The high school football season kicks in that extra gear as we have reached week 5 in the season and teams are looking to separate themselves from the pack and within their districts. Woodward is coming off of a homecoming loss to Cache to begin district play but will try to bounce back with a road trip to Weatherford on Friday. Homecoming did have a lot of highlights though as Hunter Harrison and Ava Long were crowned king and queen. We also saw a touching moment as senior Dakota Samarco walked out to mid field for the coin toss as one of the captains after returning home. With that said let’s take a look at what Weatherford brings to the table and see what the Boomers need to do to spoil the Eagles homecoming.
Record & Rank: 1-3 (0-1), unranked by the AP or the Oklahoman. Last season Weatherford went 4-6 and missed the playoffs for the first time under coach Roof and also snapped a streak of 7 consecutive seasons with a playoff appearance.
Meet The Coach: Reagan Roof is entering his sixth season as the Eagles head coach and has compiled a record of 39-20. Overall coach Roof has compiled a 106-53 record across 14 seasons in Bethany and Weatherford. Coach Roof led Weatherford to the class 4A championship game in 2019 where they fell to Poteau 9-7.
Team Preview (Offense) : The Eagles offense runs through senior quarterback Reece Villines (6’1″ 170LBS). Villines has displayed a high football IQ throughout his career and rarely made bad decisions with the ball. Villines brings good athleticism and a good arm to the position. On the outside CJ Nickson (6’5″ 215LBS) will be the primary reciever threat and the Eagles will look to get him the ball in a multitude of ways. Nickson is just a sophomore and has already proven he can change the momentum of a game with his big play ability. In the backfield sophomore running back Jackson Blackmon (5’11 192LBS) brings toughness between the tackles when the Eagles look to control the pace with their patented hard nose running game.
Team Preview (Defense): Weatherford runs an aggressive 3-3-5 scheme defensively that looks to take advantage of the good combination of size and athleticism they have within their front seven. Carter Teasley, Malaki Morales-Perez, and Stone Chism look to clog the running lanes as down lineman and allow linebackers CJ Nickson, Steele Chism, and Reno Hammons to get into the backfield on the blitz. On the back end of the defense Braden Pearson and Austin Shields often go toe to toe with the best receivers the opposing offense has to offer at the corner spots. Patrolling the deep parts of the field are safeties Cy Scammahorn and Logan Doyals, who despite not being the biggest guys on the field, bring a good sense of reading plays to step up in big moments.
Game Summary vs Cache: After both teams went on lengthy drives that ended with no points to show for it, Cache would get on the board first with a 21 yard touchdown pass from Tyler Harbin to Brayden Castro which capped off an 11 play, 86 yard drive for the Bulldogs. Woodward would find an answer with a touchdown of their own midway through the 2nd quarter with an explosive 50 yard touchdown run by freshman Ace Long. Long bulldozed through the Cache defensive front and came out the other side seeing nothing but green grass ahead of him. Cache would answer right back with a 59 yard rushing touchdown from Brayden Castro to pull back ahead 13-7 and in the last minute of the half Lucas Shirkey couldn’t connect on a long field goal for Woodward which keep the score at 13-7 heading into the break. In the third quarter Cache would hit on another big play with Tyler Harbin connect on a 36 yard touchdown pass to Tyler Miles to extend Cache’s lead making the score 20-7. After a series of turnovers by both teams Woodward took advantage of good field position where Sam Cheap hit a 29 yard touchdown strike to Taelen Laird that pull the Boomers within a score at 20-13. Cache would put the game away on the ensuing drive as they drove 50 yards in just 47 seconds to extend their lead to 28-14 with just a couple minutes left to play.
Game Takeaways: Both the offensive and defensive lines performed at a high level as shown by Ace Long having another 100 yard performance and by the pressure that was on Cache throughout the night. Coach Luetjen admitted they have worked hard this week to make sure quarterback Sam Cheap and his receivers are on the same page as they feel the results in the passing game haven’t matched the talent they hold within that facet of the offense.
Keys To The Game: Woodward knows they will have to put together a complete game against a Weatherford team that typically doesn’t make many mistakes. The defense has been game planning hard all week to figure out how to shutdown the unique talent that is CJ Nickson and offensively the Boomers want to have a good mix of run and pass.
Don’t forget to join us on Z92 for the radio broadcast with pre-game coverage at 6:30. Dakota Waggoner, Eric Scott, and myself will be on the call for all the action. You can also find the video stream of the game on BoomerTV by going to boomertv.net or going to z92online.com and finding the link to the channel there.