Nov 19 sports coverage

THE CANADIAN RECORD

THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2015

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THE CANADIAN RECORD

Owls can’t weather Wildcat hailstorm The Wildcats (11-0) produced a season’s worth of highlights in one game Friday night, defeating Hale Center 70-15 in the bidistrict championship round of the playoffs.

The 70 points and 679 yards produced by the Air Canada offense were both season highs. Fourteen Wildcats touched the rock on offense and seven of those Wildcats put a touchdown on the board, while kicker Benigno Heredia was perfect on nine PAT attempts, Corbin Douthitt with a boot of his own.

The game easily could have been mistaken for an Oprah Winfrey giveaway special as seemingly everyone went home with a touchdown.

“Coach told us before the game started, he wanted flawless execution,” said senior receiver Ryan Royse, “which set the game tone. When you want flawless execution, you can’t mess up. You gotta make plays. We normally step up in the playoffs and we make plays, that’s what we do.”

It only took two tries for the Wildcats to open the floodgates. Sawyer Cook took the first pass from Tanner Schafer 31 yards, and Royse did the rest as he ran a reverse pitch from Chance Cook. Schafer threw a good enough cut block that caused two Owls to stumble into each other and left tackle Eli Klein twisted up his man as Royse turned on the jets.

“With everyone keying on Chance, when he runs one way a lot of people run that way,” said Head Coach Chris Koetting, “so I felt like we had a chance to get a big play early in the game, kind of get the momentum going our direction. Ryan, when you get him the ball in space, he’s hard to get down. Kinda got the game going, got us headed in the right direction.”

The offense was as potent as it has been all season. A kinetic machine of precision and brutal force.

Schafer picked receivers at his leisure.

An elegant toss to Cameron Copley with brilliant downfield blocking by Klein and Royse sprung another 31-yard gain.

“One of the strong points of our offense all year has been the blocking by our receivers,” said Koetting. “I really believe this may be the best blocking group of receivers we’ve ever had. They have to be great, with all the screens that we throw. The key to blocking as a receiver is wanting to do it, and taking it as seriously as running a route and catching a pass. Coach Isom does a great job working with them on drills and things to get them blocking good.”

The set-up gave Schafer the opportunity to launch a shot at bruiser S. Cook who, with a spin move, flourished his way into the end zone.

Running back C. Cook then took his turn

desecrating the Owl defense, starting with a 31-yard sideline run. He ran a relatively short 7 yards off a fake-screen, but finished by running over two Owls, driving the first into the ground and dragging the second to the 2-yard line. The punishment was enough that when Cook received the hand-off on the following play, rather than trying to tackle the Iron Horse, the Owls simply stood up and watched him trot in.

“When you get somebody down by a score or two,” said Koetting, “they kind of get their heads down a little bit, that’s when we really try to pick up the pace even more. It just wears the defense down, especially when we start playing fast and running the ball.

They get tired. That’s why we pull away from teams when we get in that mode. We think it’s an advantage to us that most teams don’t play as fast as we do.”

The defense had already blanketed the team in blue, and Nick Dumbauld had been a huge part of that success, deflecting both balls thrown towards him on third downs.

The Owls made the horrible mistake of yetagain throwing towards the 5-foot-11 defensive back. This time, Dumbauld came down with the errant pass and set up a short field for the offense at the 30-yard line.

Dumbauld credited the entire defense with the turnover. “I was far from a shutdown corner. It starts with the D-line. They gotta get the pressure on the quarterback that they needed to get, and he threw some kind of crazy balls that were easy to defend.

The rest of the defense, besides me, just held up their own, and they just so happened to throw it up my way.”

“Nick probably started the year more as a backup,” said Koetting, “but he’s shown great improvement. He’s a starter [now].

He’s earned that. He’s got great speed and height. He’s very valuable to our defense.”

Schafer pegged his favorite target, Copley, on a 13-yard out-route and Copley’s first score. Then Schafer and Copley connected again on a 22-yard screen. Despite four defenders being unable to tackle the speedster, a defensive back was left out on an island for Schafer to drop a 24-yard fade into the awaiting hands of Copley in the corner for a third consecutive touchdown between the pair. Copley, for the seventh week in a row, led the team in yards receiving with 111 on five catches.

C. Cook punched in two more scores, the first on a 44-yard pass from Schafer, then a 39-yard run, juking the first two attempted tackles and outrunning the last three. C. Cook finished the day with 148 yards rushing on only 10 carries.

