Finally the Guthrie Junior High Football teams got to play inside one of the nation’s historic high school football stadiums, Thursday evening, and they took advantage of it.
Coach Jason Rice talks with his 7th grade offense on the sideline during a time out.
Both the 7th and 8th grade teams soared to two easy victories over the visiting El Reno Indians inside Jelsma Stadium. The 7th grade team improved to 4-0 on the season with a 32-6 convincing win while the 8th grade team was dominated in their 49-6 win to get back in the win column and are 3-1 on the season. Click for the Photo Gallery.
Guthrie was scheduled to open their season inside Jelsma, but the game was moved to the high school practice field due to wet conditions.
The Oklahoma sky opened up with off and on again rain showers pouring down on the turf, and all four teams had a hard time holding onto the ball with the wet conditions.
The El Reno 7th grade team fumbled the ball to the Jays on their first possession at the 23-yard line and a few plays later Kevin Blue scored from 19-yards out to go up 6-0 with 2:01 to play in the first quarter. The 2-point conversion failed on an incomplete pass.
The Indians on the first play of the second quarter fumbled again to the Jays. However, moments later Guthrie fumbled the ball back to the visitors. El Reno was unable to take advantage and turn the ball over on downs and Blue struck again.
On the first play from scrimmage, Blue dashed past the El Reno secondary and scored on a 78-yard run to give the Jays a 12-0 lead with 3:03 left before the half. The 2-point conversion was no good on another incomplete pass.
Guthrie then attempted an on-side kick but failed and gave El Reno great field position. However, the Guthrie defense and Rowdy Reihs came to the rescue.
After a loss of 4-yards, El Reno was forced to pass and the Jays linebacker, Reihs, stepped in front of the pass and dashed for a 46-yard return to the 9-yard line to set up Blue’s third score of the first half.
On second down and goal, Blue took the hand off and scampered into the end zone on a 13-yard run to push the score up to 18-0.
Guthrie found the end zone twice in the second half. Blue capped off his night with his fourth score of the game on a 49-yard touchdown run and then capitalized on Guthrie’s only made 2-point conversion when he ran to the right side. Blue finished with five scores and a total of 26 points by himself.
After El Reno got onto the score board, Guthrie running back Jaden Warnick got in the scoring fun when he took off on a 68-yard run to finish the game scoring.
8th grade makes quick work in 1st half
Both teams took to a wet field and a slippery football as both teams traded fumbles on their opening possessions around the El Reno 20-yard line. In the first half, El Reno fumbled away three times and the Jays were not much better with two turnovers.
After a touch back, El Reno took over on their 20-yard line and again the Indians fumbled the ball, but this time Guthrie’s Grant Towler scooped it up and went in for an 18-yard score and Matt Guerrero made it 8-0 on the 2-point conversion with 2:34 left in the opening quarter.
Guthrie took advantage of El Reno’s second turnover when the Jays recovered the fumble at the 26-yard line and on the first play Beau Davis went to the house on a 26-yard run to push the score to 14-0 with :56 to play in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Jays erupted for 22-points with the first six coming from quarterback Tanner Merrideth on a well called screen pass to Blaine Hill that went for 10-yards. The Merrideth to Hill connection was true again on the two point conversion to push the lead up to 22-0.
The defense was next to get into the score column when Jeremy Wallis intercepted a pass and darted in for a 51-yard score. Chase Newman came on and showed a strong leg on the point after to give the Jays a commanding 29-0 lead with 1:15 left in the third.
El Reno’s fourth turnover was recovered at the 28-yard line and on the first play from scrimmage Guerrero scored and with another Newman point after Guthrie led at the break 36-0.
In total, four first half El Reno turnovers led to 28 points for the Jays.
Next up for Guthrie on the schedule will be another Thursday evening, at Jelsma Stadium, when Deer Creek pays a visit.
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