Here we go again?
The Sooners’ season this year has followed a familiar trajectory, Berry Tramel writes.
BLANCHARD — Tuttle coach Brad Ballard had a list of superlatives for his senior quarterback Carson Berryhill.
Savvy. Humble. Hard-working.
But the most important was scrappy.
On an imperfect night for Berryhill and Tuttle, the Tigers found a way on the road against a rival to move one step closer to the district championship.
It started with Berryhill, who scored the decisive touchdown late in the fourth quarter during the second-ranked Tigers’ 35-21 win over rival No. 6 Blanchard on Thursday night.
“I just think he’s a great leader for this team,” Ballard said. “He was very resilient. It’s not easy throwing interceptions in front of all of these people feeling like the goat and having to come back and make plays. That takes a special person.”
The Tigers (8-0, 5-0 District 4A-2) could clinch the district championship next week with a win over Harrah and a Cushing loss to Blanchard. If not, it comes down to a Week 10 matchup with Cushing.
But getting to that point was really tough.
Berryhill had thrown two interceptions and fumbled the ball away once. But locked in a 21-all game midway through the fourth quarter, he kept throwing the deep ball.
And he connected with Parker Ross for 41 yards.
Three plays later, Berryhill scored on a 5-yard keeper to go ahead for good.
“We were going to score that drive,” Berryhill said.
“We were going to seal it.”
Berryhill completed 11 of 22 passes for 227 yards and two TDs, while rushing for another. His two interceptions both went to Jamie Nance, a Nebraska commitment. Berryhill connected with Ross six times for 162 yards and two TDs.
Blanchard (6-2, 3-2) looked to be gaining momentum to open the fourth with third-and-1 on the Tuttle 9. But running back Bryce Madron, who rushed for 179 yards and two TDs, was stuffed for a 6-yard loss by Dylan Coffman. Nance caught a fourth-down pass and lost 5 yards.
“There’s those three or four or five critical points in a game,” Ballard said. “That flipped the whole thing right there.”
Tuttle appeared to flip the game earlier in just 61 seconds to close out the first half.
Blanchard took a 14-7 lead with 1:19 on Nance’s 8-yard TD reception. Tuttle’s Coby Trevino responded by taking the kickoff back 84 yards to tie the game.
Then Tuttle kicker Bryce Legg kicked a high, short kickoff to avoid Nance. Blanchard failed to react and Tuttle’s Jace Tiderman came up with the loose ball.
Two plays later, Berryhill scrambled to his right and appeared to throw up a prayer to the end zone. Ross looked over his right shoulder, turned to his left and caught the ball between three Blanchard defenders for a go-ahead touchdown with 18 seconds left in the half.
“You’re going to have to be lucky as well as good,” Ballard said. “I’m just proud of the kids. They just fought and fought and fought.”