Schafer has steadily increased his efficiency and performance the last three weeks. For the second week in a row, Schafer missed on only one attempt going 15 of 16.

The 94-percent completion is his highest yet this year to go along with 313 yards passing.

The relief of the starting offense did not mean Air Canada was finished scoring. Be-

fore the end of the half, Edgar Moreno took a screen pass from Douthitt 76 yards for the quarterback’s first passing touchdown this season, as well as Moreno’s first score of the year. Douthitt completed both of his pass attempts for 87 yards as well as punching in a 4-yard score in the third quarter.

Newly-promoted varsity members even got their first in-game experience, playoff game not withstanding. In the end, 53 different players got on the field for multiple snaps.

“It was awesome because those guys at the end of the game, that got in, were the ones that really helped us in practice,” said Dumbauld. “So it’s really good for them to be able to go out and show what they can do on the field in front of everybody and not just in practice.”

The 15 points and 254 offensive yards by Hale Center, both season highs against the Blackade defense, are misleading out of context. Of those yards, 93 came from three hail mary passes, where the Owls heaved the ball as far as they could and hoped for the best.

“There were just a couple plays that they kind of got lucky on,” said Dumbauld. “I messed up a couple times where I just didn’t quite get into him all the way. They made good plays.”

Still, the Blackade had their way with the team in blue starting with the return of the sack game.

After starting the first six games with 33 sacks, the team hit a bit of a drought, only collecting six in the remaining four contests.

This was in part due to teams preferring to run the ball unsuccessfully rather than attempt to take on the increasing pass rushing capabilities of the Wildcats. On Friday, however, the Sack Attack returned, as five different Black Cats, including Cooper Trolinger, Mario Flores, Cory Chidester, S. Cook, and Holton Hufstedler, added a cross to the fuselage. Flores and Hufstedler would also lead in tackles for loss with three and four respectively. Twelve Wildcats altogether got in on the backfield action.

“Our defense played spectacular, all year long,” said Royse. “Not gonna lie, they’re probably one of the best in the state. It all starts with the defensive line and then you move into linebackers. If you can shut down the run, it makes them one-dimensional.

They gotta throw it. When you have corners like Nick Dumbauld, Manny Ramsey and Cameron Copley, they just go after interceptions. That’s what Coach Cav wants us to focus on is this year.”

“All year we’ve practiced well,” said Dumbauld, “and we’ve kept the mentality that it doesn’t matter who we play. I felt like this week, once we got into the playoffs, the practices were definitely more intense and there was more effort going around. I think that definitely helped our defense tonight with the JV kids practicing against us and going hard. I think it was just a good day.”

I can give you 70 reasons why it was a great day for the Wildcats.

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Senior running back Chance Cook plows over a Hale Center defender on a 7-yard dash leading to a 2-yard run for his first of three touchdowns in the bi-district playoff opener.

PHOTOS BY PEYTON AUFILL

Wildcats return to Vernon after District 1-2A sweep of Bi-District With the victory over Hale Center, Canadian heads into the second round of the 2A D1 playoffs. In the area championship, the Wildcats will take on the Stamford Bulldogs, in what may be an all-out offensive grudge match.

“Stamford’s a great program,” said Head Coach Chris Koetting. “They’re two years removed from winning back to back state championships. They have some really great players and a great program. They know how to win.

They’ve been in these kind of games before. They’re definitely an established program.”

It’s easy to see the game plan for the 10-1 Bulldogs. With 41 rushing touchdowns on the legs of seniors Zai Zai Smith, Ligon West and Keelem Woodard—Smith and West with 17 and 16 apiece—the strategy for Stamford inside the 25 is to put it on the legs of the quarterback-running back tandem. Smith has rushed for 853 yards while West has added 713 of his own.

Between the 30s, West can be equally dangerous through the air with 10 touchdowns and 2,027 yards passing, alongside four interceptions.

“Everything starts with their quarterback,” said Koetting. “He’s got a good arm. They run him a lot. I wouldn’t say he’s real fast, but he’s real shifty and hard to bring down. I’ve seen a lot of people just miss him.”

However, only a single receiver has risen over 500 yards.

Senior John Louis Dyer just ensnared 542 yards and Garrett Ramos is just behind with 437. Four of the receivers also come into the game with catches of 35 yards or more.

Stamford appears to be hitting their stride offensively, as they have scored more than 42 points in four of their last five contests.

