Four teams remain as we have reached the first week of semifinal games and we have some great ones on tap as we inch closer to the state championship in the hunt for the gold ball.
Matchup stats courtesy of IWasAtTheGame.com
DEWAR vs HOLLIS (Class B-I)
Friday at 7:00pm at Alex
Last semifinal appearance: Dewar (2021) Hollis (2013)
Last state championship appearance: Dewar (2020) Hollis (2013)
Head to Head: First matchup
Dewar is a good football club. They play hard and play physical. They will be well coached and they will be well prepared.
HOLLIS head coach Jeremy Robinson
“We like the physicality we bring to any game. We are hoping it’s a dog fight. Being my first year as a head coach and being from Hollis is just trying to re establish a culture and an expectation that goes with playing @ Hollis. We preach to our kids to take care of their “E’s” everyday. Energy, Encouragement, Execution, and Enthusiasm. Our staff does a great job of holding these kids to the standard everyday.”
LAVERNE vs GARBER (Class B-I)
Friday at 7:00pm at Northwestern Oklahoma State University at Alva
Last semifinal appearance: Laverne (2022) Garber (2009)
Last state championship appearance: Laverne (2022) Garber (2009)
Head to Head: Laverne 10-4 all time (Last matchup week nine this season Laverne 50 Garber 0)
LAVERNE head coach Matt Cox
“Well, we just played them in week 9 and won 50-0. They are big and athletic/talented. We’ve been lucky enough to stay relatively healthy this year, which is a big deal. One of their best players got hurt earlier in the year (before district play started), so that hurt them a lot. We’ve had to adjust some schemes/personnel throughout the year, but that’s normal. The biggest thing for us is that our kids have learned to practice/prepare well every single week. Those things tend to lead to good performances on Friday night.”
DAVIS vs STROUD (Class 2A-II)
Friday at 1:00pm at Noble
Last semifinal appearance: Davis (2017) Stroud (2009)
Last championship appearance: Davis (2014) Stroud (2009)
Head to Head: Davis 3-1 (Last matchup 2000 Class 2A playoffs Davis 34 Stroud 0)
STROUD head coach Josh Presley
“We’re excited to play Davis in semis. We have a lot of respect for Davis and their tradition rich program. We have a lot of tradition here at Stroud too and we feel like it’s going to be a great game. We have a senior class that has a lot of experience and have done a great job leading this team this year. I feel like it’s two old school football teams squaring off against each other on Friday and the most physical team is going to win. We both pride ourselves on the ability to run the ball and play good defense. We have continued to do what we do on offense and defense and just hope to improve and get better every week. There is no magic offense or defense, our boys just go to work everyday and pay attention to the small details that we believe make the difference.”
VIAN vs COLCORD (Class 2A-II)
Friday at 7:00pm at Wagoner
Last semifinal appearance: Vian (2019) Colcord (2022)
Last championship appearance: Vian (2019) Colcord (Would be first in school history)
Head to Head: Vian 3-1 (Last matchup 2015 Class 2A playoffs Vian 55 Colcord 22)
VIAN head coach Gary Willis
“The game will be a battle between two very similar teams. Both rely on the run, but have the ability to throw. Both teams play very solid defense. Haven’t really done anything different than years past. Adjust O and D to best fit the skill of the current roster.”
COLCORD head coach Ryan Keenom
“It should be a great game against two very physical football teams. I think the biggest thing from last season to now is that this is the 2nd year I’ve been at Colcord, and we are a lot further along on defense than we were at this point last season. We’ve gotten healthy at the right time and are playing our best football when it matters most.”
WASHINGTON vs METRO CHRISTIAN (Class 2A-I)
Friday at 7:00pm at Harrah
Last semifinal appearance: Washington (Fifth consecutive since 2020) Metro Christian (2022)
Last championship appearance: Washington (2023) Metro Christian (2022)
Head to Head: Metro Christian 3-0 (Last matchup 2020 Class 2A State Championship Metro Christian 48 Washington 37)
WASHINGTON head coach Brad Beller
“Fourth overall meeting between us two. They are 3-0 against us. Last meeting was in the 2020 state championship game. They are loaded with talent on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. They are bigger than most years on the OLine and Dline. Should be a fun game to watch.”
