The Buzz: Week Two's top players, new Power Poll

By Sean Mossman Upset of the Week Tecumseh 40, Seminole 14. More than just the win over Class 3Aâ€™s second-ranked team was the way the Savages handled the Chieftains. Tecumseh

Tuesday, September 12th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

By Sean Mossman

Upset of the Week

Tecumseh 40, Seminole 14. More than just the win over Class 3Aâ€™s second-ranked team was the way the Savages handled the Chieftains. Tecumseh could have come into their second straight tough game with their heads down after an opening loss to El Reno. Instead they hitched up to blue-chip tailback Pat Cobbs and steam-rolled Seminole.

Cobbs finished the game with 186 yards and four touchdowns. His performance against El Reno was nothing to pout about, 215 yards rushing and one score. This time Cobbs had help from a defense that learned a lot from trying to tackle El Reno tailback Marshall Chiles in week one. Tecumseh head coach Chris McMullen said of his teamâ€™s win, â€œEverything we did worked for us. You donâ€™t have a lot of games like that during a season.â€

Tecumseh hosts undefeated Harrah this week to wrap-up one of the most brutal non-district schedules in the state this year.

Reports of their deaths were greatly exaggerated

More than a few teams suffering disappointing week one losses bounced back in week two. Most notablyâ€¦

Ada, one week removed from a loss to Ardmore, handed four-time defending 5A champs Carl Albert loss number two, 31-28â€¦

East Central lost seven fumbles in their opening loss to Hale. The Cardinals lost three more fumbles in week two, but got a terrific performance from David Bowie to beat Claremore 35-25â€¦

Bishop Kelley bounced back from a week one loss to Springdale, Ark. to beat Bishop McGuinness 31-7. The Comets brought home the coveted â€œShillelaghâ€ for their effortsâ€¦

Glenpool can count themselves a little lucky after beating Bixby 17-14. Bixby scored on a Cal-Stanford style lateral play in the final minute of Fridayâ€™s game, but the play was called back because of a penalty. This comes a week after the 4A-2 favorite dropped their own heartbreaker to Miami, 8-7â€¦

Bristow handed over their number one ranking in 3A after a week one loss to Cushing. Poor Stroud drew the ire of the angry Tigers in week two and were blanked, 24-0â€¦

2-0 is 2-0, no matter how you get there

As the old saying goes, thereâ€™s more than one way to skin a cat. While I donâ€™t promote the skinning of cats, I do believe the proverb holds very true in high school football. Some teams are blitzing through their opponents at record paces, while others are getting by with the narrowest of wins. What these teams have in common is theyâ€™re all undefeated. After all, isnâ€™t that the goal. Hereâ€™s a list of undefeated team with the largest and smallest combined margins of victory in their two wins so far.

Largest Margins

6A- Jenks +70, Tahlequah +49. Union +47
5A- Guthrie +68, El Reno +39, Coweta +37
4A- Clinton +99 (largest in the state), Salisaw +56, OC Southeast and Star Spencer +42
3A- Commanche +50, Claremore Sequoyah +47, Inola +44
2A- Mounds +91, Eufaula +82, Salina +70
A- Turpin +95, Thomas +90, Tonkawa +90
8-man- Fox +89, Waynoka +84, Foyil +80

Smallest Margins

Miami has won both games by one point each for a total margin of 15-13â€¦
Okeene has won one game by a point and another by three for a total margin of 36-32â€¦
Webster beat Rogers by a point and Berryhill by eight for a total margin of 51-42â€¦

By the way there are six teams in the state who have yet to be scored upon. They are Clinton, Star Spencer, Victory Christian, Wilson, Thomas and Burns Flat.