The Blackade defense will be their toughest out yet, as Canadian only allows an average of 70.4 yards rushing to

opposing offenses. The ever-growing number of tackles for loss, now a staggering 252, should be equally daunting for the Bulldog line.

The Wildcats have already been battle-tested by several ground-and-pound run attacks, including Childress, Wellington, and Stratford, but only gave up 19 points between the three despite 100-yard rushing performances by each.

The thorn in Stamford’s side will undoubtedly be the well-oiled Air Canada machine of an offense that has only improved since the week-eight battle with Stratford, producing 188 points in those three games alone while increasing production each week. Stamford has already given up more than 39 points twice this year, and 24 points four times. Canadian has yet to score less than 31. Quarterback Tanner Schafer is only 104 yards from 3,000 on the year and has 36 touchdowns. Running back Chance Cook is only 26 from 1,500 yards rushing with 21 touchdowns.

Both should reach their milestone this game. Receiver Cameron Copley only needs one more touchdown to reach 20. Considering he’s scored at least one touchdown in the past eight games, two in the last five, and three in the last three, it’s a pretty surefire bet he’ll reach that marker and then some. Receiver Sawyer Cook is also just one touchdown away from double-digits.

After a brief lull, defensive end Cory Chidester reached 15 sacks against Hale Center and Cooper Trolinger is only two away from double digits.

If Canadian performs routinely, an early lead on the Bulldogs will force an uncomfortable passing game from Stamford, opening an opportunity for the Blackade to continue its sacking and turnover ways while the Schafer, Cook, Copley trifecta builds another insurmountable lead.

Looking ahead in the playoffs, District 1-2A proved that this area runs through them, as all four playoff teams swept District 2-2A. Alongside Canadian’s victory, Stratford pummeled Floydada 42-12, as was expected. Wellington raised some eyebrows with their shutdown of traditional playoff team Abernathy, 28-8. Panhandle was the real shocker, stealing their opener from heavy favorite champion New Deal, 35-31.

“I was a little surprised by the outcome of the New Deal-Panhandle game,” said Koetting, “but not completely. I thought there was a good chance it could happen. And to be honest, I think we have a really good chance to win all four games again this week. That would be pretty amazing.

I don’t think people realize how tough it is to beat Stratford and Wellington. People don’t realize how physical those teams are and teams that come in here and don’t play them all the time, it usually doesn’t end up well for them.”

On the other side of the bracket, Region 2 favorite Mart was also knocked off by scrappy Tolar, 41-35.

The lesson?

“Big games, it’s win or go home,” said senior Ryan Royse. “Coach Brady preaches it every time we kick the ball off, ‘Don’t let up. Don’t let up.’ So that’s what we try to do. If you stay on them, then they don’t have a chance to get back in it.”

No. 1 Canadian continues their title-defense run Friday at 7:30 in Vernon. Canadian will play as the visiting team.

Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students at the gate. If you can’t make it out to the game, be sure to follow our social media feed on Facebook or Twitter @CrecordSports for live updates, pictures and video from the game.

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Above: Manny Ramsey shows off his agility.

Left: Sawyer Cook falls forward for extra yards on the reception to the dismay of four Owls.

Bottom: Holton Hufstedler leads the pack.

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No. 8 Lady Cats smoke Lady ‘Stangs in home opener The Lady Cats hosted their first basketball game and it left the visiting Lady ‘Stangs wishing they had stayed in Wheeler.

The 68-20 blowout was the second in as many games for the Lady Cats. However, the largest contributors were contrasting to the leaders in the season opener at Pampa.

“We had three different leading scorers again,” said Head Coach Kevin Richardson.

“That’s a mark of our team, that I think we have several girls that can score on a nightly basis. That’s a good thing, in that some nights just aren’t your night. Hopefully somebody picks up that slack. I think we have a lot of girls that are capable of doing that.”

Sophomore Emily Alexander led the team in points with 17. Junior Kayla Brinkley followed with 11 and junior Avery Pennington had 10.

“The other team played a zone and other girls just had better opportunities,” said Richardson. “The girls that scored were our post players, and they should against the zone. I thought we did a good job there, for sure.”

Points were distributed evenly throughout the team as Vanessa Guthrie and Caroline Cook came away with 9 apiece. Haevyn Risley added 8 and Chloe Walser snuck in 4.

“Certain games, certain people step up,” said Pennington. “I think when all of us get to the point where we’re supposed to be, it’s going to be really good.”

The Lady Cats heavily out-rebounded Wheeler 30-17, led by Risley’s seven, though Pennington and Alexander had five of their own.

