Union, Jenks To Face Off At TU Stadium

Union versus Jenks, it's one of the biggest high school football rivalry games in the country, and this year's edition of the Backyard Bowl promises to be another classic.

In the last 14 meetings, if you include the games in the state playoffs, Union's won seven and Jenks has won seven. 

The Backyard Bowl is known as a game to expect entertainment - a couple of years ago it came down to the last play of the game. In 2017, 99 points were put on the scoreboard.

Jenks has had no problem offensively and defensively so far with comfortable wins against Bixby and a quality Mansfield Legacy Texas team.

Senior quarterback play from Ian Corwin, along with running back Noah Hernandez, helps new head coach Keith Riggs' crew in this environment.

"With the number of seniors we have, they've been through many of them. As I mentioned, we've got several two-three-year starters who have been through this game a couple of times, and so, more importantly, they know what to expect and they know what it's going to be like Friday night. I think that's important," Riggs said.

As for the Redskins, it’s been a difficult start to the season with a loss to Broken Arrow, but they rebounded nicely with a win over a Mansfield Texas team as well.

Just like the Trojans, Union has a senior starting QB in Payton Thompson, and a good running back in Darius Boone. and they've taken a lot of lessons early in the season.

"When you're playing the opponents that we have, you're playing B.A., you're playing Lake Ridge Mansfield, you play Jenks, you're going to find out the reality of where your team is, and maybe our expectations were a little high coming in for some of our staff, our coaches and our players, but now we know where reality is and I think we're making big strides," coach Kirk Fidrich said.

It has all the ingredients of another top-quality match-up between the two teams.

There are a lot of other big games as well - Owasso hosts Broken Arrow in a huge 6A-1 showdown. Bishop McGuinness and Bishop Kelley clash in the Battle for the Shillelagh.

A big factor could be the weather. The weather experts are predicting off and on showers and the sports experts are predicting a really good ballgame at TU.