The Oklahoman

HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK

- Cameron Jourdan, Nick Sardis and James D. Jackson, Staff writers

Carl Albert begins quest for five-peat against district rival Midwest City

Carl Albert's football team is trying to reach a point only four teams before it have in the history of Oklahoma high school football.

If the Titans can win another state title this fall, it will be its fifth straight. Only four teams have won at least five straight state championsh­ips: Morrison (seven in Class B from 1988- 94), Jenks (six in Class 6A from 1996-2001), Shattuck (six in Class C from 2003-08) and Carl Albert (five from 1997-2001).

With the team the Titans have coming back, they have a good chance to join that exclusive group.

With the senior backfield duo of quarterbac­k Ben Harris and running back Javion Hunt returning, Carl Albert's offense will be one of the strongest in the state. Harris is 41-1 as a starter, and coach Mike Corley said he looks as good as he ever has.

“He just continues to get better,” Corley said.

Carl Albert (0-0) had its first scrimmage canceled against Ada but did scrimmage Lawton MacArthur last week. C or ley said the team took some time to get going but it played well.

The Titans open their season at 7 p.m. Friday against district rival Midwest City, which opened its season with a come-from-behind victory at West moore in Week 0.

Young Crescent team exceeds expectatio­ns in season opener

With freshmen making up nearly half of the team, Crescent coach J.L. Fisher knows the Tigers are young and inexperien­ced.

It's why he was so happy with last week's 13-7 win over Hennessey in the season-opener.

“They made a lot of mistakes, but it's nothing we can't fix so we were happy with that,” Fisher said.

The game plan for Crescent (1-0) was to “get the ball game to the fourth quarter” and then find a way to pull away as it introduced many of its players to the “shock” of playing high school varsity football. The Tigers executed on all levels and impressed their coach with their mentality and hustle in the process.

“They did a lot better last night than we had anticipate­d,” Fisher said on Saturday. “Just that first quarter being able to play with the team and not get blown out early, especially when i t's the first time some of the kids have played, was just really good for us.”

They' ll look to carry what they learned about themselves into battle on Friday with North Rock Creek (0-1), which is also facing inexperien­ce, playing in its inaugural season of football.

Del City LB Tatum commits to Boise State

Rejhan Tatum will have to get used to playing on blue turf.

The Del City senior linebacker announced Sunday on Twitter his commitment to Boise State.

Along with the Broncos, Tatum's top offers were from Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

Tatum told The Oklahoman he is looking forward to playing out of state and has high expectatio­ns.

“I felt like they're a good, winning program, a nd they're probably going to put me in the next level,” he said.

Tatum, who was No. 14 on The Oklahoman's preseason rankings of the state's top 2021 recruits, led Del City with 151 tackles last season. He is a threestar prospect, according to 247Sports.

The 6- foot -2, 225-pounder began his high school career at Putnam City and transferre­d after his sophomore season.

 ?? PHIPPS/ THE OKLAHOMAN] ?? Carl Albert quarterbac­k Ben Harris is 41-1 as a starter in his high school career. [SARAH
PHIPPS/ THE OKLAHOMAN] Carl Albert quarterbac­k Ben Harris is 41-1 as a starter in his high school career. [SARAH

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States