Broken Arrow Flying High With Majors

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ In one game, Mick Majors of Broken Arrow set an Oklahoma high school passing record and nearly equaled his passing total for all of last year. <br><br>Majors threw for 550 yards Friday

Tuesday, October 16th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ In one game, Mick Majors of Broken Arrow set an Oklahoma high school passing record and nearly equaled his passing total for all of last year.

Majors threw for 550 yards Friday night in a 68-35 victory over Muskogee. That total broke the state record of 528 yards set by Casey McCage of Thackerville in an eight-man game in 1995. Majors also broke his own 11-man record of 449 yards set against Sapulpa on Aug. 31.

``I think the thing that's really sort of amazing is when you look at last year,'' coach Rick Jones said.

Last season, Jones said, Majors was 29-of-76 for 553 yards while directing Broken Arrow's flexbone offense. Now the Tigers use four receivers in a quick-hitting, no-huddle offense that has seen the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Majors throw for 1,900 yards.

One reason for the change in offense was Broken Arrow's lack of success a year ago - the Tigers finished 4-6. But the personnel also played a part.

``We looked around at what we had,'' Jones said. ``We had two guys we knew were tremendous receivers, and knew if we were in the flexbone that we were not going get the ball to those guys the way we need to.''

The flexbone also didn't fit some of the other players, Jones said. He settled on this offense after watching Northwestern beat Michigan last year on television.

``That sounds silly, but that's really what happened,'' he said. ``It was four wide receivers, but they were running the football. It was a balanced approach. They were not turning the ball over. They had the option component. It just fit so well.''

The switch has paid off. The Tigers are 4-2, already equaling their victory total of last season, and they're in the playoff hunt. That's part of why Majors threw 49 times against Muskogee last week. Jones said that when the score was 55-35, he was concerned about stopping Muskogee often enough to win by at least 14 points, the maximum number of playoff tiebreaker points teams can receive for victories.

The Tigers have several outstanding receivers, led by senior Jamison Hummell and junior Jason Ray. Majors has done a nice job of spreading the wealth, Jones said, in large part because of solid decision making.

But the best decision, it would seem, was made by Jones last year. It was one the players welcomed.

``When you suffer through what we suffered through last year, change is good. It's necessary, it's needed, it's expected,'' he said. ``I think everybody was excited.''

There were several outstanding performances during Week 7:

Jenks beat Tulsa Rogers 56-18, tying the state record for most consecutive victories in Oklahoma's large-school class. The Trojans have won 31 straight, matching Midwest City's run from 1994-96.
Matt Warren of Putnam City North threw for 302 yards and five touchdowns in a 50-16 victory over Del City.
Piedmont's Ronnie Osborne gained 251 yards and scored three times in a 28-0 victory over Chandler.
Andrew Pearson of Crooked Oak ran for 304 yards and four TDs in a 46-12 victory over Minco.
Timberlake beat Geary 58-26 behind 393 rushing yards and three touchdowns by Garrett Bowers.
Terrill Denny was 20-of-26 for 328 yards and four TDs as Colcord beat Nowata 31-21.