B Title Preview: Garber vs. Canton

Originally Published: Dec 3, 2009 2:41 PM CDT

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Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

For the second year in a row, the Class B state championship will be played between two teams from District 1. The Canton Tigers and Garber Wolverines have only been in the same district for two years, but they have already developed a heated rivalry.

Garber is the only team to defeat Canton in the last two years, but the Wolverines have done it three times. They have beaten the Tigers during the regular season in each of the last two years and ended Canton’s season in the state semifinals last year.

Last year, Garber cruised to an easy victory during the regular season but had much more trouble getting past Canton in the playoffs. The Wolverines won by 26 points in the teams’ first matchup, but Canton cut that to 12 points the second time.

This year, Garber came away with a 38-6 victory in the teams’ first meeting. Astoundingly, that 32-point win was the Wolverines’ closest contest of the year. They won their first three playoff games by a combined score of 170-36. They gave up 12 points in all three games while scoring more than 50 in each of them.

Canton has also dominated its playoff opponents, winning by a combined score of 141-42. Besides their loss to Garber, the Tigers only had one game that was ever in question this season.

Canton has never won a state championship, while Garber is looking for a repeat after its first championship last year. The Wolverines are riding a 27-game winning streak, but Canton is one of the only teams to give them much trouble during that span.

If history is any indication, this should be a close game, but Canton will have its hands full.

The two familiar foes will face off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Stillwater High School.