Gore advances to title game

Pirates top Hominy 48-12

JENKS–Fourteen down, one to go.

Class A second-ranked Gore improved to 14-0 for the season while advancing to this week’s state championship game with a convincing 48-12 semifinal win over Hominy Friday night inside Jenks High School’s Allan Trimble Stadium.

The Pirates play fourthranked Fairview (14-0), a 38-22 winner over No. 6 Colcord in the other semifinal contest, at 7 p.m. Saturday inside the University of Central Oklahoma’s Chad Richison Stadium in Edmond.

“I just give the glory to God right now,” Gore head coach Brandon Tyler said after the Pirates’ win over Hominy. “He gives these guys the ability to play the game and I’m proud to be their coach and I can’t thank him enough. You’ve got to have a lot of luck on your side during this time of the year, we’re healthy, and I just praise God that we’re still rolling.”

In Friday’s win at Jenks, running back Gunner Dozier ran for 168 yards and three touchdowns, running back Jackson Duke ran for three more TDs and quarterback Noah Cooper registered the Pirates’ other score and completed 7-of-8 passes for 97 yards. On the other side of the ball Gore’s defense made a goal line stand early in the second period and shut out the Bucks until the fourth quarter.

After receiving the opening kickoff Hominy punted after running eight plays and moving to the Gore 41 but the Bucks’ offense returned to the field after recovering a fumble. Four plays later Hominy turned the ball over on downs at the Gore 32.

Cooper’s 11-yard touchdown run with 3:33 to go in the first gave the Pirates the lead and Christian O’Connor kicked the point-after. Dozier totaled 41 yards on five carries during the seven-play, 68yard scoring drive.

Moments later Cooper recovered a fumble at the Hominy 29 and four plays after Cooper’s 24-yard run Dozier crossed the goal line from the 3 to give the Pirates a 13-0 advantage at the 1:07 mark.

Early in the second stanza Chase Tindell’s 7-yard run gave the Bucks a first down at the Gore 7. Two carries by quarterback Jaxon Woods took Hominy to the 1 but Woods was stopped short of the goal line on two straight plays by Gore’s defense to end the scoring threat.

With five minutes left before the half Dozier raced 67 yards down the Hominy sideline before Woods made a touchdown-saving tackle at the Hominy 8. After two offensive holding penalties an 8-yard reception by Duke and a 21-yard catch by wide receiver Liam Edwards gave the Pirates a first down at the 1, and Dozier scored his second TD with 3:58 remaining before the half before O’Connor’s PAT made the score 20-0.

Gore’s offense got the ball back at its 46 with 1:43 left following a punt and Duke rushed for a 9-yard touchdown after Cooper ran for 28 yards and wide receiver Ben Kirkpatrick caught an 8-yard throw.

O’Connor’s pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Tate Brooksher at the Hominy 24 with 20 seconds left but Woods intercepted a pass in the end zone six seconds later.

Gore led 27-0 at the half. Duke returned the second-half kickoff 21 yards and six plays later he scored from the Hominy 6 after taking the pitch from Cooper on an option play with 9:22 left in the third. An 11-yard run by Dozier and Duke’s 44-yard reception were key plays in the series.

Gore defensive back Keigan Reid returned an interception 21 yards to the Hominy 14 less than a minute later and the Pirates’ offense took advantage of the takeaway when Dozier recorded his third TD after a 1-yard run. O’Connor’s point-after kick with 7:29 remaining gave the Pirates a 41-0 advantage.

Early in the final frame Hominy got on the board when Woods rushed for a 1-yard touchdown but the Pirates’ defense kept T.K. Sutton out of the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt.

On Gore’s next possession runs of 9 (Duke), 11 (Cooper) and 16 (Dozier) yards set up the Pirates’ final touchdown of the game, a 29-yard scamper into the end zone by Duke. Gore led 48-6 at the 9:52 mark following O’Connor’s sixth PAT of the game.

Almost midway through the quarter Woods ran for his second 1-yard touchdown but his conversion run was no good.

Woods rushed for 74 yards on 27 carries during the game and averaged three yards a carry for the Bucks, and Tyler was pleased with is team’s defensive effort.

“Hominy is very athletic with a lot of team speed but we challenged them (Gore’s defense) all week long,” Tyler said. “We’ve got a little bit of speed ourselves and we knew if we could get him (Woods) running sideline to sideline instead of north and south we’d be in great shape and that’s what we were able to do. We had a huge goal-line stand right down there early I think in the second quarter and were able to turn around and go score off of that.

“We want to play 48 minutes and that’s what we preach to our kids. Last year (in second round of playoffs against Woodland) we played 46 and got beat at the end so we just want to continue to play a 48-minute ballgame and great things are going to happen for us.

“Proud of our kids, proud of our effort, we made big plays when he had to and we’re going to play for a state championship.”

Gore’s leading tacklers Friday night were Dayne Perryman (22 total tackles), Tyler Lane (19), Edwards (15), Duke (13), Garrett Douthit and O’Connor (10 apiece), Cooper (9), Gabe Dozier (8), Wyatt Marrel and Cas Moore (7 each), Nick Wolf, Hunter McGee and Reid (5 apiece).

Recording tackles for loss were O’Connor (3), Perryman, Duke and Marrel (2 each) and Douthit (1), and Marrel had a sack.

Reid intercepted a pass and Cooper recovered a fumble for the Pirates.

Gore’s rushers were Dozier (16 carries for 168 yards), Cooper (18 for 121), Bladin McCartney (5 for 56) and Duke (7 for 48).

Cooper completed 7-of-8 passes for 97 yards with one interception and catching the throws were Duke (2 receptions for 52 yards), Edwards (2 for 32), Kirkpatrick (1 for 8), Perryman (1 for 3), a running back, and wide receiver Blue Steward (1 for 2).

Woods led Hominy’s runners with 74 yards on 27 carries and he completed 15-of-26 passes for 151 yards with one interception. Wide receiver Blaine Hipp was the Bucks’ leading receiver with four catches for 61 yards.

Tyler was appreciative of the Pirates’ fan support at Jenks last week.

“We had a ton of people there,” said Tyler, a Gore High School alum. “It was great just to see so many people there that haven’t been to ballgames and people that I played with and went to school with and just alumni showing up and getting behind these kids. It was great. I think we had a lot of people there, I don’t know how many but I know it was a ton and I’m just glad our fans traveled and supported our kids and looking for another big crowd again Saturday night in Edmond.”