Guthrie thriving on leadership heading into rivalry game
The formula is straight forward for Guthrie coach Kelly Beeby.
Experience plus work ethic breeds success.
The start to this season for Guthrie is a perfect illustration of that.
"We’ve been fortunate this year, and we’ve had a lot of good things go our way," Beeby said. "But I think a lot of that is because we’ve had some good senior leadership making it happen."
The Class 5A Bluejays are 6-0, one of just five undefeated Class 5A teams remaining. They are awaiting a huge district game against rival and fellow undefeated Carl Albert on Friday night.
So what's helped Guthrie jump out to its first 6-0 start since 2014?
The Bluejays are skilled at forcing turnovers. In the season opener against Enid, Guthrie scored five times on defense, three interception returns for a touchdown and two fumble returns for a score.
The trend only continued from there.
On the year, Guthrie's defense has forced 23 turnovers and scored nine times.
Beeby said his coaching staff doesn't preach takeaways. Instead it talks about effort and attitude.
"We don’t ever talk about getting turnovers," Beeby said. "We just try to play physical, assignment sound football and swarm to the ball.
"If we can just to control your attitude and effort and play as hard as we can play on every play, then good things will happen."
Beeby has singled out the play of several seniors for the reason why Guthrie is playing well.
Quarterback and cornerback Jackson Waddell, defensive tackle David Scott, linebacker Donminic Goosby and tackle Dylan Dollar have contributed since their freshmen and sophomore seasons.
The game reps over the years for those leaders have yielded to better play this season, Beeby said.
"We had to throw those guys in the fire when they were young," Beeby said. "The tough schedule we play and the reps that they got, it's really helped sharpen them and make them a lot better."
The play of those seniors has rubbed off on the younger players. Beeby said it's a regular scene around his program to find one of his seniors keeping a younger guy in check.
"It’s little things we see our seniors do," Beeby said. "Like making sure a younger guy has proper form in the weight room, or making sure they give full effort in drills."
Guthrie is excited by the season they are putting together, and while Beeby isn't sure the Bluejays dominance in the turnover margins will continue, he knows the effort will.
"Those guys are competing to the best of their ability and giving maximum effort," he said. "When your younger guys see that, it becomes self perpetuating."