Tuttle overpowers Newcastle in second half
Tuttle coach Brad Ballard wanted his team to overpower Newcastle last week.
After rallying to tie the game before halftime, the Tigers did that to the tune of 28 unanswered points for a 55-27 victory Friday.
“We pretty much imposed our will,” Ballard said. “It sure was a lot of fun. I thought our kids did a great job of sticking to our game plan.”
That game plan was focused on holding everybody else in check as Newcastle star quarterback Casey Thompson operated. Thompson threw for more than 200 yards to Jacob Morris.
Tuttle still forced four turnovers and harassed Thompson with a physical attack.
“You’re not going to completely stop him,” Ballard said. “He’s really good, and I was very impressed by his toughness. We actually knocked him out of the game twice and he came back in after a play each time. He just continued to work hard at it. He puts you in a bind.”
Tuttle’s offense was nearly flawless, too.
The Tigers averaged 8.2 yards per rush attempt and only threw the ball nine times. JD Eddy rushed for 135 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries. Ethan Glass also rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
It was a huge difference from a Week 1 loss at Kingfisher.
“We improved a lot,” Ballard said. “We had to make some changes.”
PC North learning how to win again
Back-to-back rivalry weeks could exhaust some teams, but Putnam City North seems to feed off the big matchups.
PC North took down Putnam City West on Friday 30-7, a week after giving Putnam City everything it wanted in a close 16-10 loss.
To defeat West, North relied on a stellar defensive performance led by junior linebacker Will Taylor, who finished with 19 tackles. Linebacker DK Stevenson blocked a punt that was picked up and run in for a touchdown.
Senior kicker Sam Allee also went 3 for 3 on field goal attempts, including hitting a 45-yarder.
In his second year at PC North, coach Ryan Laverty says he feels like his guys are learning how to win. The Panthers finished 1-9 last season, the worst finish at North since 1978, the year the school opened.
“Our kids have bought in,” Laverty said. “It’s a slow climb trying to turn things around and do all the little things right, but we are trying to return this program to a competitive level.”
Stillwater senior wins boys 5K at Patriot Open
Vlad Munteanu is only using cross country as a way of staying in shape for soccer. But he likes winning too. Munteanu, a senior from Stillwater, finished first overall for Class 5A and 6A with a time of 15:34.47 during Friday’s windy Putnam City West Patriot Open at Route 66 Park on Lake Overholser.
“It feels good to win, and I’m happy about my performance,” Munteanu said. “I was really able to use the wind to my advantage in spots and it turned out to be a good strategy.”
Munteanu said he drafted off runners ahead of him during a windy stretch on the course before pushing past them for the last mile of the race.
“They all fell back, so I guess it was the right strategy,” Munteanu said.
The overall team title for the boys went to Carl Albert, which had runners finish in 4th, 16th, 18th, 21st and 25th for 84 points, just 4 points ahead of Piedmont.
For the girls, Enid senior Alexzandria Hernandez finished nearly 18 seconds ahead of the second place runner to claim the individual win. Westmoore took home the team win with five top 15 runners.