The real season has arrived as high school football playoffs begin tonight

As I have always called it, the “real season” gets underway tonight as five of our eight high schools will have their football teams playing in Week 11 — which is the opening round of the playoffs.

This edition has all four of the high school football playoff brackets that involve our five teams as well as previews and special features about tonight’s opening-round playoff games.

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I, fellow co-worker Courtney Barker and sports correspondent Kevin Gray may have witnessed history Saturday afternoon when we attended the 118th Bedlam football game, which was won by Oklahoma State with a 27-24 victory over Oklahoma. It marked the last scheduled Bedlam football game, since OU is moving to the Southeastern Conference next season.

At his postgame press conference, OSU coach Mike Gundy shared his thoughts about Bedlam’s future.

“I did tell the team, and whoever else was in the locker room, the one thing they should remember is these are special moments,” Gundy said. “The one thing they can take with them for the rest of their lives is the thrill they gave these fans out here for this game. There’s been a lot of years, a lot of history and a lot of tradition in Bedlam, and the crowd is more engaged with our team than any of the years I’ve been here — about 30-plus years. Our crowd, our fans and our students are more engaged with our team than ever. For the last game, for them to win Bedlam, it gave them a chance of a lifetime.

“Oh gosh. It’s a long rivalry. I heard coach talking about 118 years worth, and you can end it on top and that’s a big deal. We talked about this (on Nov. 2), 23 years from now, you’ll be talking about how this game turned out. Maybe they’ll remember the 2021, maybe they’ll remember 2015 … They’ll remember this one, 2023, that’s for sure, whether we won it or lost it. Fortunately we came out on top.”

Gundy also mentioned to the members of the media that in his opinion the only way OU and OSU will meet again on the football field is in a bowl game — which also could be translated as well as in the College Football Playoff.

At Big 12 Media Days in July, OU coach Brent Venables basically said he has no control over when Bedlam gets rescheduled — or even if it will.

“I’m not in control of whether or not we play Oklahoma State,” Venables said. “I love college football. I love the traditions of the game. I love rivalry games. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have played for over 100 years and Oklahoma has been dang good in those games for a long time, but whether or not we’re playing in the future, nobody’s asking me what I think. If they do ask me, I’ll tell them what I think. I’d love to play the game, but we’re going to play the schedule that they put in front of us.”

I still like my suggestion I made last week. My solution would be to put it on one of two weekends.

The first weekend of choice is Week 2, like “The Hawkeye State” does with the Iowa-Iowa State game — with one year at Iowa City’s Kinnick Stadium and the other season at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

The second weekend of choice is the final regular weekend of season on the final weekend of November. You have your big rivalry game then, like Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, Clemson vs. South Carolina, Alabama vs. Auburn in “The Iron Bowl” and Mississippi and Mississippi State in “The Egg Bowl.” It’s not a conference game when the Bulldogs and the Yellowjackets meet, whether it be at Sanford Stadium in Athens or at Atlanta’s Grant-Dodd Stadium.

I do hope Bedlam can still be an every year contest on the gridiron.

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WEEK 10 INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS

100-YARD RUSHERS

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 285 yards.

Draighton Fletcher, Vian — 229 yards.

Bladin McCartney, Gore — 143 yards.

Nathan Vann, Central — 135 yards.

100-YARD PASSERS

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 123 yards.

100-YARD RECEIVERS

Gunner Shelby, Webbers Falls — 107 yards.

SCORING-12 POINTS/MORE

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 48 points.

Draighton Fletcher, Vian — 18 points.

Tate Brooksher, Gore — 14 points.

Cade Tucker, Central — 12 points.

DEFENSIVE HONOR ROLL

Kolton Riggs, Sallisaw — 13 tackles, four solo.

Maddux Shelby, Sallisaw — 12 tackles, five solo, with three tackles for loss and a caused fumble.

Cole Mayfield, Sallisaw — Eight tackles, two solo and an interception.

Braxton Lamb, Sallisaw — Seven tackles, one solo, a caused fumble and a quarterback hurry.

Jastin Lindsay, Sallisaw — Six tackles, two solo, and a QB hurry.

Parker Pratt, Sallisaw — Six tackles, four solo, and two INTs.

Cooper Cox, Sallisaw — Five tackles, three solo, and a pass break-up.

Devon Mannon, Gore — Five tackles, two solo, and two tackles for loss.

Zane Nolan, Webbers Falls — Five tackles, three solo.

Dylan Young, Webbers Falls — Five tackles, four solo, with a tackle for loss and an INT.

Noah Flores, Sallisaw — Four tackles, a QB sack and four QB hurries.

Bodie Adams, Sallisaw — Four tackles, one solo, and two QB sacks

Mikey Maust, Sallisaw — Four tackles and a QB sack.

Jace Holman, Sallisaw — Four tackles, one solo.

Ryker Miller, Central — Four tackles.

Dayton Smith, Gore — Four tackles, one solo, a tackle for loss and a safety.

Kaydin McCartney, Gore — Four tackles, one solo, two tackles for loss and a QB sack.

Caden Pollard, Sallisaw — Three tackles.

Braque Oft, Sallisaw — Three tackles.

Tyler Busch, Central — Three tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Journey Shells, Gore — Three tackles, one solo.

Bladin McCartney, Gore — Three tackles, two solo, with a tackle for loss, an INT and a safety.

Hunter McGee, Gore — Three tackles, two solo, and an INT.

Kaiden Denton, Gore — Three tackles, two solo.

Gunner Shelby, Webbers Falls — Three tackles, two solo, with a tackle for loss and an INT.

Cole Stephens, Sallisaw — A fumble recovery and two tackles, one solo.

Gibby Mitchell, Central — A fumble recovery and two tackles.

Dakota Jackson, Central — A fumble recovery.

Caden Cowan, Gore — A fumble recovery and two tackles.

Duane Hunt, Gore — A fumble recovery, two tackles and a tackle for loss.

Ryan Cowan, Webbers Falls — A fumble recovery and two solo tackles with a tackle for loss.

Austin File, Sallisaw — A caused fumble and a tackle.

Keeton Rowe, Gore — A pass break-up and a tackle.

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Coaches, I need to make sure I get your offensive and defensive statistics either put on your MaxPreps website wall or e-mailed to me at davids@cookson.news by no later than 10 a.m. Thursdays to be able to give your player(s) some special recognition from the week before in each week’s Gridiron Notes Column.

David Seeley is sports editor for Your TIMES. He can be reached by telephone at (918) 775-4433, Ext. 139 or by email at davids@cookson.news.