Miles Davis (3) turns the corner and shakes off a tackle attempt from Carl Albert's Trajan Lands during the season opener Thursday.
Everything seemed to be going Lawton High’s way late in the fourth quarter.
With only 1:08 left to play, all the Wolverines had to do was make an extra point to send the game into overtime, but it wasn’t to be. The snap sailed over the holder’s head, leading to a heartbreaking 33-32 loss to Class 5A No. 1 Carl Albert at Cameron Stadium on Thursday night.
LHS coach Randy Breeze said confusion prior to the play led to the mishap, but he refused to pin the loss on that one sequence.
“We decided to go for two, and we had two players who thought we were going to kick it,” Breeze said. “They came off, but by the time we would’ve tried to get them back out there, it would’ve been too late, so we decided to go ahead and kick it, and we got a bad snap.
“The whole aspect of the game was Carl Albert played a lot better football game than we did, by far,” Breeze said. “They deserved to win the football game.”
Titans kicker Jacob Carlson nailed a 25-yard field goal with 6:07 remaining to give CA (1-0) a 33-19 advantage, and the game seemed to be all but over. The Wolverines, however, weren’t quite ready to give up.
Breeze said his message to his team was simple — stay positive and believe.
“There was no finger pointing and no negative things said — it was 100 percent positive," Breeze said. “Everybody had faith that we were going to come back, and we did. I’m really proud of our effort.”
The Wolverines (0-1) responded almost immediately.
Less than two minutes after the Titans’ score, LHS quarterback Alihas Hopper found Dominick Neal for a 12-yard touchdown strike, cutting the deficit to a manageable 33-26 with 4:11 to play.
Breeze said running a two-minute offense is routine for the Wolverines, so they had no problems moving the ball when they needed.
“We have a very good offense that’s very explosive,” Breeze said. “We can score a lot of points in a hurry.”
CA running back Dadrion Taylor, who finished with 253 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 18 carries, seemingly sealed the victory with a series of long runs to put the Titans inside the Wolverines’ 5-yard line, but an untimely holding penalty and a sack ended the drive, giving LHS the ball with three minutes to work with.
The Wolverines wasted no time getting down the field, and Miles Davis completed the 80-yard drive with a 33-yard touchdown run down the left sideline with just over a minute remaining — or so it seemed.
The run was called back for a holding penalty, but Breeze had nothing but praise for the officials after the game.
“We were holding,” Breeze said. “A player downfield just flat out pulled a guy down. It was a rookie mistake, and the officials made a good call.
“I thought the officiating was excellent — there was nothing wrong with the call they made. We were holding, and we were penalized for it.”
Despite the devastating penalty, LHS still had time to score, and it took that chance.
Two plays later, Hopper connected with wide-open tight end Nate Eggleton for a 15-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 33-32 with 1:08 left.
Hopper completed nine of his final 11 throws, finishing with 174 yards passing, two touchdowns and two interceptions on 13-of-30 passing.
The Titans recovered an onside kick attempt after the botched extra point, allowing them to escape with the victory.
Despite the result not turning out the way he would’ve liked, Breeze said there are plenty of positives to take from a game of this stature.
“I told the kids that the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, and they didn’t go undefeated,” Breeze said. “We were in this boat last year. We lost the first game to (CA), and we came back and played for the state championship. We expect that to happen again this year.”
Davis led the way for the Wolverines, eluding CA tacklers for 297 yards rushing and one touchdown on 31 carries, as well as 31 yards receiving on three receptions.
LHS finished with 505 total yards of offense. The Titans weren’t far behind, accumulating 482 total yards.
Breeze said Davis is a great player, and he expected the junior to have a breakout game.
“He might be the best running back in the state,” Breeze said. “He had a great game, and I wish we could’ve let him on the field a bit more than we did. He’s a great defensive player, but with 30 carries, we gotta rest him on defense. I hate to rest him at any time.”
Breeze said there is no shame in losing to a team like CA, but there are areas the Wolverines can improve upon heading into next week’s contest with city rival MacArthur at Cameron Stadium.
“It was a good experience for us to play them, and we’re a better football team than what we showed tonight,” Breeze said. “We played hard for four quarters, and people got to see a great high school football game tonight. We’ll bounce back and be a better football team next week.”
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