With the legs and determination of senior Jaylen Harper, the Guthrie Bluejays are advancing to the second round of the playoffs following a 49-21 first-round home win over Lawton MacArthur.
Harper is believed to have set a Guthrie single-game rushing record with 343 yards on 28 carries with five touchdowns. He accounted for 81% of the Jays total offense with 159 yards in the first half and 184 more in the second half.
Harper, who has now rushed over 100 yards in all 11 games this season, clipped 1,700 total yards this season with 1,705 and has 30 rushing scores, one receiving, and one passing.
The last Guthrie player to rush over 300 yards in a game was Steven Smith back in 2000 with 301 yards and four touchdowns against Noble (37-6). The last time a Bluejay scored five touchdowns in a game was assistant coach Luke Davis in 2011 in a first-round home playoff win against Durant.
The Jays jumped out to a 21-7 first-quarter lead and never trailed in the game.
Quarterback Hayden Calvert scored the first of seven scores with a 56-yard run up the middle and outrunning the Highlanders secondary.
With junior Blake Doles scoring from 1-yard and Harper adding three scores, Guthrie held a 35-14 halftime lead. The Highlanders scored on their opening drive to begin the second half to cut the lead down 35-21 but held from there while Guthrie added two more Harper scores.
The Jays finished with zero passing yards, while Lawton Mac finished with 265 passing yards but held to minus 14 yards rushing. Guthrie’s defense has now held seven of their 11 opponents to negative rushing yards.
Guthrie has now won 14 straight home playoff games dating back to 2002.
Next, Guthrie travels to Del City for a Class 5A showdown featuring No. 2 versus No. 3.
The Eagles are 11-0 including a first-round win over Pryor 48-8.
Del City is outscoring their opponents 508-67 on the season and has shut out five opponents.
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