Prime Time Players

Here are the ten best performances from week two of the high school football season:

1. Marc Bullard- Colcord- Bullard rushed for 289 yards and four TDâ€™s in his head-to-head match-up with Westvilleâ€™s Brian Kirby. Colcord won the game 49-24 and Bullard now leads the state in rushing with 484 yards.
2. Thursday Stars- Two weeks, two Thursday night TV games and the stars shined again. In week one it was Lamont Moore and Mike Wilson, this week it was Tyler Gooch and Shane Jones. Gooch threw Union to the 25-14 win by completing an astounding 80% of his passes. Jones kept Broken Arrow close by busting two long TD runs and tallying 228 yards on the night.
3. Avery Shine-Eufaula- I canâ€™t wait to hear the witty puns that come from sportswriters mouths when this young man hits a college campus. For now though, Shine is the stateâ€™s second leading rusher with 481 yards. Week two saw him post another 211 yards rushing and four touchdowns in a 44-6 win over Wilburton.
4. Kejuan Jones-Jenks- This guy has two things keeping his numbers down. First, he hasnâ€™t played much in the second half of Jenks two blowouts. Second, he has to split time with two other talented backs. That said, heâ€™s showing himself to be the best tailback in the state. He averages 15 yards per carry and had 163 yards and 3 TDâ€™s in limited week two action. Something tells me heâ€™ll get more work this week.
5. Matt Simmons-Salina- Three touches, three scores for Salinaâ€™s speedy receiver. Two of those scores were punt returns, the other a 35 yard catch.
6. Tahlequah Passing Game- Brett Bynum posts another 236 yards passing to vault him into second in the state in passing yards. 226 of those yards went to Clint Rountree and Chris Polson. Polson is first in the state in receiving yards, Rountree is fourth.
7. Tyler Redden- Foyil- It was only a few years ago that Foyil produced one of the best in the state in Josh Brown, current Nebraska placekicker. Now they may lay claim to an equally impressive back in Redden. Redden has 514 total yards in two games and 11 TDâ€™s. Five of those scores came in the 46-0 week two shutout of Okay.
8. Heath Evans- Cascia Hall-Evans was very efficient with his completions, making the most of his nine hookups this week. He averaged nearly 30 yards per completion in a 28-6 win over Berryhil.
9. Joe Ferguson- Grove- It was a breakout game for the Grove signal-caller. He threw for 237 yards and three scores in a 41-24 win over McDonald Co., MO.
10. Bryan Kirby-Jay- While big receiver Chad Palm got most of the pre-season attention it has been Kirby whoâ€™s carried Jay to 2-0. He posted another 204 yards rushing and 3 TDâ€™s in a 21-18 win over Mannford.

Power Poll #3

1. Jenks (2-0 #1 last week)- Two straight blowouts have them were they expected to be going into Union game.
2. Union (2-0 #2 last week)- Union fought hard for their win over BA to set up what most fans expected, a battle of undefeated teams in Union-Jenks.
3. Stillwater (2-0 #3 last week)- Wins over Muskogee and Carl Albert are impressive. This weekâ€™s game should be fun, pitting Stillwaterâ€™s Josh Fields against Tahlequahâ€™s Brett Bynum. They are the numbers one and two passers in the state, respectively.
4. Cascia Hall (2-0 #5 last week)- The Commando train keeps rolling on with the win over Berryhill. This week offers Stroud.
5. Bishop Kelley (1-1 #6 last week)- The win over McGuinness was important for the confidence after a week one loss brought the Comets back down to earth.
6. Broken Arrow (1-1 #4 last week)- Showed a lot of heart after falling down early to Union. The defense looks like a strong point for the Tigers. Now comes Ft. Smith Southside, who beat Owasso last week.
7. Sallisaw (2-0 unranked last week)- Two weeks, two steam roll wins. They are poised to make a serious run in 4A and they havenâ€™t relied too heavily on star QB Chris Sharp yet.
8. Collinsville (2-0 unranked last week)- The week one win over Mannford looks more impressive after the Pirates showing at Jay this week. Collinsville followed that with a 36-7 pounding of Cleveland.
9. Eufaula (2-0 unranked last week)- Eufaula has torched itâ€™s first two opponents by a total score of 88-6. Now they host Okemah. Cascia Hall is well down the road.
10. Miami (2-0 unranked last week)- After two straight one-point squeakers, the Wardogs, fittingly, squeak into the power poll.

Falling Out: McAlester (#7 last week), Owasso (#8 last week), Claremore (#9 last week), Seminole (#10 last week)

On the Fringe: Tahlequah, Muldrow, Booker T. Washington, Ada Ft. Gibson, Glenpool, Vinita, Pawhuska, Nowata

Check out previous editions of "The Buzz"
September 7, 2000
September 5, 2000
August 31st, 2000
August 29, 2000