B.A. Football: Tigers Talk Upsetting Jenks In 6A-I State Championship

Broken Arrow is the school with top notch facilities, fancy helmets, decals, a large enrollment and a great band, but one thing's lacking. And, that’s bringing home the gold ball. 

Is this senior class ready to make history for the Tigers?

"I've been born and raised here since I was one-year-old, playing INFC (Indian Nations Football Conference) with my dad, and we've been wanting to win a championship ever since then,” said Tigers’ senior running back Jamall Shaw. “These guys, I've been playing with them since 3rd, 2nd grade and we've always come to the semifinals [but] we've always lost to Union and Jenks, like in INFC. But, I think it's a new year."

Senior offensive lineman Rowdy Frederick says a lot of people around town want them to pull off the big win. "As far as what I hear from people around town, it's don't be another letdown, go out there and bring home one,” he said.

B.A. beat the Trojans in Week 8, 35-34, and they said they've earned confidence from that win. They also said they are aware but prepared to beat Jenks twice.

"We know that Jenks is going to fake a punt; they do it every year in the state championship game, and if they have an opportunity they're going to fake a field goal," explained Broken Arrow Head Coach David Alexander.

Shaw says his team’s all-around game is pretty strong. "[I] think I only ran for like 60 yards on them; that's really low compared to my average,” he recalled. “But, I think we got this great passing game going on [and] great defense working hard. It's going to be hard to stop number seven."

Frederick added, “We know that we can go out there and beat everybody; we just got to play football. We can't let anybody get into our heads and say, ‘well these guys won state for the past three years.’ They're just a football team; they wake up and go to practice just like we do."

Not only is it an opportunity for the Tigers to beat Jenks twice this year, it's also an opportunity for Alexander and members of his staff to win a state championship against their coaching mentor. Defensive coordinator Bobby Klinck played under Jenks Head Coach Allan Trimble and offensive coordinator Brady Walz coached the past two seasons at Jenks.

"Getting an opportunity to get to beat him is more than I could have dreamt for in my second year, and I think we've got a team that's playing really well and we're going to get a chance to measure ourselves against a three-time state champion on Friday," said Alexander.