It was a fun night inside Jelsma Stadium as the Guthrie freshmen and junior varsity teams needed last second heroics to pick up wins over Carl Albert on Monday evening.
With the win, the freshmen improved to 4-0 and have yet to lose a game since the sixth grade. The junior varsity runs their record to 3-0.
Sophomore Isaac Lewis was inserted as the Jays junior varsity quarterback due to an injury two weeks ago to Gavin Brison. Lewis looked like a savvy veteran with crafty runs and late pinpoint passes when the Jays needed it the most.
Guthrie jumped out to a 14-0 lead with a Lewis 6-yard touchdown run, two-point conversion and a 40-yard interception return.
However, Carl Albert responded with two late first half touchdown passes from 40 and 33 yards out within 32 seconds to take a 16-14 lead into halftime.
The lone second half score for either team came in the closing seconds for the Bluejays.
The Jays were forced into a fourth down and 20 following a penalty. With the game on the line, Lewis found tight end John Lute for a 40-yard reception down to the 3-yard line with less than 30 seconds in the game.
Guthrie attempted to run the ball on three consecutive plays, but were pushed back to the 4-yard line to set up one final play for the game.
Following a time-out, Lewis took the shot-gun snap and with pressure barreling down on him found Lute for the game winning 4-yard touchdown score with eight seconds left in the game.
Carl Albert made the game interesting on the ensuing kickoff on what appeared a touchdown waiting to happen. Luckily for the Jays, Tre Parker tracked down the Titan return man to keep him out of the end zone. During the return, a penalty flag was tossed on the Titans and nullified the Titan return.
Freshmen hold Titans on game’s final play
The freshmen have won every single game they have played dating back to their seventh grade season. During that stretch they had never played the Jays top rival in Carl Albert.
On Guthrie’s first possession, the Jays were fortunate to jump on two of their own fumbles, but when they held onto the ball they picked up big gains on the 10-play, 85-yard drive in just less than six minutes.
CJ Ward had runs of 20 and nine yards before scoring on a 10-yard run on the final play of the first quarter. Quarterback Jackson Waddell was held on the two-point try to keep the score at 6-0.
Carl Albert found the end zone just before the half. The drive was able to stay alive after a fourth down play. It appeared the Titans running back was held for a loss, but suddenly tossed the ball to a teammate who ran for the first down. A few plays later, the Titans scored on a 4-yard run to tie the game at 6-all.
Guthrie got going quickly in the second half. The Jays picked up a 57-yard reception from Blake Curtin and on the next play Waddell scored from 5-yards out. Two plays, 62 yards and 48 seconds later Guthrie held an early third quarter 12-6 lead.
The Bluejay defense held the Titans to a three-and-out to setup their next score. This time, the drive needed one play. One run from Ward.
From his own 44-yard line, Ward dashed to the north end zone for a 56-yard run and all of a sudden the Jays led by two scores, 18-6, with 6:08 left in the third quarter.
But the Titans simply were not going away.
Carl Albert responded with a 10-play, 70 yard drive capped off with a 26-yard touchdown run from the Titans quarterback. The two-point try was successful and the Jays lead was down to 18-14 with 37 seconds left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing drive, the Jays turned the ball over on the first play from scrimmage, but Carl Albert turned around and fumbled the ball back to the Bluejays.
After a significant penalty, Guthrie was forced to punt on fourth down and 16.
Carl Albert had one final drive to take the win from their own 40-yard line with 3:07 to play.
The Titans would take 15 snaps on their final drive. The drive took the Titans down to the Jays 11-yard line with the clock running down.
With three straight incomplete passes, the game came down to one final play. The Titan quarterback dropped back for a pass and connected with his receiver, but the Jays rushed the receiver out-of-bounds at the 4-yard line to secure the win.
Both teams will return to Jelsma Stadium on Monday (Sept. 28) when they host Chickasha. The freshmen will kick the night off at 5:30 p.m.
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