How Enid rallied from huge deficit to stun Putnam West

Steve Hayes has been involved in special comebacks.

As an assistant coach at Plano (Texas) East in 1994, his team had miraculously rallied from a 41-17 deficit with three minutes to play against John Tyler. Plano East took a 44-41 lead after recovering three straight onside kicks and scoring, only to lose on a kickoff return.

The game received an ESPY award years later.

Last week was different.

Hayes, now Enid’s head coach, faced a 35-point deficit with just more than 10 minutes remaining against Putnam West. It was on the road. Nothing had gone Enid’s way.

Then everything turned.

“What had to happen happened,” Hayes said.

Enid rallied — despite not recovering an onside attempt or using every timeout — to force overtime, where it won 49-42 in the second extra period.

A comeback for the ages, as one Enid player put it.

“It’s definitely a game I’ll tell my kids about,” said Enid running back Marlo Hughes, who had four touchdowns in the fourth.

But how does that happen? How does a team rally from odds that look insurmountable?

Hayes said it took surviving the narrowest of margins. Players pointed to hard work and determination. Putnam West pointed to self-inflicted wounds.

“I felt like everybody was losing a little bit of hope,” Hughes said. “But we practice so much that tough players win and we’ve got to stay tough in those hard situations.”

Entering the fourth quarter, Putnam West felt comfortable.

It had blocked a punt for a touchdown, intercepted three passes and even returned one for a score in the first half.

That encouraged Enid fans to leave Putnam City Schools Stadium.

But then Putnam West fumbled three times, including one that Enid’s JaeShaun Sears returned for a score to cut the deficit to 42-21 in a span of 30 seconds. Hughes got going, too.

Eventually, those Enid fans had figured out something was special from the radio broadcasts. They returned to the stadium to watch.

They saw Putnam West narrowly miss a gamewinning field goal as time expired. Then both teams missed field goals in overtime. Enid finally ended it with a touchdown in the second overtime before its defense held.

An epic comeback was complete and Enid moved to 3-1, its best start since 2010.

“Given the lack of success the last few years, people are really excited,” Hayes said. “I think it meant a lot not only to the team and school, but the town as well.”

For Putnam West, the night was lost.

First-year coach Corey Russell had been part of similar comebacks, though on the wrong end. He was at Ardmore last season when McGuinness rallied in the final minutes during the state semifinals. He was at Tulsa Central when it lost a 28-0 lead to then-No. 1 East Central.

“My wife says it, too, that this seems like to always happen to me,” Russell said.

Now, he’s determined to help his team refocus.

“The football gods weren’t happy with us on Friday night,” Russell said. “We’re going to try to regain that respect on Friday night and see if they’ll treat us a little better.”

Enid is riding the wave of momentum.

It hosts Choctaw on Friday. It’s the team’s first home game since Zero Week. A huge crowd is expected.

That crowd will get a chance to see a new swagger in its football team. One that was earned in the wildest way.

“In a society where so many awards are given for participation, you have a circumstance where our kids have earned a right to have some confidence,” Hayes said. “They have accomplished something because what they did last Friday night is extremely significant, in my opinion.

“I don’t know how you couldn’t look at yourself differently.”