Wolverines End Kingston’s Season in State Semis

Friday night, the Redskins faithful trooped up I-35 to Edmond North High School, as their boys faced the Vian Wolverines in the 2A state semifinals, with a berth in the state championship game on the line. While the Wolverines had experience with long playoff runs, the Redskins were relative newcomers at these heights, with their last trip to the state semifinals coming in 1988. On a clear, cool night on the turf field in Edmond, the Redskins fought hard, but could not overcome Vian, falling 35-7 to the Wolverines to end Kingston’s historic run.

Initially, it looked like defense would rule the night. Kingston gained only eight yards its first drive, went threeand-out and punted. Vian’s first drive was even worse, losing a net four yards and then a near-disastrous punt put Kingston in business at the Vian 47. Kingston’s first play, a tough run by sophomore Brandon Watson, proved to be a harbinger of things to come, as Watson injured his shoulder on the play and left the game, unable to return. After senior Tanner Showalter’s run gave Kingston third and seven from the Vian 44, the Redskins drew three straight penalty flags, a personal foul, a hold, and an offsides penalty which nullified two third-down conversions, then backed them up to third and eighteen on their own 45. Unable to convert that long third down, Kingston’s best chance to make a ballgame out of it sailed away with junior Matthew Flesher’s punt.

Taking over on its own 20, Vian went to work. On the second play of the Wolverines’ drive, sophomore Xavin Lackey took a handoff around the left end for 46 yards to the Kingston 24, with junior Colton Robinson’s shoestring tackle barely keeping him out of the end zone. Four plays later, junior quarterback Javyn Wright hit senior Gray Cloud on a short pass over the middle for a six-yard touchdown, and Vian led 7-0.

Kingston’s next drive was three and out, but Flesher’s next punt was downed 55 yards downfield at the Vian 15, and a personal foul penalty backed up the Wolverines to their own

8. Vian’s offense responded, and ten plays later had first and ten on the Kingston 27. The Redskins’ defense wasn’t done though. Junior defensive lineman Jesse Rose stopped Cloud cold for a two-yard loss on first down, senior defensive lineman Caleb Yeager stuffed Javyn Wright on quarterback keeper, and then senior Elijah Wright, in at quarterback for an obvious passing down threw a pass that was picked off at the one yard line by junior Jase Hayes, ending the Wolverines’ threat.

Unable to move the ball, Kingston went three and out, and the Redskins’ ensuing punt only traveled to the Kingston 28. With such a short field, the Wolverines had little trouble punching it in, as Lackey took it in from 4 yards out to extend Vian’s lead to 14-0 with just over three minutes left in the half.

Those three minutes were an eternity for the Redskins. On Kingston’s next play from scrimmage, freshman quarterback Karson Daniel was hit in the backfield and stripped, and Vian junior nosetackle Solomon Wright fell on the loose ball on the Kingston 16. Two plays later, Lackey took a handoff, started right, then cut back left through a huge hole for a 17-yard touchdown run to make the lead 21-0.

Kingston took over after the ensuing kickoff at its own 33 with 2:30 left in the half, and Daniel came out throwing. His third-down throw was snagged by Vian junior linebacker Gunnar Griffith, who made a spectacular one-handed grab and gave Vian another opportunity at the Kingston 40. However, the Kingston defense had not given up, and three plays later, Cloud’s attempt at a halfback pass was picked off by Kingston’s Robinson, who returned the ball to the Kingston 44. A Vian personal foul penalty moved the ball to the Vian 42 with 10 seconds left.

Presented great field position but little time to work, the Redskins tried to throw themselves back into the game. On second down, Daniels dropped back but was hit and stripped by nosetackle Solomon Wright, who scooped up the loose ball and ran 42 yards for another Wolverines’ touchdown as time expired in the half.

Vian took the second half kickoff and went back to work, driving 57 yards to the Kingston 11 in five plays. On the sixth play of the drive, Lackey fumbled, and Kingston junior linebacker Bryant Watts recovered the ball at the Redskins’ 8. The Wolverines’ defense held, however, and the Redskins punted after three more plays netted a total of four yards, and Vian took over again on their own 39.

