Broken Arrow football is this week's Oklahoma Team of the Week presented by the Oklahoma National Guard.
Courtesy photo
Talk to worldly travelers, philosophers and football coaches alike. Most will preach the very same word: balance.
That's exactly what the football team at
Broken Arrow (Okla.) displayed last week — and most weeks normally — in an impressive 28-6 win over Bixby.
The Tigers (4-1), under coach Steve Spavital, racked up 22 first downs and 429 yards, almost evenly divided between the pass and run.
For their balance, long-standing excellence and
remarkable participation — the Tigers have a whopping roster of 125 —
Broken Arrow was selected as the MaxPreps Oklahoma Team of the Week,
presented by Oklahoma National Guard.
Senior quarterback
Coleman Key completed 26 of 35 for 233 yards and four touchdowns, two to
Myles Smith (6 catches, 86 yards) and one each to
Austin Reed (14, 126) and
Alex Lewis (1, 8).
Broken
Arrow also broke Bixby with a powerful running game, that totaled 196
yards on 37 carries (5.30 per carry), led by
Devon Thomas (16 carries,
97 yards), while sophomore
Jamal Shaw added six carries for 47 yards.
Defensively,
Broken Arrow only allowed Bixby's high-powered attack into the end zone
once, on a pass from Marshall Ray (15 of 37, 168 Yards) to Blake
Cooper.
"We knew that they were a well-coached team so we knew we had to
simplify a lot of things," said Spavital. "We had to especially control their movement on
defense. We prepared by keeping it business as usual. We had a lot of
meetings, and a great week of practice."
The game was relatively
even in the first quarter when the host Tigers took a 14-6 lead. But the
team's defense wouldn't allow Bixby back in the end zone the rest of the
way.
Broken Arrow recorded a whopping 14 tackles for losses, three by senior
Diamond Hemphill and two each from
Alex Bradley,
Quintonio Tolon and
Gage Kaiser. Bradley led the team with 11 tackles, followed by 10 from
Markeel Moses and eight from
Andrew Kaiser.
Damian Howard added a key interception and 21-yard return.
"Our (defensive) front is very experienced. They are guys who came back from last
year who are not very big, but make up for that by a lot of movements," said Spavital.
"They are doing an outstanding job based on experience, intelligence and
their knowledge of the game."
Broken
Arrow was coming off a resounding 65-10 win over Muskogee as sophomore
Jamal Shaw broke loose for 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns. The
Tigers rushed for 333 yards in that one and Key was an efficient 16 of
21 for 173 yards and three more touchdowns.
The Tigers haven't
had a losing record from at least 2004, and they went 10-3 in 2009 and
14-2 in 2011. Last season they were 8-4. The 2011 team lost a bitter
state final to Union 23-22.
Key, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound senior, ranks 14th in the state with 898 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions.
"We have an experienced quarterback, multiple receivers and tailbacks,
and are more successful," said Spavital. "This core of experience has made us a better
team."
Do you know a team that deserves
consideration for Oklahoma Team of the Week? Email us with your
nominations at OKteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.
