To say it nicely, it was a defensive battle between Guthrie and El Reno, Friday night, as the Jays kind of sort of celebrated Senior Night.
Guthrie’s defense controlled the entire football game en route to a 16-0 win over the Indians to win their fifth straight game and improve to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in district play. El Reno falls to 2-6 and 1-4 in the 5A-1 district.
The loss eliminates El Reno from the playoffs and all but secures the four spots for Guthrie, Carl Albert, Deer Creek, and Ada. Western Heights still has an outside shot of making the post season.
Guthrie honored 18 senior players before the game. The group of players are now 15-2 when playing at The Rock in the last three seasons.
El Reno managed just 72-yards of offense on the entire night and were held to zero yardsrushing. Guthrie ranks No. 1 in Class 5A in stopping the run. In the game, the Indians averaged 1.42 yards a play and were never a threat in scoring against the aggressive Guthrie defense.
Guthrie’s offense was not much better, but sufficient enough to find the scoreboard three times. The Jays finished with 239 yards of offense with 132 of those coming on the ground. Entering the game, Guthrie had averaged 401 yards of offense and 197 rushing.
Despite the poor offensive showing, sophomore quarterback Bryan Dutton became Guthrie’s career passing leader in the second quarter with a 68-yard touchdown pass to senior Devante McCully. Dutton passed 2009 graduate Keaton Callins on the list.
Listen to Dutton’s post game radio interview. Despite breaking the record, it was not a typical Dutton performance by completing just 38% of his passes as El Reno swarmed him throughout the night and was forced to leave the pocket numerous times.
“The defense was outstanding and we could not have asked more from them. They dominated from start to finish,” head coach Rafe Watkins said after meeting with his team in the locker room instead of the usual on field huddle.
“Offensively, other than the fade to Tae (McCully) that’s really the only bright spot of the night. It was pretty lame and pathetic and sickening to watch. I hate that everyone came out here tonight and envision that because it was just horrendous to say the least,” Watkins said.
For more post game interview with Watkins click here.
Guthrie’s first score came in the first quarter on a Dutton 2-yard run with :46 left in the quarter and the final score came in the last quarter with a 24-yard field goal from Derrik Kelly.
The Jays will be on the road next week to Western Heights and with a win will secure the district championship. A district title would be the second title (2007) under Watkins in his 10 seasons.
Not a pretty win, but we will take it. Sloppy conditions, flat performance, and a little emotional letdown after beating the Titans no doubt all contibuted. I absolutely would dread parctice this week if I was on the offense. Bet it will not be a fun place to be.
Hopefully, it was a one time glitch and with it behind us we can gear up for a deep run into playoffs. GO Bluejays!!!