The Buzz- Really big games are right around the corner

<b>By Sean Mossman</b><br><br>The first week of district games brought us some interesting match-ups, but nothing spell-binding. Week five of the high school football season, however, will finally bring

Tuesday, September 26th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

By Sean Mossman

The first week of district games brought us some interesting match-ups, but nothing spell-binding. Week five of the high school football season, however, will finally bring some of the top teams from tough districts together.

Tahlequah-Broken Arrow. Kelley-Claremore. Booker T. Washington-Coweta. Victory Christian-Eufaula. The best teams from the best districts finally start clashing.

That brought a thought to my head. Which districts are really the toughest this year?

After glancing at the state polls and district records, Iâ€™ve decided that I can make an argument for any of the next six districts as the states finest.

6A-4

Jenks is still ranked number one in the state and number two in the nation by Fox. Owasso has moved to number six in the state rankings. Broken Arrow is 1-3 with three losses to Jenks, Union and Arkansasâ€™ best team Fort Smith Southside. Muskogee is 2-2 and lost to number three Stillwater and Kansasâ€™ number two team Olathe South. Tahlequah is 3-1 with its only loss to Stillwater.

6A-1 could make a strong argument for themselves, four of its members are ranked in the stateâ€™s top ten. I just think that Tahlequah is so grossly underrated by the stateâ€™s sportswriters. The non-district schedules of the 6A-1 schools pale in comparison to the squads played by 6A-4.

5A-3

Ada is 3-1 and ranked #3 in the state. Mc Alester is 2-2 and ranked ninth. Shawnee has reeled off three straight wins to move into the state top ten. The underrated team in the district is East Central at 3-1. Of those four teams five combined losses, three have come to top ten teams.

5A-4

Bishop Kelley is 3-1 and ranked third in the state. Booker T. Washington suffered their only loss to 6A power Owasso and are ranked sixth. Claremore is 3-1 with its only loss to East Central. Coweta is undefeated at 4-0 and canâ€™t even get a sniff of the state rankings.

All four get a chance to distinguish themselves in the district this week as Kelley plays Claremore and Booker T. Washington faces Coweta.

4A-1

Hereâ€™s my clubhouse leader for toughest district in the state, regardless of class. Clinton is 3-0, they couldnâ€™t find anyone to play them in week three, and ranked number one in 4A. Star Spencer is third and undefeated at 4-0. Weatherford is 3-1 and ranked fourth. Their only loss came to 5A surprise Woodward. Oklahoma City Southeast is 3-0 and ranked #9. This is one of only three districts with four ranked teams.

3A-2

This is the other district with four ranked teams. Deer Creek is number two with a 3-1 record. Tuttle is number six a week after being ranked first in 4A. They lost this week to Kingfisher who moves into the top ten for the first time this season. The other ranked team is Piedmont. Theyâ€™re third in the state at 4-0 and boast the leading rusher in the state, Ronnie Osborne.

2A-7

This is by far the most fun district to keep track of right now. Cascia Hall is ranked number one and is 4-0. Heath Evans quarterbacks the team full of terrific college prospects. Eufaula has the guy who could be the most valuable player in the state, RB-DB Avery Shine. Heâ€™s the third leading rusher and fifth leading scorer in the state. The Ironheads are undefeated and ranked third.

Then come the two most disrespected teams in the state. Victory Christian is 4-0 and has given up only seven points all season. They get their chance at respect this weekend at Eufaula. Warner is 4-0 and has outscored its opponents by 117 points.

Read the arguments, study the district standings and decide for yourselves. The bottom line is that these teams are just starting to get together on a weekly basis and that will make for a very exciting next six weeks.

Power Poll

1. Jenks (4-0)- Everybodyâ€™s consensus number one in the state. The Trojans are still ranked #2 in the Fox Fab 50 poll. They were only a Santa Ana Mater Dei (CA) field goal away from the nations top spot. Mater Dei missed a late field goal that would have put them into overtime with national #1 Concord DelaSalle (CA). DelaSalle won 34-31 and retained their top ranking nationally. It doesnâ€™t have much ramification locally, but it would have been nice to brag about a state team being ranked #1 in the nation. Jenks travels to Bartlesville Friday.

