3 following Friday’s gut-twister against the Muskogee Roughers.
"They have a lot of upperclassmen that have started on varsity since they were 9th graders," Bruin head coach Harry Wright said. "Their quarterback is one of the best in the state. They have athletes all over the field at every position."
Bartlesville closes out the regular season next week with a road game at Tahlequah (2-7, 2-4).
The comforting news is Bartlesville still is in strong contention to finish fourth in the district and host a first-round playoff game.
Case for the defense
In the second half, the Bartlesville defense allowed the Roughers to possess the ball less than seven minutes.
"I'm pleased really with the overall effort," Bruin defensive coordinator Travis Burkhalter said. "You have an explosive defense like that and our guys stepped up and played fearless throughout the entire game. We did a great job of rallying and keeping our eyes mostly in the right places."
Adyn Peugh recorded 9.5 tackles, followed by Chase Eaves with eight to lead the squad.
Unfortunately, four-year defensive line starter Cooper Wood saw his season end last week with an injury.
"Cooper is a special talent," Burkhalter said. "He played tremendous the entire year. ... I hate for that. He's a heck of a leader. He was still very visible on the sidelines at practice for our guys."
P.J. Wallace on the loose
Prior to the game, the school honored Bruin junior tailback P.J. Wallace for having rushed for more than 3,000 yards in his career.
He broke it lose again in this game — 168 yards on 37 carries, according to the E-E stats.
Perhaps one those carries best exemplified the bottomless desire of this special athlete. With Bartlesville facing a third-and-six at the Muskogee 31-yard line, Wallace burst to the middle and gained 17 yards — while literally dragging a tackler the final 10 yards. That gain set up Bartlesville's final field goal.
“The thing that he has improved on his breakaway speed once he gets in the open field,” Bruin head coach Harry Wright said.
Wallace displayed plenty of zip in this game, grinding and exploding forward to help move the chains and keep the Muskogee offense sidelined.
His full stats will appear in a follow-up.
Well begun is half done
That philosophy might have worked for Mary Poppins in cleaning the nursery but it had no effect in this game.
Based on the first four-and-a-half minutes, the Roughers should have romped to victory.
The Rougher defense forced Bartlesville into a three-and-punt on the game’s first possession and the offense then shredded the Bruins’ Cooper Wood-less defense on an eight-play, 59-yard touchdown drive that lasted three minutes and 15 seconds. Muskogee quarterback Jamarian Ficklin finished off the drive on a slithering, stop-and-go run off left tackle for a nine-yard scoring run.
But, Bartlesville pretty much controlled the rest of the game on both sides of the ball.
Quick strike tie
After Muskogee grabbed a fast 7-0 lead, the Bruins answered like lightning.
Starting their next drive on the Bruin 32-yard line, Bartlesville needed just four plays to score.
They got most of it on one play, when quarterback Nate Neal ran a play action and then fired a rocket to Jett Scully, who ran a deep slant cross, for a play that covered 51 yards. Three plays later, Bruin tailback P.J. Wallace vaulted over the line — being upended into a somersault and falling into the end zone — for a one-yard score. Braxton Decker’s extra point knotted the game, 7-7.
The game was only 5:29 old.
Swap and pop
There would be no more ties, but there would be six more lead changes.
With 4:32 left in the opening quarter, Muskogee’s Valente Espinosa booted a 28-yard field goal to push the Roughers ahead, 10-7.
But, Bartlesville would surge back into the lead on a strike from Neal to Austin Zink for a 12-yard touchdown and Decker’s PAT with 7:55 remaining in the first half, 14-10. On the play, Zink sat down in an open spot and made a little comeback to catch the ball and zip into the end zone.
Muskogee answered less than four minutes when Ficklin lofted a 15-yard pass to Anthony Watson for a touchdown. The extra point failed and Muskogee led, 16-14, with 4:11 left until halftime.
Bartlesville responded shortly after with a 33-yard field goal by Decker, to finish off a 30-yard drive, and reclaim the lead, 17-16, going into halftime.
Muskogee refused to stay down for long. The Roughers received the kickoff to open the second half and scored in just three plays, including a 48-yard play-action deep post-route pass from Ficklin to Elijah Muhammad. Bruin defensive back Chase Eaves made the touchdown-saving tackle. Ficklin ran the ball in from one yard out on the next play to flip-flop lead to Muskogee’s favor, 23-17, following the extra point.
That lead held up for less than seven minutes. Bartlesville powered ahead, 24-23, on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Neal to Eaves and Decker’s extra point, with 4:27 left in the third quarter. On the play, Eaves burst straight up the middle and Eaves delivered a textbook bullet.
Bartlesville then got a break when Muskogee muffed the ensuing kickoff, giving the Bruins possession on the Muskogee 35-yard line. Bartlesville turned that opportunity into another Decker field goal, this one from 26 yards out, to add to their lead, 27-23. And, it was still the third quarter.
There would be only one fourth-quarter score. a 53-yard play on a pass up the middle from Ficklin to the burly Watson (6-foot, 225 pounds) who shucked one would-be Bruin tackler from around his upper body and hustled to the end zone. With the extra point, Muskogee owned the lead again, 30-27, with 11:52 remaining in the game.
There would be no more scoring.
Rugged end for the home team
Bartlesville never completely recovered. On their next possession, the Bruins had to overcome two personal foul penalties and ended up missing a 36-yard field goal with 5:05 remaining.
The Bruins got the ball back one more time, with 3:07 left.
But, they turned the ball over on downs, coming up just a couple of inches short of a diving completion on a fourth-down pass.
Muskogee began its final possession with 2:15 left.
Their drive appeared to be stalling out at midfield. But, on a third-down pass, the officials flagged a Bruin defensive back for pass interference. When the replay ran twice on the giant video board, the Bruin home faithful unleashed Herculean booing.
But to no avail.
The ball gave Muskogee a first down and the Bruins had no timeouts. Muskogee (8-1, 6-0) had to snap the ball just three times to reach the final buzzer.
Eaves of production and other stats
Eaves enjoyed perhaps his finest offensive day on the Bruin varsity.
He pulled in six catches for 88 yards.
Other highlights included Damien Niko securing a catch for a 38-yard gain to help set up a field goal try; Adyn Peugh's red zone block to spring Wallace free for a 12-yard scamper; Scully grabbing two passes for 61 yards; and Neal completing 10-of-20 passes for 209 yards and no interceptions.
Second half dominance
Bartlesville controlled the ball more than 16 minutes the second half on 36 plays and 10 first downs. For the game, the Bruin offense ran 64 plays for 427 yards.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville football falls but pushes No. 1 Muskogee to ragged edge