Threes also came a little easier Saturday.

Versus Pampa, the Lady Cats were 1 of 11,

tribute that to. Maybe our focus wasn’t great [or] we tried to play a little faster than we’re capable of playing at this point. We were rushing some things. The score, it just looks like we really blew them out, and we did, but I thought we made some mistakes too.”

shooting 11 percent outside the arc. Against the Lady ‘Stangs however, the team drained 36 percent of their attempts going 4 for 11 with Cook, Brinkley and Walser all contributing.

The aggressive play rewarded Canadian, though the team still feels they are playing frantic and need to sustain more control during their possessions.

“I thought we got sloppy at times,” said Richardson. “I don’t really know what to at-

While the Lady Cats managed to pull away 17 steals, the 21 turnovers by Canadian is a source of concern. The team hopes that continuing to slow the pace a little while running the offense to find more opportunistic baskets will alleviate the crazed play.

“We’re going to have turnovers,” said Richardson, “but we’ve got to get it below 15 and if we can, then we’re going to be good.”

Free throws are also eluding the team.

Though the Lady Cats went to the line 21

times, only 8 points could be collected from the effort, a fairly abysmal 38 percent from the line, even compared to Wheeler’s paltry 46. The high point in the low numbers was Pennington’s perfect 4 for 4 at the line.

Richardson wants improvement in the category, but attributes the frustration to early-season fatigue, as well as jitters.

“I feel like that early season free-throw percentage is just shape. To be running up and down the court, and then to step up to the free-throw line and be able to relax when you’re breathing hard and just feeling that routine again. It’s a lot easier when you’re breathing normal at the sideline to say, ‘Hey, put that free throw in.’”

“The other part of it is having confidence when you get up to the line,” he said. “That’s developed in practice. We gotta shoot more in practice. It’s early, but it’s always concerning to me when you start looking at those numbers. You just want it to be great now, and as a coach, you have to realize it’s not going to be great.”

The Lady Cats have still outscored their two opponents 135-34, and a shooting percentage of 60—up from 47 at Pampa— inside the arc will be a tough handle for any opponent this year. The question remains if the Lady Cats can continue to improve throughout the season.

PHOTOS BY ALAN HALE

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Lady Cats test their might in Frenship 6A tournament

Junior post Avery Pennington wins the tip-off.

Junior Haevyn Risley goes up for the jumpshot.

Sophomore Caroline Cook drives the lane.

Emily Alexander goes for the easy lay-up.

The 2-0 Lady Cats will test their merit early in the season when they travel to Wolforth for five games in three days at the Frenship tournament.

“It’s an opportunity to kind of see where we’re at,” said Head Coach Kevin Richardson. “I think we’re pretty good. So we need to go step up to those challenges. Play against other teams that maybe you don’t play against all the time.”

“Playing against athletic teams, they’re going to expose you in some ways,” Richardson said. “Sometimes it can be really good for you in that you see what you need to improve on. Sometimes we’ve gone down there and played really well in the past and it serves as a confidence booster for you. You’re playing against teams that are supposedly better than you are, or more athletic, and if you can pull off some wins, then it serves as a confidence booster for you. It’s definitely done that in the past for our team.”

The tournament begins with pool play and Canadian will open with 6A El Paso Americas at 7:30 pm on Thursday. Friday features a double-header versus 4A Greenwood at 9 am and 6A Frenship at 3 pm. Saturday will be dedicated to championship-and consolation-bracket tournaments.

“You never know what you’re going to get out of an El Paso team,” said Richardson.

“As far as Greenwood and Frenship, both of them are quality programs. Obviously Frenship is a large school, they’ve always got athletes, so it’s going to be a challenge.

We played them last year and quite honestly, if we had played better in the second quarter we would’ve beat ‘em. The thing I like about this tournament is, I don’t think there is anybody that’s completely out of our league, that if we don’t play well on a given night, we can’t beat. They’re one of those teams. If we play well, we have a chance to win the game, if not, we’ll probably lose.”

The Lady Cats have already tested their might with a preseason scrimmage versus Amarillo, but this time, it counts. The team is averaging 67.5 points in their first two outings and has done well to share the wealth among all 11 teammates, with five players reaching double digits. Haevyn Risley and Emily Alexander averaged 13 and 15 points in the two matches. The girls are also out-rebounding foes 61-42 and have forced 89 turnovers while only giving up 40—though Richardson wants that number down by 10 or so.

