Guthrie soars back into state championship game

The Guthrie BlueJays completed a total of six passes the entire afternoon in the Class 5A state semifinal game against McAlester. But the last one will be remembered for a long, long time.

Guthrie, holding a 28-25 lead after a McAlester scoring drive, faced a third down and 15 with 1:59 left in the game. A first down would clinch a berth to the state title game.

Rafe Watkins post game interview

In a power, jumbo formation, junior quarterback Bryan Dutton tossed right to sophomore running back Kai Callins, who appeared was going to follow a double lead. Instead, stopped in his tracks, looked the other way and found a wide-open Dutton, who slipped out of the backfield and darted down field to send the Jays to the state championship game.

The trick play wrapped up a back-and-forth game that was played with a stiff wind that affected both passing and kicking games. However, Guthrie advances to the 5A state championship game next week with a 28-25 win.

The BlueJays will play in their third state championship game in school history with a perfect 2-0 record with titles in 2002 and 2007.

Guthrie (13-0) and Lawton MacArthur (13-0) will play inside Boone Pickens Stadium on Friday, December 2nd with a kick time of 11 a.m. The two teams last played in 2006 when Lawton Mac defeated Guthrie, 14-12, in the state semifinals at OU.

The Highlander’s rolled into the finals with a 56-2 drumming of the Ardmore Tigers at Yukon High School Saturday afternoon. Mac has defeated Deer Creek, Bishop Kelley and Ardmore in the playoffs by a combine score of 145-44.

In the more competitive game, Guthrie used a rush attack that was sparked by Dutton just before the half.

After McAlester scored 18-unanswered points (18-7) to give the Jays their biggest deficit of the season, Dutton and the offense covered 80-yards on 10 plays with Dutton gaining 67 of those yards on 5-carries. Senior running back Luke Davis capped the drive off with a 3-yard score just before the first half ended.

Dutton finished the game with 260 yards of total offense, including 174 on the ground with 28-carries. He was named the F&M Bank Player of the Game.

Bryan Dutton post game interview.

In total, Guthrie finished with 360 yards of offense while McAlester was kept in check at 205.

The 18-13 halftime score was the first time that Guthrie had trailed going into the half all season.

Guthrie responded in the third quarter with 15-unanswered points of their own to give them the lead back for good with both scores coming via the pass.

Dutton checked down to his third option when he spotted Davis for a 15-yard pass to retake the lead (21-18) and later found sophomore Donavan Jordan on a 32-yard diving grab in the end zone to go up 28-18 with 3:33 left in the third quarter. Both passes came with the wind behind their backs.

McAlester was unable to move the ball with consistency against the Guthrie defense. In fact, McAlester ran 49 offensive plays compared to Guthrie’s 72. To take it a step further, Guthrie held possession of the football on offense for 34:50 compared to the Buffalo’s 13:10. The numbers are even more impressive considering McAlester held the ball for 4:29 in the second half compared to Guthrie’s 19:31.

Despite the plays and time of possession, McAlester still had opportunities in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 28-18 with just more than 3:00 left in the game, McAlester quarterback Tony Kiefer hit Cody Lefors on a quick pass and when Guthrie was unable to tackle, Lefors sprinted down the boundary for a 43-yard touchdown score to pull the Buff’s within three, 28-25.

McAlester elected to kick it deep on the ensuing kick off and hoped to stop the Guthrie offense and take advantage of their two time-outs, but the Jays were able to take the final 2:55 off the clock.