Guthrie earns all around win over Ardmore Jays have three different scorers and four Jays finish with interceptions in team win   COMMENT   |   TWITTER   |   EMAIL  |   FACEBOOK  |   LEAVE FEEDBACK   By: Chuck Chaney Posted: October 2nd, 2009

(3-2, 2-0) Next at Harrah ( (1-4, 1-1) Next vs Capitol Hill     1st 2nd 3rd 4th F Ardmore 0 0 0 6 6 Guthrie 7 14 7 0 28  Quick Stats Guthrie Ardmore  Total Yards 288 180  Passing Yards 185 148  Rushing Yards 103 32  Number of Plays 61 56  Penalties-Yards 4-45 8-52  Turnovers 0 4  Time of Possession 28:30 19:30    Stat Leaders  Passing C-Att Yds TD Int  GHS - Dutton 14-20 185 3 0  AHS - Downing 6-13 65 0 1  AHS - Smith  9-23 83 1 3  Rushing Car Yds TD Long  GHS -  Bruner 20 54 0 8  AHS - Brown 11 36 0 21  Receiving Rec Yds TD Long  GHS - Brothers 4 63 1 35  AHS - Tiller 7 77 1 38 Rafe Watkins | Kelly Beeby | Heart of a Champion

***Listen to the radio play back between Guthrie and Ardmore Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. on Guthrie Sports Page Radio.

Guthrie -- The Guthrie BlueJays came out firing Friday night in a key 5A-2 district showdown with the Ardmore Tigers inside a cool, crisp Jelsma Stadium. The game was also broadcasted on state wide television on KSBI-TV.

Freshmen quarterback Bryan Dutton dominated through the air and on the ground. He accounted for 80% of Guthrie’s offense, running and throwing for 232 yards. Guthrie finished with 288-yards for the game.

Guthrie jumped out to a quick 28-0 over Ardmore and never looked back, as Guthrie won won 28-6, and got the all important 15-district points in the process.

Jays head coach Rafe Watkins talked about the win, “This was a good win tonight; Ardmore is a good football team.”

The first drive of the game was dominated by penalties and Guthrie defense. Ardmore seemed to be over matched from the beginning despite their athletic look.

Senior quarterback Reed Downing had a completion to fellow senior Ruben Tiller for a 10-yard gain. Downing’s next pass to Andre Brown, was dropped and Ardmore was forced to punt although the punt went for only 18-yards, but the Jays were not able to capitalize.

Dutton made a step back play on the option to start Guthrie’s first possession, picking up a nice seven yard gain. Junior running back Derek Kelly fell down on the next play, causing a loss of four. Then Dutton on the roll out, wasn’t able to find anyone open, and was sacked on the play by defensive linemen Stormy Eldridge and Jays senior punter Hank Hudson was force to punt.

Ardmore started deep in their territory for their second drive. The Tigers spent most of the night in their own end. Ardmore's running back Andra Brown came out and was stuffed on a great play by senior linebacker Jaden Chappell. Downing, on a roll out, completed a pass to Josiah Reed for a Tiger first down.

Aafter a few stops, Guthrie was called for a face mask penalty, giving Ardmore new life. Downing tried to zip his next pass over the middle, but senior cornerback Devin Williams made a great defensive play by knocking the ball away to force the incompletion. Senior Martel Oates and junior Kentrell Brothers came up with great defensive sacks to end the drive.

Guthrie took over possession on their own 47-yard line, a small run by running back JP Bruner helped set up a long third and seven. Dutton would hit Bruner for a big screen pass for a gain of 24-yards and a Blue Jay first down. Dutton kept the ball around the right end for five more yards, dragging a defender for a few yards.  Bruner then had a nice juke and a run to help move the chains once more. Two plays later, Dutton hit Kelly for a 3-yard touchdown pass. Hudson hit the extra point, giving Guthrie, the early 7-0 lead.

Ardmore tried to counter the touchdown drive of Guthrie, with a nice drive of their own; however, Guthrie’s defense had other ideas.

Brothers was in the face of Downing during the series and Downing attempted a deep pass that was dropped. It may have opened up the momentum, but instead allowed Guthrie’s defense to gain more confidence. Ardmore was forced to punt, but a poor punt gave Guthrie possession for the second time in three chances in Ardmore territory.

The second quarter saw the Guthrie offense catch fire for a couple of scoring drives.

Ardmore and Guthrie’s first possessions of the second quarter stalled out. However, Ardmore fielded their best punt of the night and pushed Guthrie back to their 36-yard line to start their second possession of the second quarter.

Dutton was slammed by Brown for an 11-yard loss on first down, but on the next play, hit the screen pass to Bruner for a gain of 11-yards to almost the original line of scrimmage, bringing up a third and 11. Dutton found Brothers, who finished with four catches, on a big third down completion to move the chains.

