Friday Night Highlights: Regular Season Finale

The regular season is over and many Oklahoma State commits will compete for state titles (or at least deep playoff runs) while a few will turn their attention to Stillwater with their HS playing days behind them.

I’m convinced that the saying “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” actually refers to high school football playoffs. Oklahoma may only have three rounds, but the Texas HS football playoffs are six rounds, culminating the weekend before Christmas every year. Check out last weeks’ results and the path ahead for our playoff-bound future Cowboys.

Garret Rangel, Quarterback

Frisco (TX) Lone Star saved the toughest for last. The Rangers capped off the regular season with an 8-2 record following a 7-6 loss to district rival and defending 5A-I state champion Denton Ryan last week.

Rangel had a tough night facing what is basically a Division I defense. He completed 9-of-20 passes for 55 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He added three carries for 15 yards. The Denton Ryan defense includes Texas commit CB Austin Jordan, Army commit DL Mason Davis, 2023 five-star linebacker Anthony Hill, and 2023 Division I recruits Kaden Kelly and MarQuice Hill.

Lone Star ranks No. 5 in the state for 5A-I, but that doesn’t mean the Rangers have an easy road. They could face No. 2 College Station in round two, No. 3 Highland Park in round three, and a rematch with No. 1 Ryan in round four. Survive that and Lone Star could face DJ McKinney and No. 4 Colleyville Heritage in the state semifinals while the winner of No. 7 Manvel and No. 8 Katy Paetow is the likely opponent in the state championship game.

In other words, Heritage should breeze through Region I, and the bracket for Region III and Region IV aren’t particularly strong either. Meanwhile, Lone Star has to go through a murders’ row of opponents to survive Region II. The encouraging news is they just played the No. 1 team in the state within a point. It can be done!

Here’s a neat little mini-feature made for social media on Rangel from Sports Stars of Tomorrow. Lone Star opens the playoffs against Dallas Adams at the Ford Center in Frisco at 7 this Thursday night.

Ollie Gordon, Running Back

Euless (TX) Trinity put the finish touches on a 9-1 regular season with a 49-8 throttling of Paschal on what was an historic night for Ollie Gordon.

Gordon ran 17 times for 125 yards and three scores and caught two passes for 35 yards and an additional touchdown. The important thing here is that Gordon broke Trinity legend Dimitri Nance’s school record for rushing touchdowns in a career. Gordon needs to rack up a little more than 600 rushing yards during this playoff run to surpass Nance as Trinity’s all-time rushing yards leader.

Trinity — my dad’s alma mater! — will kick off its playoff run with what will be a blowout win against my alma mater, Keller, on Friday night at 7 at Pennington Field where the Trojans play their home games. No, I will not be betting my dad any amount of money on this game. I’ve got Trinity by at least 35 points.

From there, No. 14 Trinity could draw No. 17 Allen in round three, No. 3 Southlake Carroll in round four, and the potential of any of four top-10 teams (the highest ranked of which is No. 4 Duncanville) in the state semifinals. No. 7 North Shore or No. 10 Atascocita could wait in the state championship game. So, similar to Lone Star in 5A-I, Trinity has a murders’ row in Region I before a potentially easier opponent in the state title game.

CJ Brown, Running Back

Beggs (OK) enters the Oklahoma 2A playoffs as one of the favorites to win a state title, but didn’t end the season on a strong note.

CJ Brown carried 20 times for 113 yards and a touchdown, but that wasn’t enough to beat Victory Christian, who won the game 27-26. Beggs enters the playoffs at 8-2 with only one of those losses coming against a fellow 2A school, the one-point loss last week. Beggs takes on 7-3 Sequoyah in round one.

Talyn Shettron, Wide Receiver

Tabry Shettron, Tight End

Talyn and Tabry made quick work of Norman — hopefully that’s not the last time they do that, amiright? — as Edmond (OK) Santa Fe took down Norman 41-6 to close out a 6-4 regular season schedule.

The blowout meant those two didn’t see as many opportunities as normal, something we’ve seen with many OSU commits this year; coach has to find a way to keep the score down somehow. Talyn caught four passes for 90 yards and a touchdown while Tabry hauled in two passes for 42 yards and a score.

Santa Fe takes on 6-4 Mustang in round one of the playoffs on Friday night. Talyn also received his Under Armour All-American jersey.

Braylin Presley, Athlete

There’s a reason I continue to list Presley as an “athlete” each week. Is he a running back? Maybe a receiver? This weeks’ box score would suggest quarterback, believe it or not. Presley finished with a QB rating* of 166.7, the highest on the team.

*It was only one attempt, but we’ll ignore that — the 166.7 passer rating is a cooler story.

Bixby (OK) finished 10-0 with a resounding 69-20 win against a solid Booker T. Washington squad. The Spartans won eight games by 42 points or more, with the other wins coming in a 42-14 win against Stillwater and a surprisingly close 23-15 win against Jenks.

Presley finished with 10 carries for 61 yards and a score, one catch for six yards and one 10-yard touchdown pass. Bixby starts its state title defense against Jaleel Johnson and Putnam City North on Friday.

Other News and Notes

• WR Mason Gilkey and Pawhuska (OK) capped off the season with a 62-0 shutout of Ketchum to finish 8-2. Gilkey had three catches for 94 yards and two scores. The Huskies take on 6-3 Hominy — who they previously lost to 33-31 — in round one.
• OT Austin Kawecki and Frisco (TX) Lebanon Trail lost to Prosper Rock Hill 51-34 to finish the season 1-9. Congratulations on a great HS football career, Austin!
• OT Calvin Harvey and Missouri City (TX) Fort Bend Ridge Point beat Fort Bend Travis 31-17 last week. Ridge Point finishes 9-1 and plays Katy Seven Lakes (7 pm Thursday) in round one; will have to face the winner of No. 10 Atascocita and No. 22 Dickinson in round three.
• OT Tyrone Webber and New Mexico Military Institute beat Trinity Valley CC 58-28 last week. They close out the regular season next week against Blinn College.
• DL Landon Dean and Frontenac (KS) beat Galena 31-6 last week in the 3A KSHSAA playoffs. They take on 7-3 Rock Creek in round three. If Frontenac wins, they’ll likely play Girard — who they previously lost to 13-6 — in the state semifinals.
• DL Jaleel Johnson and Putnam City (OK) North lost to Stillwater 28-0 last week. They’ll play Braylin Presley and Bixby in round one.
• LB Gabe Brown and Stillwater (OK) beat Jaleel Johnson and PC North as you just read. The Pioneers finish at 8-2 and take on 8-2 Booker T. Washington in round one.
• CB Dylahn McKinney and Colleyville (TX) Heritage beat Mansfield Legacy 55-13 last week to finish 9-1. They take on Abilene Cooper at Mustang-Panther Stadium in Grapevine in round one at 7 on Friday night. No. 4 Heritage is the only state-ranked team in 5A-I Region I and will have to beat Mansfield Summit (who they previously beat 35-34) in round four to get to the state semifinals. Then No. 1 Ryan or No. 5 Lone Star await in the state semifinals should Heritage make it that far.
• ATH Cameron Epps and Chaminade (MO) took down Fort Zumwalt South 42-12 last week. Epps finished with 15 carries for 154 yards and three scores. Chaminade is currently in the playoffs, and they’re playing in the Class 5 District 3 Championship Game — which is not the State Championship Game — against Fort Zumwalt North on Friday. Not entirely sure how the Missouri HSFB football playoffs work so... this may or may not be Chaminade’s last game?