MacArthur's Nick Mahan is tackled by Altus' Ryan Borrego on Friday night at Hightower Memorial Stadium. Mahan was held to a season-low 55 yards rushing in the contest.
ALTUS — With his team trailing at halftime, Altus coach Todd Vargas issued a challenge, and the players responded accordingly.
The Bulldogs shut MacArthur down in the second half, leading to a gritty 26-15 win in District 5A-1 action at Hightower Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
“We knew it was going to be a real gut-check, and we told them it was going to be a war and a battle,” Vargas said. “That half was over, we had to correct things and the kids came out and played extremely hard and extremely physical and really well.”
The always stout Altus defense held the Highlanders to only 68 yards in the second half and 231 total. The Bulldogs also intercepted Racer Felter three times — twice in the fourth quarter — one of which was returned for a touchdown to seal the victory.
With less than five minutes remaining in the game and Mac down 19-15, Felter looked to Trey Longacre on a bubble screen, but outside linebacker Garrett Pride read the play perfectly.
Longacre was the primary target throughout the game, finishing with six receptions for 78 yards and touchdown, and thanks to a keen observation, Pride knew what was coming.
Pride stepped in front of the ill-advised throw, and the home crowd erupted as he returned the ball 61 yards for a touchdown, extending Altus’ lead to 11 points with 4:33 to go.
“I watched film multiple times on that play, and I just knew it was coming,” Pride said. “So I stepped up and made the interception and ran it back.
“(Felter) looked over to the sideline, and I saw the coach point at (Longacre). I scooted out a little more and stepped up a little bit, and he threw the ball over there and I ran over there and picked it off.”
The pick-six was the second score of the fourth quarter for the Bulldogs — the first coming on a 15-yard run from Jake Vargas shortly after the Highlanders failed to convert a fake punt from their own 28-yard line.
Jake Vargas and Noah Briones came away with the other two interceptions.
Mac coach Brett Manning said the Bulldogs’ increased tenacity and physicality in the second half led to the crushing turnovers.
“They were getting some pressure on us, and he wasn’t able to throw on time,” Manning said. “When you don’t throw on time against good people, they recover in a hurry.”
It was a tale of two halves for the sophomore quarterback.
After a 15-yard run from Jake Vargas gave Altus an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter, Felter led the Highlanders down in the field in less than two minutes, connecting with Longacre on a 13-yard strike to give Mac a one-point advantage after Nick Mahan successfully converted the ensuing 2-point conversion.
Felter was at it again the second quarter, finding Ja’Sean Carter, who made an impressive grab in double coverage, for a 32-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 15-7 with 11:40 remaining in the half.
Felter completed 7 of his 10 passes in the first half, but went 2-of-9 in the second, throwing more interceptions than completions.
“We had a feeling they were going to throw,” Vargas said. “Our kids just really read their keys well and made some really big plays.”
Manning said his team simply didn’t play well enough offensively to win against a top-ranked opponent like Altus.
“We just didn’t make plays in the second half,” Manning said. “We’d have a negative play or we just couldn’t get it going. We have to put a complete game together, and I really don’t feel like we have yet.
“It’s hurt us, and if we don’t, it will continue to hurt us because we have good opponents ahead of us.”
Despite the offensive struggles, Mac’s defense played arguably its best game of the season.
The Highlanders held the Bulldogs to 271 total yards, all of which came on the ground. Altus failed to complete a pass.
The Bulldogs only offensive touchdowns came on the pair of runs from Jake Vargas, who finished with 142 yards rushing on 24 carries.
“I was really proud of our defense,” Manning said. “I thought they played tough and played Altus as tough as anybody has all year long.”
The victory marks the first time since 2001 the Bulldogs have prevailed over Mac — a feat Vargas takes pride in.
“I’m just glad for the community of Altus to get this win,” Vargas said. “It’s been 16 years, and I’m excited for the kids that they’re a part of something so big in this community’s history. This is part of their legacy that they get to leave, and I’m just really proud to be a part of that.”
The Highlanders (5-4, 4-2) are likely to finish fourth in the district and will have to travel to No. 1 Carl Albert in the first round of the playoffs. Mac closes the season against No. 2 Ardmore next week at Cameron Stadium.
Altus (8-1, 5-1) has the No. 2 seed in the district locked up and will likely play Eisenhower in the first round.
Despite that, Vargas doesn’t plan to overlook his team’s final regular season opponent — Western Heights (2-7, 0-6).
“I don’t think you can ever look ahead,” Vargas said. “We do have a few kids who are banged up, and we have to be able to hopefully get them healed up. I haven’t gotten to see Western Heights play yet, but we’ll just review on Sunday and see where we’re at.”