Gore, Fairview battle for gold ball Saturday at UCO
The Class A state high school football championship will be on the line Saturday night at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in Edmond when unbeaten and second-ranked Gore takes on undefeated and fourth-ranked Fairview.
GORE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
The Class A state high school football championship will be on the line Saturday night at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) in Edmond when unbeaten and second-ranked Gore takes on undefeated and fourth-ranked Fairview.
Kickoff inside Chad Richison Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m. The stadium address is 100 University Drive in Edmond, which is located just north of Oklahoma City.
Fairview, like Gore, is 14-0 for the season. The Yellowjackets, the District A-1 champions, defeated Hobart (49-2), 2A Chisholm (68-15) and 2A Alva (6028) in non-district action before downing Hooker (55-12), Thomas-Fay-Custer (70-12), Sayre (6314), Mooreland (30-6), Texhoma/Goodwell (41-6), Burns Flat-Dill City (47-6) and Merritt (40-19) in district play.
In the postseason the Fairview topped Snyder (60-0), No. 7 Christian Heritage (46-14), Stroud (27-21) and sixth-ranked Colcord (38-22).
Fairview is located about 41 miles southwest of Enid in western Oklahoma.
“They’re a very good football team,” Gore head football coach Brandon Tyler said. “Very well coached, do a lot of great things, offensively, defensively. They’re going to throw the ball around quite a bit.
“Offensively they’ve got a very good quarterback (Jax Bernard), the coach’s son, who reads the defenses really well and puts them in the right spots for his receivers. He does a good job of running their offense and doesn’t make many mistakes. They’ve got a big ole tailback (Blake Perez) that’s going to come running downhill at you. He’s about 6-foot, 195, and a big ole physical running back. And they’re good up front. They’re big and physical and they’re a well-rounded football team.
“They’ve got about 50-something kids suited up and they’ve only got five guys that are going both ways so they’re going to try to play at a fast pace on offense to try to wear you down a little bit because they do have so many guys playing.” Bernard (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) is a sophomore and along with Perez, a senior, some of Fairview’s other key players on offense are wide receivers Reed Martens (6-3, 190, jr.), Isaiah Burris (5-9, 159, jr.) and Mikka Wheeler (5-9, 160, soph.) and tight end Austin Houk (6-2, 210, sr.). “They’re going to be in the spread on offense,” said Tyler. “They’re going to be in a lot of 2×1, they’ll be in a lot of two-tight stuff, they’re just going to be multiple on what they do, kind of like us a little bit. They’re going to get in trips, they’re going to get in doubles and they’re going to throw it around so they do a lot of the same stuff that we do, it’s just getting lined up to those formations and getting them stopped.
“When they pass the ball they’re going to try to throw it down the field and they’re going to try to stretch the field vertically. They’ve got some big ole receivers. No. 8 (Reed Martens) is about 6-3 and he runs really, really well so we’ll definitely have to get him covered up. Austin Houk is a 6-2 tight end and they like to get the ball in his hands. Isaiah Burris, No. 21, is another wide receiver and he can fly. He’s got some wheels. He’s not very tall but he is very, very fast.
“ On defense we’ve got to slow down their passing game. We’ve got to get a rush on this guy (Bernard), try to move his launch point around a little bit, try to get some pressure on him to make him scramble and throw. He has made some mistakes when you do get a little pressure on him so we’ve got to try to get some pressure on him and make him move the pocket and see what happens.”
A few of Fairview’s standouts on defense are defensive end Austin Houk, defensive lineman Kaden Pettus (6-4, 230, sr.), linebackers Teagan Gilchrist (5-9, 160, jr.) and Blake Perez and defensive backs Bryce Ramay (5-11, 170, jr.) and Isaiah Burris.
“In the first films we saw they were in a five-man front on defense and against Colcord they got in a six-man front last week so we’ll have to prepare for two different looks up front,” Tyler said. “They’re going to play man in the back end and just try to load the box with eight or nine guys around the football to try to stop the run so we’ll definitely have to try to spread them out a little bit and see what we can do.
“They do a good job defensively as well with guys coming downhill and getting after it. They play very good technique and they’re very well coached.
“Sustaining drives are a key for our offense this week. I think our offense can be a good defense for us this week if we can keep them off the field. We’ve got to sustain some drives, hang on to the football and just continue to put points on the board. We did a good job of that the other night. They (Hominy) just stopped us twice, actually I think we stopped ourselves with some penalties there.
“I thought we did a good job the other night and Noah (Cooper), Gunner (Dozier) and Jackson (Duke) all stepped in a did a tremendous job but like I always say it always starts up front with our offensive linemen (Gabe Dozier, Garrett Douthit, Cas Moore, Nick Wolf and Layne Ward). Those five guys did a tremendous job of opening up holes and getting us going downhill. Our tight end Aidan Dickerson had a big game too. Aidan played very well and did a tremendous job blocking as well.”
The Pirates are seeking their first state football championship and the Yellowjackets won the 2A title in 1999.
