How did Blanchard top Newcastle in key district football battle? 'Rely on our defense'
NEWCASTLE — Blanchard didn’t have its best offensive performance Friday.
Finishing with 294 yards and three offensive touchdowns, Blanchard wasn’t perfect on that side of the football as it faced Newcastle.
But star senior quarterback Carson Cooksey and Blanchard’s offense didn’t have to be perfect.
Because on Friday, the Lions’ defense showed it can be just as dominant.
Class 4A third-ranked Blanchard handed Newcastle its first loss of the season in a 28-13 victory at Racer Stadium. Ben Heefner and Gage Ellison each intercepted a pass in the second half, and the Lions allowed just 302 yards against an offense led by quarterback Jackson Bergt.
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The only touchdown Blanchard gave up came after Cooksey was sacked on fourth down on his own 3-yard line in the first quarter.
“They played really good,” Cooksey said of his team’s defense. “We gave them seven points on that fourth down. Other than that, our defense really stopped them.”
Cooksey, who finished 10-of-20 passing for 179 yards and one touchdown, had a great connection with Hudsen Periman throughout the night.
Periman, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound junior, had five catches for 122 yards and a score. He also had an impressive snag in the back of the end zone on a two-point conversion, a catch similar to one he had in a 61-18 win against Noble in the Lions’ season opener.
“Hud is a dude, man,” Blanchard coach Jeff Craig said. “I mean, he’s made two catches now that are just highlight-reel catches. Made one in the Noble game and then he made one tonight pretty much on the same play.”
Cooksey and Periman connected on a 48-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give Blanchard (4-1, 2-0 District 4A-2) a 6-0 lead before TJ Bradford scored on a 3-yard run for Newcastle (4-1, 1-1) after Cooksey was sacked and Blanchard turned it over on downs.
But Brayson Carter returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, and Blanchard never relinquished its lead from there.
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“Immediately just kills the psyche of the other team,” Craig said of the kickoff return. “Because they’re so high because they just got up, now they’re back down again just like that. He did that last week and did it again this week. Keep kicking to him. We’ll see what happens.”
Blanchard had a 14-10 lead at halftime and a 14-13 advantage at the end of the third quarter before Carter took a reverse 23 yards for a score with 11:48 left in the fourth.
A 15-yard touchdown pass from Cooksey to Coric Pierce with 9:25 left gave Blanchard some breathing room and essentially sealed the win.
“It’s just one drive at a time,” Cooksey said. “We were going to get stopped. We know that. We just got to keep with it, rely on our defense to get stops. We did that and finally got a couple in the end zone.”
Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma high school football: Blanchard beats Newcastle in Week 5
