No. 2 Jenks overwhelms No. 4 Edmond Santa Fe
EDMOND — Edmond Santa Fe coach Kyle White was visibly stunned.
His voice was soft as he looked back on the previous 48 minutes that got away from his Wolves in yet another West loss to East powerhouse Jenks.
“I didn’t see this coming,” White said. “Not like this.”
On a night where No. 4 Edmond Santa Fe entered feeling like it could be in the hunt for an upset of No. 2 Jenks, things went horribly awry in every way.
The Trojans rolled to a 49-8 win to remain perfect against the West since a 2003 loss to Westmoore in the playoffs. The win also clinched second in District 6A-I1, forcing Edmond Santa Fe to win next week at Norman to clinch third.
“We don’t want to lose to a West team,” Jenks senior offensive lineman and Arkansas commitment Brady Latham said. “The East side is where it’s at. We’re not going to lose.”
The Trojans certainly looked like the usual dominant force, particularly up front.
Senior running back and linebacker Noah Hernandez rushed for four touchdowns and 115 yards on just seven carries as Jenks piled up 305 rushing yards.
“I give all of my credit to my big guys,” Hernandez said. “We had a good game, but I give the glory to them, man.”
Jenks (8-1, 5-1) established its will up front on offense early, which led to the Santa Fe defense tiring in the second half. Jenks’ 21-0 halftime advantage turned into a rout.
“Edmond Santa Fe has great team speed and we just felt like we needed to be physical and run right at them to help negate that advantage,” firstyear Jenks coach Keith Riggs said.
Edmond Santa Fe (7-2, 4-2) was limited to 185 total offensive yards.
The Wolves crossed midfield five times, with the lone score coming on an 8-yard pass from Kanan Hansen to Nieko Nieves in the third quarter. That was set up by a rare Jenks miscue when Oklahoma State commitment Trace Ford stripped the ball from quarterback Ian Corwin.
It was 21-8 with 6:29 remaining in the third, but Hernandez scored from 48 yards out on the next play.
“They were physical and they got after us,” White said. “We had a lot of missed tackles, we had some opportunities to get off the field and we didn’t do it.”
Frustrations even boiled over in the first half for the Wolves.
Down three touchdowns late in the half, Santa Fe reached Jenks’ 30. But after a thirddown incompletion, Santa Fe coaches were visibly upset about a non-call by officials. That led to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
The drive stalled. So did the Wolves’ hope of an upset.
“We lost our composure and it impacted how we played, for sure,” White said. “I don’t think it had a bearing on the second half. They’re good and we didn’t play very good. Gotta give credit to them, because they’re a good team.”