Anadarko is this week's Oklahoma Team of the Week, presented by the Oklahoma National Guard.
Photo courtesy of Terence Young
Sometimes teams catch fire late en route to championships. Not the case for the
Anadarko Warriors football team, which went end-to-end, start-to-finish, September-to-December on a dominating run to capture the Oklahoma 4A state title.
Anadarko (14-0), which outscored opponents 664-101, finished it off with a 40-0 win over Poteau at Oklahoma State University on Saturday to claim its second title in three years.
It also took some of the sting away after losing 21-14 in last year’s state finals to Clinton. That broke a win streak of 28 games.
For their comeback spirit and dominance, the Warriors are the MaxPreps Oklahoma Team of the Week, presented by the Oklahoma National Guard.
"It feels really good this year," said head coach Kent Jackson.
"Especially after last year, losing in the last seconds of the game,
it's good to get redemption. We won the state title in 2011, we were the
runner-up in 2012 and it feels great to be the champs again this
season."
R.J. Sink, Anadarko
Photo courtesy of Terence Young
Led by coach Jackson, Anadarko was on a mission all season, opening with a 73-14 win over Chickasha. That was just the starting fuse to an explosive season.
The Warriors rattled off wins of 62-0, 53-7, 63-14 and 68-7 the next four weeks. Saturday’s shutout was the team’s fourth of the season, but five other times Andarko allowed a touchdown or less in a game.
The team was led defensively by junior
Malik Boardingham, who recorded a state-best 20.5 sacks to go along with 83 tackles. Sophomore
Kaden Jackson also had 11 sacks. The team’s tackle leaders were
Ethan Smith (108 tackles),
Traymayne Wauahdooah (87), Boardingham and
Jarrod Wheeler (75).
"It really was the type of kids we had on our team. They are a very physical group," said Jackson. "When they are out on the field, that physicality definitely comes through on the defensive side of the ball."
Offensively, senior
R.J. Sink rushed for 2,229 yards and 37 touchdowns. The Warriors rushed for 3,746 yards and averaged better than seven yards per carry, and with a very efficient passing game led by quarterback
Brandon Pollard (123 of 172, 71 percent, for 1.937 yards, 22 touchdowns, 4 interceptions), Anadarko was almost impossible to stop.
The top receiving threat was
Josh Parton (39 catches, 735 yards, 13 touchdowns) but
Brayden Alexander (36 catches, 492 yards) and
Mykel Shaw (23, 351) were also potent threats.
In the title game, the defense was extremely active as Boardingham had three of the team’s 7.5 sacks and Smith contributed 16 tackles.
Offensively, Pollard was 6-for-9 for 128 yards with touchdown passes to Shaw and Sink, who also rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown.
"(Sink) means a lot to our running team and our quarterback does a good job at getting our players the ball," said Jackson. "(Sink) committed himself to the weight room in the offseason and was able to get much stronger. He really practiced on his running game and worked hard to get faster."
Wauahdooah also had a big game with 327 return yards, including a touchdown.
Overall, it was a dominating fashion in all facets of the game, which represented the entire season for the Warriors.
MaxPreps editorial assistant Kirstin Beal contributed to this report.Do you know a team that deserves
consideration for Oklahoma Team of the Week? Email us with your
nominations at OKteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.
