Guthrie routs Southeast 68-0; up next Carl Albert

For the sixth time in seven games, Guthrie’s opponent failed to score a point, and for the fifth time in seven games, a team was held to negative rushing yards. Those numbers should change when the defending state champion comes to town for the game of the week in the state.

On Thursday, the Jays scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and 10 in the game for a 68-0 road win inside CB Speegle Stadium.

Guthrie improves to 7-0 on the season 3-0 in district 5A-2. Southeast fell to 2-5 and 0-3.

Senior Jaylen Harper continued to be the story for the offense by scoring three times and finishing with 168 rushing yards on only eight carries. When the offensive line was not creating huge holes, Harper was able to bounce out for long runs.

Zane Thomas and Elijah Smith took advantage as well with Thomas finishing with 69 yards on six carries, while Smith added 103 yards on seven carries. Both ran for a score.

Meanwhile, the Guthrie defense not only held the Spartans to negative 14 yards of offense, including negative 22 rushing yards but scored on two pick-sixes by the Watson brothers.

Khayri Watson, who scored on a receiver jet sweep play in the first quarter, hauled in a fourth-quarter interception and ran it back for the touchdown.

Before that, Tariq Watson found the endzone after picking off a pass in the second quarter.

Don’t forget about special teams.

Southeast attempted a short kickoff to begin the second half. The ball took a perfect bounce into the arms of senior Jacob Varnell, who made two Spartans miss and dashed into the end zone for a 58-yard touchdown.

Game of the Week

Guthrie moves their attention to Carl Albert who has won six of the last seven Class 5A state championships. The Titans were favorites, once again, coming into 2023 but were elevated with a transfer quarterback (Kevin Sperry Jr.) from Dallas and tight end (Marcus James) from Bishop McGuinness.

The Jays will look to slow down the Titans’ defense led by senior running back Xavier Robinson, who transferred to the Titans before his sophomore year from Mustang.

A season ago, Robinson broke the Titans school record with 2,594 yards while adding 39 scores.

Sperry, a junior, is a four-star recruit and has given his verbal commitment to the University of Oklahoma. Robinson, a three-star, is also a Sooners commitment.

However, the Titans have plenty more weapons.

Wide receivers Trey Washington and Trystan Haynes make the offense complete with their ability to make plays at the line of scrimmage and down the field to help highlight Sperry and Robinson.

Carl Albert (8-0) is averaging almost 54 points per game while allowing only 8 per game and has done so against quality opponents, including Class 6A-II top-ranked Muskogee (43-20), Coweta, and Midwest City.

One of the best wins for Guthrie this season came against McGuinness (20-0) two weeks ago. Last week, defeated the Irish 49-7 which the Titans led 42-0 at halftime.

The Jays and the Titans meet Thursday night inside Jelsma Stadium for a 7 p.m. kick. The game can be viewed on Guthrie News Page beginning at 6:30 p.m.