“I just hope we can take what we learned from playing Pampa and Wheeler and take it to play Frenship and the bigger schools,” said Avery Pennington, who had 10 points and five rebounds versus Wheeler. “I know it’s not going to be perfect, because they’re bigger schools, but it’s going to help us work on what we need to.”

The Lady Cats will have an opportunity to improve free-throw shooting, a category that is surprisingly lacking in conversion ratio, sitting at 49 percent on the season.

The team relishes the challenge and looks forward to showcasing their talent on a playoff-like stage, while continuing to develop team dynamics and focus.

“I want to be better when we come out of the tournament,” said Richardson. “That could mean a lot of things. Are we getting better as a team, chemistry-wise? Are we getting better as a team on the court knowing what each other are doing? Mentally, I want to come out of it with some confidence that we can play with anybody. We just have to go out and execute what we do and play well.”

“I’d love to be playing in the championship game on Saturday, that would be outstanding. If that happens, then it will be good for our team. If not, then we have the opportunity to win some games.”

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Leaving a legacy: Remembering Coach Paul “The Pope” Wilson Innovation. That’s what it takes to change what has been the standard for so long, and for decades, Canadian had been just another small-town school with an underachieving football team.

Then, in 1985, Coach Paul “The Pope” Wilson was handed the reins to the struggling program.

There’s nothing more perfect in sports than a suitable nickname, and “The Pope” had achieved his by resurrecting programs through the Panhandle and Oklahoma. Wilson had led perennial loser White Deer to the regional round of the 2A playoffs for the first time in 13 years, and the achievement caught the eye of then-Superintendent Jim Pollard.

Wilson was a pioneer. In a time of the Wing-T and the Veer, Wilson was running empty backfields, five verticals and hurryup offenses—unheard of at the time—and foretelling the current fad where almost every Texas high school runs a variation of the spread.

Wilson’s was unique, however, in that it was built on trickeration and misdirection.

When Wilson’s teams broke the huddle, they would sprint to the line of scrimmage, and before the defense could ever adjust to the formation, the ball would be snapped and already flying off-tackle. On the small chance the defense was able to get lined-up, a simple command of “switch” from the quarterback sent the formation into a frenzy of realignment that only put the defense back in disarray before another quick snap.

Even the way Wilson called plays was unique.

“Blast right,” former assistant coach Kyle Lynch began.“Load left, pink off-guard, lime off-center, red keep. That’s one play. And so the guy carrying the play in had to be a pretty smart guy because it was very wordy.

However, in that, he basically told everyone what to do. It was simple for the kids, but it was much harder for coaches to kind of pick up because it was so nontraditional from 28-sweep that we all learned. It’s just very unique.”

Lynch had become well-acquainted with Wilson throughout his football career. He reminisced of his first meeting with The Pope, which constituted a White Deer beatdown of Lynch’s alma mater Phillips back in his playing days. After he became defensive coordinator for Fritch, Lynch once again faced Wilson, now at Canadian, annually, until Wilson hired the eventual state championship coach and current Canadian ISD superintendent.

“When I was at Fritch [as defensive coordinator], I might have 25-30 formations [to defend],” Lynch said of the unusually large number. “It was a nightmare, so I just joined him.”

Wilson was also ahead of his time when it came to relationships with his players. The norm for a coach up to that point was to be a tough, merciless disciplinarian with the ultimate goal being nothing less than victory

at all costs. Wilson was keen instead to find value in each of his players—hidden talents that otherwise might be overlooked. He was not shy to express his belief in all of his players. This quality led to a fierce loyalty to The Pope and created a positive attitude and higher levels of effort than had previously been achieved.

Wilson never saw a losing season whilst at the helm of every team he coached. His was the embodiment of a winning attitude, and he instilled that culture into today’s Wildcat program, 30 years ago. In 10 years in Canadian, Wilson tallied a 72-34-2 record and brought the Wildcats their first playoff win ever with a 39-0 shellacking of Highland Park in 1992. The rest, as they say, is history as David Flowers took over the program and continued to push the envelope until Lynch brought the team its first and second state championships. The program has only continued to climb as Chris Koetting—who also coached (Perryton) and played (Panhandle) versus The Pope—furthered the tradition of winning in Canadian with a state championship last year and is well on his way to a second as the Wildcats advance to area this week versus Stamford. “[Wilson] did the hardest part in building a program,” attested Lynch.

Wilson passed away Sunday at the age of 79 in Grove, Oklahoma. Funeral services were held at 2 pm Wednesday at the Hickory Grove Church in Grove.

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