MARLOW vs MILLWOOD (Class 2A-I)
Friday at 7:00pm at Noble
Last semifinal appearance: Marlow (Second consecutive) Millwood (Third consecutive since 2022)
Last championship appearance: Marlow (2021) Millwood (2023)
Head to Head: Marlow 2-0 (Last matchup 1992 Class 3A quarterfinals Marlow 24 Millwood 14)
MARLOW head coach Matt Weber
“We are just a different team because we have so many different players. Last years class had 22 seniors also and was a very good class that made it to the semis in class 3A. Or fundamental teams has similarities in offense, but our defense is totally different because we have different coordinator. Millwood poses so many problems because they are big, fast and physical. Coach Franklin and his staff do a great job coaching their team. There’s no mystery why they have been such a dominant team the last decade. We have to worry about ourselves and do the best job executing our stuff, because we have no control over what Millwood can does. Our goal is to play as hard as we can and hopefully take care of the football.”
SULPHUR vs CHECOTAH (Class 3A)
Friday at 7:00pm at Moore
Last semifinal appearance: Sulphur (2018) Checotah (1994)
Last championship appearance: Sulphur (2018) Checotah (1949)
Head to Head: Checotah 1-0 (Last matchup 1992 Class 3A playoffs Checotah 20 Sulphur 14)
Checotah has arguably the best athlete/player in the state of Oklahoma in Elijah Thomas, one of the most complete receivers I have seen in a long time. I coached Justin Blackmon at Plainview HS and he reminds me a lot of him at the HS level.
SULPHUR head coach Corey Cole
“Thomas can completely take over a game at any moment. Checotah is a hot team and playing its best ball right now. They are flying around on defense and making it happen offense. They are well coached and very disciplined and getting better every week, which is exactly what you want this time of the year. We have to control the LOS offensively and be chaotic on the front 7 on defense. We have to be efficient and take care of the ball offensively. Defensively we need to play very physical and take away the run game and find ways to confuse their QB and limit Thomas and the Wildcats passing game.”
Things we have changed…
“Every Tuesday we have a very physically tough practice, this is something we added this year and we feel has really benefited us and made us tougher come Friday nights. We focus on take aways and ball security for 15 minutes to start every Tuesday practice followed by a ten minute period of our best offense vs our best defense in a very physical segment. We have seen some of our best football during these segments throughout the year. Attention to detail has also been something we have really focused on in everything we do. We workout in Weight room every Monday/tuesday/wednesday/ and Thursday from 6:59am to 8:00am and that hasn’t changed since the playoffs hit. We strive daily to be the best versions of ourselves in everything we do in return making the Bulldogs the best versions of themselves every Friday night.”
CHECOTAH head coach Zac Ross
“Sulphur is a really good football team. They are physical and play fast. They are well coached and we are looking forward to another challenge this week.”
LINCOLN CHRISTIAN vs HERITAGE HALL (Class 3A)
Friday at 7:00pm at Prague
Last semifinal appearance: Lincoln Christian (Seventh consecutive since 2018) Heritage Hall (Eighth consecutive since 2017)
Last championship appearance: Lincoln Christian (2023) Heritage Hall (2023)
LINCOLN CHRISTIAN head coach Jerry Ricke
“We are excited about being in the semifinals for the 7th straight year. We know that Heritage Hall has a great system and great players and that they are always so well coached by Coach Bogert. We have already played them earlier this year but both teams have improved so much and are a little different. They know us well and we know them well so it will come down to who executes better. Their running back Barrett Travis is playing outstanding right now and they have many other capable players. Our players are excited by the opportunity and know they will have to prepare well.”
