Photos by Sheri Ishmael-Waldrop and Kristi Howard
Head Coach Tim Holt clinched the first win of his Chieftain career against the Edison Eagles at home in a 61-13 blowout, tying their season record 1-1. The game heavily featured Sapulpa’s star players and was almost an exact repeat of last year’s final score against the Eagles of 61-14.
The Sapulpa fans were glad to be back for the official week one of high school football. Collins Stadium feels like a second home to Chieftains, old and new alike, as the team worked to get into a rhythm. The crowd came alive as “Welcome to the Jungle” played over the loudspeaker.
Edison won the coin toss and Sapulpa was happy to be the first to take the ball. Senior Quarterback Zac Mason lined up in his shotgun formation and after throwing to a few different players, he threw a 22-yard pass to Colton Morton, who was left by himself in a hole in Edison’s secondary.
During the first half, Sapulpa’s defense kept Edison from moving forward. The Eagles were only able to get a single first down and struggled to manage any positive yards against Sapulpa’s stonewall defense. The Chieftains were able to enter the backfield and stop Edison’s running backs from breaking the line of scrimmage. Sapulpa’s secondary was all over the Eagles’ offense, which would continue to cause Edison’s quarterback to scramble and throw the ball away.
Sapulpa’s special teams also came to help, with several back-to-back touchbacks, forcing the Eagles to start on the 20 yard line every time, and gave Sapulpa decent field position throughout the game.
At the end of the first half Mason had thrown three touchdowns, two to Morton (a 22-yard and a 65-yard), and one long pass to Wyatt Daniels. Sapulpa’s playmaker Tyreese Jones could not be stopped. Jones ran quick first downs, literally carrying several Eagles on his back. He eventually spread his own wings and managed three rushing touchdowns, two being big gains of 48-yards and 68-yards, before the end of the half.
Sapulpa never had to punt until the second half and only had one drive in the first half not end in a touchdown after they turned it over on downs on a 4 and 20.
The second half was much calmer as the Chieftains looked to spread their offense around with Marco Smith picking up the ball for Jones. They managed a pretty impressive second half, scoring two touchdowns.
Edison was able to score twice in the fourth quarter, and the last touchdown was recorded with less than 4 seconds on the clock.
Sapulpa worked hard to lower the number of penalties that accrued during the game after so many crucial flags kept them from getting back in the game against the Sandites. They still had three costly personal fouls, including a taunting and facemask play that almost kept them from the endzone.
Sapulpa looks to increase their winning streak next Friday in Bartlesville in non-district play. Edison will play their first home game against Memorial.