With a methodical nineplay, 61-yard drive, all of them runs, Vian snuffed out the last hopes for the Kingston faithful. Lackey scored from two yards out and Vian now led 35-0 late in the third quarter.

Trailing by five scores, the Redskins’ offense finally came to life. Running and throwing, Kingston marched 43 yards on 14 plays, picking up four first downs, but on a successful fourth-down conversion, a pass from Daniel to junior Matthew Hawkins, Hawkins fumbled after converting the first down, and the Wolverines recovered with 7:58 to go. Vian substituted in their reserves as the ensuing drive went on, and Kingston finally scored on a four-yard touchdown run from senior Tanner Showalter with just over two minutes to end the shutout. The Vian faithful were already celebrating though, and Vian moved on to the state championship game with a 35-7 victory to end Kingston’s season.

Daniel completed four of his nine passes on the night, for 27 yards and an interception. Showalter led the Redskins in rushing, with 80 yards on eight carries and a touchdown in his final game. Senior Tyler Blanchard led the Redskins in receiving with 15 yards on his sole reception. Watts led Kingston’s defenders with 15 tackles, two for loss.

On the season, Hayes led Kingston in passing with 964 yards, completing 55 of his 101 attempts for 10 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Junior A.J. McKinney led in rushing yards, with 964 yards on 179 carries and 12 touchdowns. Watson trailed close behind with 944 yards on 139 carries and 15 touchdowns, and Showalter had 859 yards on 113 carries and 8 touchdowns. Blanchard led all Kingston receivers with 422 yards on his 22 catches, with 6 touchdowns.

Watts led the Redskins in tackles for the season, recording 130 stops. Rose led the team in sacks, with 7, while Yeager led in tackles for loss with 19.

Vian (13-1) moves on to face undefeated Metro Christian (14-0) in the 2A state title game, played at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Wantland Stadium Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. The Patriots dispatched the Beggs Golden Demons (11-3) 41-31 on Friday night in Broken Arrow and have been ranked at or near #1 in the OSSAA poll all season.

Kingston’s historic season ends as does the Redskins’10-game winning streak. The Redskins won their district back-to-back in 2019 - going undefeated in district play both years - after not winning their district for over thirty years, and advanced to the state semifinals for only the third time in school history. Kingston was by far the lowest-ranked team in the state semifinals, as Metro Christian (#1), Vian (#4) and Beggs (#7) were all ranked higher than Kingston, which was tied with Chisholm for 10^th .

Extra Points

The extent to which Vian dominated this game with its defense is hard to overstate. Kingston’s offense did not record a single first down (that did not get reversed by a penalty) until 1:45 left in the third quarter, after the Redskins were already down 35-0. Kingston also posted its lowest yardage total for the year, with only 150 total yards, 79 of those coming on Kingston’s scoring drive late in the 4^th quarter when the game was well out of reach. That underperformance on offense - Kingston’s worst showing of the season - wasted what turned out to be a great effort by the Redskins’ defense against a tough, physical Vian attack. Had Kingston’s offense managed anything positive in the last 3:30 of the first half, instead of the two fumbles and the interception that led to two more Vian scores, this might have been a very different game.

The Wolverines are clearly an outstanding team. Their offensive and defensive lines consistently gave them an opportunity to make big plays on both sides of the ball. While the loss was disappointing to the team and to their fans, there is no shame in losing to this squad.

That being said, the Wolverines will need to be outstanding to beat Metro Christian Saturday night. The Patriots are undefeated for a reason and are clearly the favorite to win a state title.

The presence of so many private schools driving deep into the playoffs begs the question of whether these schools are on a level playing field with the public schools they are so often beating. Whispers inevitably start about “recruiting” and the “scholarships” and other compensation given to their players’ families. Even if everything is above-board, it’s hard from the perspective of a rural school playing a bunch of kids who happen to live in the same ZIP code not to wonder how these smaller private schools can have so many high-quality athletes on the same team. It’s also not hard to imagine that if the opportunity to cheat the system is present, some coach will fall victim to temptation to recruit an all-star lineup to plow through those same rural schools. A reasonable system would be subject to review for this type of activity, but that’s not what we have in Oklahoma.