Nov. 13, 2009 remains fresh in Brett Manning's mind.
It was Manning's first playoff appearance as the coach of MacArthur, having taken over for his father, Ernie, who retired after a lengthy stint at the helm.
Manning led his young team into a road battle with No. 3 Carl Albert -- the same team his father was never able to defeat.
Unfortunately for the younger Manning, his first postseason experience wasn't a good one.
The Titans wasted little time putting the game away, using a kick return touchdown and a pair of Highlander special teams fumbles to jump out to a 17-0 lead before Mac's offense could even touch the field. Carl Albert won the game, 51-19, and went on to claim the state championship three weeks later.
"I knew we'd have to go out and just play a great game and have them make a lot of mistakes for us to have a chance that year," Manning said. "We just couldn't recover against a team like that. We didn't have the firepower or the people to hang in there after that. It was a tough game and a bad loss."
That loss would not define Manning's career, though. In fact, he has a 2-1 record against the Titans since that game.
He has a chance to earn his third victory against Carl Albert when Mac (6-4) meets the perennial power at 7 p.m. tonight, returning to Jim Harris Stadium in Midwest City for the first time since that infamous contest nearly eight years ago.
The No. 1 Titans are 10-0 entering the game.
Although Manning might never forget the humbling experience, he said the Titans won't have a mental edge over him and his coaching staff come kickoff. He doesn't anticipate the same mistakes to be made this time around.
"You never want to commit those mistakes, but that fact that happened in 2009 has no bearing in 2017," Manning said. "I'm not going to have thoughts of that game, or even last year's game. This is a different year, a different team and they've got a different team, also. It's just another football game against a really good opponent."
This year's squad might look worse than the 2009 team in terms of regular season record and district seeding, but Manning said those facts are deceiving.
Not only does he have more experience as a head coach, but Mac's strength of schedule and district has evolved significantly since 2009. Manning even goes as far to say the 2017 team is better than several of his teams that made deep playoff runs.
"I like this year's team," Manning said. "Back in the 2010 and 2013 seasons when we ended up in the semifinals, Ardmore wasn't very good and Altus was bad. We just didn't have the teams in our district that we've had this year, and this team, though their record isn't as good as some of those past teams, I feel like they're better."
This will be the fourth-straight season the teams have met in the playoffs, adding yet another chapter to the storied rivalry.
Although Mac has won two of the last three against Carl Albert, the Titans cling to a 13-10 head-to-head advantage. The Highlanders and the Titans split the first 10 meetings from 1972-1988 before Mac finally gained the edge with three-straight triumphs from '89-'91.
Carl Albert, however, has won eight of the last 10.
Ten of the 23 clashes have been decided by 10 points or less, with both teams winning five games of that variety.
Manning said though the rivalry with Carl Albert doesn't carry as much heat as Mac's district rivalries, there is a high level of respect for what the Titans have accomplished over the years.
"If you look at Carl Albert, the Clinton of a few years ago, and Jenks and Union, you say that's what we want to be like," Manning said. "We want to win championship after championship like those people have. We've got a lot of respect for them, and I'd think you'd be crazy to be a football coach in Oklahoma and not look at them as something you inspire to be."
This season's matchup could provide yet another close, exiting game, for Mac has looked improved over the past few weeks, especially when defending the run.
The Highlanders held run-heavy teams Altus and Ardmore to 450 total rushing yards the final two weeks of the season, and the defense will have to continue that tenacity and improve on its performances if Mac wants to pull off the upset.
The Titans sport one of the top running backs in the state in Dadrion Taylor, but Manning said he knows his team can't focus soley on the run. Carl Albert, which averages 45.7 points per game, also has a potent passing attack behind freshman quarterback Ben Harris, making it one of the most dynamic offenses the Highlanders have seen this season.
"There's a whole other dimension now," Manning said. "You can look at Altus and Ardmore, and yeah we stopped the run, but there was very little threat of a pass. Not only does Carl Albert have a good running back, they've got about four guys they can throw it to, and any one of them can break it.
"Tackling is going to be really, really important, and when we get there, we can't afford to miss tackles. We're going to have to play good coverage too. Our safeties are going to have to read the right things and support run when it's a run but be able to drop into their pass zones when it's pass."
Mac must also find ways to score.
The Titans give up 11.5 points per game, allowing only 51 points the final seven weeks of the season. Most of those points came in a meaningless 61-27 win over Woodward last week.
Manning said mixing up the play calling and finishing drives will be critical in determining what kind of success his team will experience.
"A lot of people have gotten down into the red zone, inside the 10 and sometimes even the 5-yard line and haven't been able to finish," Manning said. "McGuinness is the perfect example. They were down inside the 10 two times and all the way to the 1 once and couldn't finish the drive and ended up getting beat by two touchdowns."
Although the odds are against his team, Manning said his players have been in this situation before and know how to handle the moment. The Highlanders have the motivation and the experience to get the job done -- it's just a matter of reaching their goals, regardless of the opponent.
"If we can beat Carl Albert, it's great, but it's not necessarily beating them that would be so great," Manning said. "It would be the fact that No. 1, we're advancing and we won our first round game. No. 2 would be that we beat the No. 1 team in the state.
"We know we are the underdog here, and we're just going to give it our best shot."