A look at area high school football teams as 2023 season approaches
Believe it or not, some area high school football teams are only seven weeks away from their season openers as of this coming Friday. In some other cases, like for Bartlesville, the campaign debut is eight weeks hence.
Either way, the days are flinging by until the whistle sounds to signal the beginning of the gridiron wars.
As a build-up to what promises to be an exciting journey for fans from Ramona to the south, Pawhuska to the west, Nowata and Oklahoma Union to the east and Caney, Kansas, to the north − and Bartlesville and Wesleyan Christian) in the middle − the E-E is turning the spotlight on 13 games to keep an eye on this autumn.
The E-E coverage area for prep football encompasses 10 schools, from Class C (Wesleyan Christian School, Copan), to Class B (Barnsdall), to Class A (Oklahoma Union), to Class 2A (Pawhuska, Caney Valley, Nowata) to Class 3A (Dewey, Caney, Kansas) to Class 6A-II (Bartlesville). The geographic area covers about 35 miles north to south and about 45 miles west to east.
Caney Valley, Nowata and Pawhuska will play in the same district (2A-8), and Wesleyan Christian School (WCS) and Copan will both populate District C-3 (8-man teams). Barnsdall also plays in an 8-man team district (B-7).
The E-E is planning on beginning later this week its top-games-to-watch countdown.
SHADOWS FROM 2022
Teams that won at least 5 games: WCS (10-2); Caney Valley, Kansas (8-3); Barnsdall (7-4); Pawhuska (6-5); Bartlesville (5-7);
Teams that won a playoff game: Bartlesville (at Lawton, 36-30, OT); WCS (host Graham-Dustin, 51-28); Caney Valley, Kansas (host Eureka, 44-16; host Council Grove, 16-3).
Teams with new coaches in 2022: Bartlesville (Harry Wright), Dewey: (Ryan Richardson), Nowata (Chance Juby).
Football coach with longest tenure at same area school going into 2023 season: Criss Davis, Caney Valley, Kan. (more than 20 years). Next: Kylee Sweeney (Barnsdall, 2016) and Stephen Mitchell (Caney Valley, 2016).
QUICK OBSERVATIONS
Bartlesville: Large corps of returners, including QB, RB, top WR. Defense should be even more stingy.
Dewey: Deep corps of WR, return of lineman Braden Garrison.
WCS: Power core of prodigious producers back from 10-win season.
Copan: Four freshmen horsemen back as sophomores, plus a few impact juniors and seniors.
Caney Valley: Rebuilding Trojans focus on putting bad luck of 1-9 campaign behind them.
Pawhuska: New QB to be key factor in Huskies quest for a fifth-straight winning season.
Barnsdall: Third-year starters at QB and TB to spearhead success as well as several other rugged warriors.
Nowata: Numbers are up slightly, but still low. Returning skilled QB surrounded by strong talent in development.
Oklahoma Union: Coming off winless season, Cougars look to build on last year's growing pains and hard lumps.
Caney Valley, Kansas: No head coach and staff reloads quicker than Criss Davis. Running game should be game buster.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Looking at 2023 area high school football teams
