Jays drop district game in Lawton; final playoff spot up for grabs

The chance of a winning season for the Guthrie High School football team took a hit Friday night in Lawton. Now, the Jays are fighting for what appears to be the final playoff spot in their district.

Lawton Eisenhower took an early 13-0 lead and never trailed on the scoreboard to win, 41-21, their fourth straight game and is tied atop District 5A-2 with a 4-0 record (4-3 overall). Meanwhile, the Bluejays are now 1-3 in the district and 2-5 overall.

With three weeks to play in the regular season, the Jays appear they will fight Piedmont and Woodward for a playoff berth. The last time the Jays failed to qualify for post season play was in 2004 when they finished 6-4.

Guthrie will host Piedmont on Thursday night for Senior Night, travels to Woodward the following and finishes the season in Guymon.

Piedmont, who hammered Woodward 54-9 on Friday, stunned the Jays a season ago and have won three of their last four games.

On Friday, the Bluejays were able to move the ball at times, but finished with 255 yards of offense, three turnovers and were a combined 4-17 on third and fourth down conversions.

Senior running back Gavin Brison was the highlight of the offense as he finished with 106 yards rushing on 24 carries and reaching the end zone on a 12-yard run in the second quarter.

The Bluejays trailed 35-7 in the third quarter before scoring twice in a span of 21 seconds.

Quarterback Jackson Waddell scored on a 1-yard run and following an Ike turnover Waddell hit Gabe Gonzalez for a 25-yard touchdown on first down. The scores quickly made it a 35-21 game at the start of the fourth quarter, but the offense was unable to sustain drives in the final quarter.

Lawton Ike’s talented senior quarterback RJ Fisher led his offense to 444 yards, including 281 yards through the air on 16-27 passing.

The Eagles are tied with Carl Albert in the district standings at 4-0 and face each other on Thursday night in Midwest City.

Current 5A-2 District Standings (overall record in parenthesis)

Carl Albert (7-0) 4-0
Lawton Ike (4-3) 4-0
McGuinness (6-1) 3-1
Piedmont (3-4) 3-1
Guthrie (2-5) 1-3
Woodward (2-5) 1-3
Northwest (1-6) 0-4
Guymon (0-7) 0-4