Move to 3A has Douglass thinking big

Douglass is a year-in, year-out contender on the football field, seemingly regardless of what district the school’s enrollment lands it in.

But a move down to Class 3A after nearly reaching the 4A championship game last year has the attention of all the top teams in the Trojans’ new class.

The Trojans have plenty of returning talent, including Wyoming commitment Dameko Doddles, a multi-purpose performer for Douglass, and quarterback Patrick McKaufman, who had many solid moments as a sophomore last season.

Southmoore off to strong start on the diamond

Southmoore is right on schedule early in its quest to repeat as Class 6A fastpitch state champions. The Lady SaberCats posted a perfect record during their Southmoore Festival event over the weekend to top all the teams in the field.

Southmoore was dominant all weekend, topping four opponents by a combined score of 31-0. The event started with a 3-0 victory against east power Broken Arrow, followed by a 12-0 win against Bartlesville and back-to-back 8-0 triumphs against Tulsa Union and Norman.

Broken Arrow did bounce back for two victories on the second day of the event, including a 6-4 victory against Moore that dealt the co-host Lady Lions their only defeat of the weekend.

Moore also scored victories against Bartlesville, Union and Durant in the event.

The Lady Redskins of Union had started the season 8-1 before three consecutive defeats to end the weekend.

Anadarko has sights on another run

From 1995-2008, Anadarko managed only one winning football season. During those 14 seasons, the Warriors won just 38 games.

To say there has been quite a turnaround is an understatement. In 2009, the Warriors went 7-3. And since Anadarko has become one of the state’s winningest programs in this decade, posting a 55-2 record since 2010, despite actually moving up from Class 3A to 4A in the midst of the run. They’ve won 42 games in a row in the regular season.

Last year, the Warriors capped a perfect season with a 40-0 thrashing of Poteau in the Class 4A state championship game.

Fastpitch heating up with strong tournaments

Fastpitch season is getting up to speed, with two big tournaments last weekend and this coming one highlighting some of the early-season play.

Broken Arrow hosted its Broken Arrow Invitiational Aug. 15-16 at Arrowhead Park. A total of 32 teams participated, making it one of the state’s most comprehensive tournaments in any sport. Teams played five games of pool play before placing games on Saturday afternoon to cap the action.

The four pool champions were Union, Sand Springs, Southmoore and Chickasha. Union rolled to an 8-0 victory over the Lady Sandites in a matchup of the Pool A and Pool B winners to cap the weekend.

First volleyball rankings now posted

The first volleyball rankings of the season are now posted on the OSSAA Rankings web site.  A pair of defending state champions opened in the top spots in their respective classes (Edmond Santa Fe 6A), (Mount Saint Mary 4A).  Lincoln Christian begins at No. 1  in class 5A while Rejoice Christian finds itself at the top of the heap in the newly formed class 3A.

Bombers have come a long way in a short time

The date, Sept. 21, 2012, and the scene at Reed Field in Midwest City was somewhat shocking for those who have followed Oklahoma high school football.

The home-standing Bombers figured to be in for a tough time against a talented Norman North team that ultimately would wind up in the state championship game a little more than two months later.

But even with that expectation, a 66-27 beatdown that included North scoring six touchdowns in the first 16 minutes was still hard to imagine.

Less than two years later, the Bombers have turned in a much more positive direction, thanks to hard work, the development of young talent and now the split of Class 6A into two divisions. They’re in the half of lower-enrollment schools and ranked by some as the No. 1 team in the division.

Volleyball champs set for early-season clash

Any time a defending state champion takes the field or court in any sport, it’s a big deal.

But when two take the court to face each other, that takes things to a whole other level. That takes place Tuesday at Mount Saint Mary, as the defending 4A state volleyball champions host the defending 5A champions from Heritage Hall.

Each school rolled through their respective state brackets a year ago, losing just one of 10 games along the way to claiming state championship hardware. And this will be a big opportunity for a marquee win early in the 2014 campaign for each squad.

 

Roff captures Dale Tournament

The first week of fall baseball has produced several strong matchups, and a strong field for tournament play in Dale this weekend.

Play began Thursday in the Dale Tournament. Here’s the schedule, including Thursday games already played. We’ll update results as we receive them.

First round, Thursday

Dale 10, Latta 1; Roff 6, Okarche 0; Tushka 12, Rattan 3; Asher 13, Oktaha 1

Semifinals, Friday

Rattan d. Oktaha; Okarche d. Latta, 10-2; Tushka d. Asher, 9-6; Roff d. Dale, 2-0

Finals, Saturday

5^th place, Rattan 5, Okarche 3;  3^rd place, Dale 3, Asher 0.; 1^st place,Roff 9, Tushka 1

Roff started its season with a strong 7-0 victory against Asher Monday in a matchup of teams that figure to be in the state championship hunt.

Also picking up solid opening-day wins were Leedey, 11-3 at Okarche, Latta, 4-0 against Coleman and Olustee, which knocked off Blair 8-0. Colbert and Calera also started strong, each scoring close wins against Silo, Calera winning 4-3 and Colbert by a 3-2 margin.

Racers get quite an experience in the summer

The growth of 7-on-7 passing leagues, camps and tournaments has continued with Oklahoma schools in the past decade. And it’s been a solid offseason tool for many programs as the trend toward wild, fling-the-ball-all-over-the-yard passing offensives have come more into vogue.

One school that wound up having quite a unique experience this summer thanks to 7-on-7 play was Newcastle. The Racers wound up getting a taste of the NFL life as one of just 32 teams from around the country to take part in the NFL’s High School Player Development 7-on-7 Tournament. Each represented an NFL squad regionally.

Newcastle qualified through an initial tournament in the Dallas area that made them the Dallas Cowboys representative in the event.

OSSAA approves ADM for 2014-15

The OSSAA Board of Directors approved the new Average Daily Membership (ADM) numbers at their regular meeting Wednesday morning.

These numbers will set the classification alignments for the 2014-15 school year in all sports except football, where district alignments already are set for this school year and next.