THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Skiatook High School Athletics

CLAREMORE — A four-way tie for the District 5A-4 lead has now turned into desperation time for the Claremore football team. The Zebras dropped their second straight game Thursday, as visiting Skiatook ran at will against the Claremore defense and upset the home team 28-16 at Lantow Field. Claremore, which led the district two weeks ago, is now in fourth place with a 3-2 record, looking up at 4-1 Tahlequah, Bishop Kelley and Collinsville. According to Claremore head coach Jarrett Hurt, the Bulldogs just wanted this one more. “Evidently they did tonight,” Hurt said. “I believe they wanted it a little bit more than we wanted it. They needed a win to get in (the playoffs). We needed a win to get in. And they wanted in worse than we wanted in tonight.” Things didn’t start out so horrible for the Zebras, but it took a little while to get the offense going. After Claremore’s Austin Short intercepted a Cody Evans pass and returned it to the Bulldogs 13 with 2:05 left in the first quarter, the Zebras finally pounded the ball near the goal line when Phillip Railey converted a 4th-and-2 down to the 3 yard line. From there, Keegan Hisey pushed the ball across on the first play of the second quarter to give Claremore a 7-0 lead. But just 69 seconds later, Skiatook answered. Evans found Jeremy Townsend in the back of the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown pass, and the game was tied at 7 with 10:43 left in the second quarter. It looked as if the Bulldogs would take the lead, as they marched down the field on their next possession, but Anthony Salazar intercepted Evans at the one and tumbled backwards into the end zone for a touchback. Claremore then took the ball 80 yards and Nick Koger kicked a 23-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead. Skiatook gained some field position in the final 35 seconds of the first half, but Evans threw his third interception of the game, this one to Claremore’s Jonathan Cox, who nearly broke free for a score as time ran out in the first half. Claremore held a slim 10-7 lead. “We had some great drives, we just didn’t get points at the end of those drives,” Hurt said. “We knew we had to score and at times we didn’t do that. That hurt us in the first half especially. We’d drive down there and give it up on downs. You’ve got to score when you get in the red zone.” That lack of scoring came back to bite Claremore in the second half. Focused on stopping the quick and fast Shae Garner, they couldn’t do anything to stop T.K. Wilkerson. Wilkerson set up Skiatook’s first score of the second half on a 54-yard run to the Claremore 3, where Garner took it in on the next play to give Skiatook its first lead, 14-10. After Salazar’s second interception, the fourth thrown by Evans, the Bulldogs figured it was best to just give it to Wilkerson. Early in the fourth, the key sequence of the game came on third down and long near midfield. Claremore stopped Garner cold, but a facemask penalty gave Skiatook new life. And on the next play, Wilkerson squirted free through the heart of the Claremore defense and ran 54 yards to paydirt. Skiatook now led 21-10 with 10:46 left. Claremore answered with a long sustained drive, capped by a Montana Huffaker 4-yard run with 4:43 left in the game. The two-point conversion failed, and Claremore was back in it, trailing 21-16. Claremore’s defense held strong and forced a Skiatook punt, which put the Zebras in good position at their own 26 with 2:26 to play. But Garner intercepted a Noah Grimett pass with 1:40 left. On the first play after the turnover, Wilkerson struck again, this time from 50 yards out and the Bulldogs iced the game with 1:31 left with a 28-16 lead. “Our focus was to stop No. 20 (Garner),” Hurt said. “Which we did a great job of. However, No. 1 (Wilkerson) ran all over the field. We felt like we could tackle No. 1 and focus on No. 20. And obviously, we didn’t do that very well.” Wilkerson ended up with 284 yards rushing on just 18 carries. Garner only had 13 rushing yards.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Skiatook High School Athletics

SKIATOOK HANDS CLAREMORE SECOND STRAIGHT LOSS

RICK HEATON

Claremore Progress | 10/20/2016