HERITAGE HALL head coach Brett Bogert
“Us and LC are very familiar with each other. 3rd time we’ve played in 11 months. Both teams are quite a bit different than last years final with a lot of new faces on both teams. Playing them week 1 was huge for us. We were very young up front and breaking in new QBs. We got a good taste of what November/December football is all about. It showed us what we needed to improve on and the level of intensity, focus and discipline it takes to win big games. We carried that over into district play and pulled off a couple close ones that we may not have if we didn’t have the experience week 1. So to answer your question, we have improved our discipline and mental focus greatly. We have cut out penalties and mental mistakes. We have also developed an identity on both sides of the ball that we hadn’t yet in week 1. It will be fun to see if what we’ve learned the last 12 weeks translates to the field Friday night!”
CHOCTAW vs SAND SPRINGS (Class 6A-II)
Friday at 1:00pm at Wagoner
Last semifinal appearance: Choctaw (Third consecutive since 2022) Sand Springs (2021)
Last championship appearance: Choctaw (2022) Sand Springs (1996)
CHOCTAW head coach Jake Corbin
“Our processes do not change a ton. We’ve been in 5 out of the past 6 semi finals; 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024. We just concentrate on doing the little things that add up to victories in tough games for this season. Our kids continue to work in the weight room, through sprints and film room to ensure that they are playing their best when Week 11 hits each year. Our players have taken our “VAR1ANT” theme to heart this year by making sure that each rep, each practice is maximized to get the results that we want.”
STILLWATER vs MUSKOGEE (Class 6A-II)
Friday at 7:00pm at Catoosa
Last semifinal appearance: Stillwater (2023) Muskogee (2023)
Last championship appearance: Stillwater (2023) Muskogee (2023)
Head to Head: Stillwater 11-6 (Last meeting 2023 Class 6A-II State Championship Muskogee 28 Stillwater 26)
MUSKOGEE head coach Travis Hill
“Real simple. Our match up against Stillwater, I hope, becomes a very common deal in the playoffs and seems to seems to have taken, taken taken off last couple of years. Obviously very much respect on our behalf toward Coach Cawood and his people. Championship pedigree football program going to be very, very difficult to beat due to that fact are things that we we have vastly improved on through the process of our year and how we’ll match up. I would think that early in the year, defensively, we weren’t a very, very good football football team. But due the fact of that was a very young group that we put on the field and now still a young group as far as seniors. I think we have three seniors that play and the rest are underclassmen, but they have grown up quite a bit and we feel like I said we feel like they’re ready to play at a high level and so they’re going to get tested on Friday night, it’ll be a very interesting match up, you got a very unique Stillwater team that that really is nontraditional on both sides of the football. And when I say that, I say it in a positive way. They would just as soon run the football as they would throw it any day as you see modern football coming up, that’s that’s a little different than what everybody else is doing. So very physical football team and then defensively, schematically they they do a lot of the of a nontraditional defense with the movement, the stand up movement. So they do oppose quite a few problems as far as preparation and everything but we feel like that we have established in our program some more winning traditions, which we run the football extremely well and I believe that stopping the run and being able to run the football, there’s two key ingredients to being able to be a championship football team. We’ve improved in those areas not only from a a standpoint week in and week out throughout the process of the 2024 season.”
OWASSO vs JENKS (Class 6A-I)
Friday at 1:00pm at Claremore
Last semifinal appearance: Jenks (19th consecutive since 2006) Owasso (Third consecutive since 2022)
Head to Head: Jenks 52-17 (Last matchup Owasso 42 Jenks 24 this season)
This is Jenks 19th consecutive semifinal appearance and first playoff matchup with Owasso since 2020.
BIXBY vs EDMOND MEMORIAL (Class 6A-I)
Friday at 7:00pm at Claremore
Last semifinal appearance: Bixby (11th consecutive since 2014) Edmond Memorial (First in school history, Last in 1993 before split of Edmond schools)
Head to Head: First time matchup
BIXBY head coach Loren Montgomery
“We only had 1 returning starter on defense and 4 on offense from last year’s team. We have had to grow up a ton and are still growing.”
Bixby has won 83 of its last 86 games and the Spartans have a 30-1 playoff record since 2014.
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