2. Union (3-1)- Speaking of national rankings, Union moved from 24th nationally to 17th this week in the Fox poll. The Redskins have 0-4 Ponca City at home this week.

3. Stillwater (4-0)- Ranked fourth in the state in class 6A. They beat Edmond Memorial without QB Josh Fields playing a second half down, 35-17. The Pioneers have a good test at Sand Springs this week.

4. Cascia Hall (4-0)-Rolled over Haskell in district opener, 41-10. Should be big favorites over 0-4 Vian this week. Next three weeks bring undefeateds Warner, Victory Christian and Eufaula.

5. Bishop Kelley (3-1)- Hale was undefeated coming into last weeks trip to Kelley. The Comets handled the Rangers 42-0. Now they have a brutal two-game stretch against Claremore and Booker T. Washington.

6. Sallisaw (4-0)- Ranked second in class 4A. They rolled over Hugo last week, 49-14, and face 1-3 Idabel this week. QB Chris Sharp has completed 60% of his passes this season, but thrown five interceptions.

7. Ada (3-1)- Lost in week one to Ardmore, then won at Carl Albert and Seminole. Tuned up for this weekâ€™s McAlester clash by beating Central 56-6.

8. Collinsville (4-0)- Beat a very good Miami team 16-7 last week. Now face sleeping giant in 0-4 Oologah. Trips to Stillwell and Jay are around the corner.

9. Eufaula (4-0)- The Ironheads are outscoring opponents by 144 points. They held Westvilleâ€™s running game in check last week for a 32-8 win. This week, surprising Victory Christian comes to town in a battle of unbeatens.

10. Owasso (3-1)- Ranked sixth in the state in class 6A behind three other area teams. They host Rogers this week after beating Memorial 62-0. Look out!! BA, Jenks, and Tahlequah are on the horizon. That will be the true test of Owassoâ€™s staying power.

On The Fringe: Tahlequah, Claremore, East Central, Coweta, Booker T. Washington, Skiatook, Poteau, Claremore Sequoyah, Roland, Colcord, Metro Christian, Victory Christian, Warner.

Prime Time Players

Here are the ten best performances from week four of the football season:

1. Jason Byars- Owasso- How about this for a good week: 8-10 passing for 248 yards and six touchdowns!!! Everyone that thought there would be a QB drop-off at Owasso should hang their heads in shame.
2. Avery Shine-Eufaula- This young man is a more valuable player to his team than any other in the state. He had 117 yards rushing and two touchdowns on offense this week. On defense, he accounted for 16 tackles, one sack and returned an interception for another score.
3. Booker T. Washington Defense- Returned three interceptions for touchdowns in Fridayâ€™s 35-7 win over Bixby.
4. Chris Kelley and Chris Lapham- Porter- Kelley completed four of his six passes, all of them to Lapham, for 218 yards and three touchdowns. Porter beat Liberty 69-28.
5. Courtney Tennial-Glenpool- The heralded sophomore had a slow start to the 2000 season, but has broken out in the past two weeks. Last week he ran for 234 yards and two scores in a 63-27 win over Webster.
6. Jake Murrell-Bishop Kelley- His numbers are hardly ever eye-popping, but heâ€™s amazingly consistent. Last week he ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns to become the all-time leading rusher in Comets history.
7. Nathan Kelley-Commerce- The sophomore threw for 260 yards after replacing injured starter Ryan Gleaves. Kelley was 14-17 and had three scoring tosses.
8. Lamont Moore-Owasso- The senior posted 232 yards from scrimmage and scored four times in the Rams 62-0 romp of Memorial.
9. Baba Ogundipe-Stillwater- The senior has been overshadowed by QB Josh Fields and WR Leonard Jones most of the year. Ogundipe led the Pioneers to last weeks win over Edmond Memorial with 145 yards rushing and four touchdowns. His running opens up passing opportunities for Fields and Jones.
10. Cody Darrough-Skiatook- Darrough hauled in six passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns in Skiatookâ€™s 34-17 win over previously unbeaten Jay.

Check out previous editions of "The Buzz"

September 21, 2000
September 14, 2000
September 12, 2000
September 7, 2000
September 5, 2000
August 31st, 2000
August 29, 2000