2009 Playoff Loss Fuels Owasso

The Rams know the pain of losing in the first round of the playoffs. They also know how great it would be to get a chance at redemption in 2010.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 5:41 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Aug 13, 2010 8:10 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

TULSA, Oklahoma – Just making the playoffs was an amazing accomplishment for the Owasso Rams in 2009. But, once you’re there, nobody wants to go home early.

“Our number one goal every year is to make the playoffs,” said Owasso head coach Bill Patterson. “You can’t compete for a state championship if you are not in the playoffs.”

Owasso battled back from a 3-3 start to make the postseason. They ran into a top-notch Bartlesville team in round one that gave them a fight on the road. The Bruins walked away from the fight with a 14-7 win over the Rams.

“That’s the thing about it if you make the playoffs,” said Patterson. “Only one team ends it happy and that’s the team standing on the mountain top at the end. We were very disappointed to lose in the first round, battled really hard to get a home playoff game and we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Owasso held the Bruins to just 2 rushing yards in the fourth quarter. Bruins quarterback Kirby Schoenthaler, one of the top passers in 6A, was held to just 140 yards on 14-of-25 passing. As slim as the numbers were, they were enough, as Bartlesville edged the Rams to advance.

“Bartlesville had a great football team last year,” said Patterson. “They obviously deserved to win that football game. Obviously it served as motivation for us in the offseason and hopefully we’ll use that as a springboard into a successful season this year.”

After all they’d been through, the players took the loss hard. They struggled through injuries all season long and plan to draw on that finish as inspiration in 2010.

“You never want to get knocked out of the playoffs, and you always get disheartened when you lose and you always feel like you could have done better,” said senior nose tackle Wade Van Pelt. “We took that and we’re bringing it back in this year. That’s just going to get us even more fired up.

“Wait and see how Broken Arrow is going to like us this year.”

Owasso opens up the season at home against Broken Arrow on September 3rd.