Guthrie football to open season with two-time state champions

By: Chris Evans

The 2007 Class 5A football state champions, Guthrie Bluejays, will defend their title beginning with the Fighting Irish of Bishop McGuinness along with an upgrade of teams in the 2008 season.

McGuinness, winners of the last two state titles in Class 4A, will enter Jelsma Stadium, on September 5th, as the Irish and Bluejays, state champion vs state champion, highlight week one of high school football.

El Reno and Piedmont round out the non-district portion of the schedule, but are no strangers to the Jays schedule from seasons past. However, with district re-alignment the 2008 season will beef up with Durant, Ardmore, and Shawnee entering district 5A-2. Harrah, Carl Albert, Capitol Hill, and Noble round out the district. Guthrie will have five home and five road games.

The Jays will begin district season when Durant comes to town, in Week 4, for Homecoming before Guthrie makes their longest road trip of the season to Ardmore the following week. The classic Guthrie-Carl Albert match-up moves up two weeks in the schedule to Week 7 when the Jays travel to Midwest City.

The last regular season home game will be with the Shawnee Wolves, October 24th, for Senior Night.

Looking at Guthrie's 2007 schedule, their opponents were 39-61 in the regular season and the 2008 Jays opponents were a combined 53-47 last year with five teams making the play-offs. District 5A-2 once again will be one of the strongest districts not only in 5A, but in the entire state.

In the past 11 seasons, the state champion in Class 5A has come from district 5A-2 10 times. The only exception was Tulsa East Central in 2005. Carl Albert leads the way with seven titles, Guthrie has two, and Shawnee has one.

Guthrie will host Ponca City and travel to Ada for scrimmages, in late August, to prepare for the upcoming season.

For a complete look of the 2008 football schedule please visit the football page.

Share your thoughts on this story by going to the Guthrie Sports Page message board. It's free to join and talk Guthrie athletics. Click Here!

Hit Counter

This website and Evans Sports LLC is an unofficial and independent source of news and information, and is not affiliated with any school, team, or league.