Bruner would make a nice run around the corner, which ended with him being horse collared forcing a flag to come out, and moved the Blue Jays deep into Tiger territory. Dutton finally hit senior Corbin Crockett for a 26-yard touchdown pass to cap off the 6-play drive. Hudson hit the PAT and the Jays had a  14-0 with 7:15 to play before the half.

Ardmore started putting together an offensive drive at midfield, when Downing tried to go deep, but was intercepted by Williams, his first of the season, at the Guthrie 15-yard line.

Defensive coordinator Kelly Beeby talked about his defense, “To force them to be one dimensional is just hats off to our kids.”

Later, Dutton made a 19-yard scamper around the end to start the drive. Guthrie continued to run the ball, wearing down the Ardmore defense.

Significant moment on that play, Reed, who not only is the starting quarterback, but middle linebacker, would go down with an injury and did not return to the game. Watkins said in the postgame interview, that he was out for the season.

Dutton would make a nice pass, and a nice run to help push the chains as Guthrie was driving. Dutton hit Brothers on a 6-yard strike for a Guthrie touchdown in the North end zone to finish off a 14-play drive that covered 85-yards and took off nearly 5:00 off the clock. Guthrie lead at the half 21-0.

“The first half was by far the best half we’ve played all year.” Watkins said.

Dutton’s pass to Brothers was his third touchdown pass of the game and third straight game with multiple touchdown passing games and finished 14 of 20 for 185-yards and three touchdowns with a total of 232 total yards. As a team, Guthrie finished with 288 yards total.

For Ardmore, Junior Chad Smith came in at quarterback for to replace Downing, who seemed to injured his knee.

The second half, was a bit sloppy, and was time consuming. Both teams realizing the game was a little out of hand, Guthrie would run the play clock to below ten seconds, on almost every play.

Guthrie did receive the second half kickoff, after kicking to start the game. Dutton helped a time consuming drive down the field.  After stalling late in the drive in Ardmore territory, Hudson came out and attempt a 36-yard field goal, but hooked it left and Ardmore got the ball.

Guthrie’s defense was just fantastic the entire game. Ardmore only had 180 yards total offense, 32 yards rushing. Smith and Downing combined to be 15 of 35 for 148 passing yards. Smith also threw second half interceptions. Ardmore was 1 of 11 on third downs for the entire ballgame.

Beeby said, “All the coaches couldn’t be more proud of these guys to come out and perform the way they did.”

Guthrie got the ball back and then made another time consuming drive with a parade of passing and running. They kept wearing down the Ardmore defense. You could tell by each play, gaining five and six yard every run, that Ardmore was tired.  However, the Tigers finally forced Guthrie into a fourth down. Hudson, again, missed to the left on a field goal attempt, leaving the score 21-0.

On their third drive of the game, Guthrie would be very methodical as they drove down the field. Dutton hit junior wide out Devonte' McCulley for a 16-yard completion down to about the two yard line, before Kelly punched it in from 2-yards out to push the Jays lead up to 28-0 with 1:51 to play in the third quarter.

Ardmore sustained a drive following the fourth Jays score. Brown broke out for 24-yards, pushing them into Guthrie territory for only the second time. Tiller and Smith played pitch and catch on a couple of plays to help move the drive along before Smith finally hit Tiller for a 36-yard touchdown pass.

Tiller finished with seven receptions for 77 yards and one touchdown. The PAT was no good and the Ardmore touchdown was their first points against Guthrie in three seasons dating back to 2007 (34-0 in 2008 and 61-0 in 2007).

Guthrie’s defense dominated with ruthless abandonment the rest of the game. Jaden Chappell came away with an interception and was the fourth different Jay to come away with a pick. Guthrie, who had just two interceptions in the first four ball games (both by Brothers), finished with four on the evening.

”I really think they (the secondary group) grew up tonight.” Beeby said.

Guthrie dominated the game, just not on the field, but in the intangibles in the stat book. Time of possession, Guthrie had the ball for 28 minutes and 30 seconds (59%). Also, their average starting position on the football field was the 46 of Ardmore. Ardmore started at their 23 yard line.

Ardmore drops to 1-4 for the season, and 1-1 in district play. They’ll still have a chance to make the playoffs. They’ll host Capitol Hill next week (0-5, 0-2).

Guthrie improves to 3-2 overall and more importantly 2-0 (+29 in the point differential column) in district 5A-2. After dropping its first two games, Guthrie has streaked into a three game winning streak. They’ll look to make it a four game winning streak as they travel to Harrah to take on the Panthers (3-2, 1-1).

The Bluejays also moved into the top spot of the district with the Shawnee Wolves. Shawnee defeated Carl Albert, however, the tie-breaker is district points, and Guthrie currently has +29 district points, and Shawnee has +18. 

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