When the 2018 edition of the Gore War concluded on Friday night, it was more akin to a massacre than a close battle between rivals.
MacArthur sprinted to its eighth-straight win over Eisenhower, defeating the Eagles 39-7 at Cameron Stadium to open the season in emphatic fashion.
The Highlanders wasted little time taking a lead on Ike, jumping to a 19-0 lead in the first quarter before cruising the rest of the way.
The Eagles couldn’t get anything going all night, finishing with only 83 yards of offense, including only 4 yards on the ground.
Ike’s only bright spot came with 9:06 remaining in the second quarter when quarterback Tre Harris found Deondre Tisdale behind busted coverage for a 72-yard touchdown. Harris finished with 79 yards passing on 8-of-15 passing.
Mac didn’t let Harris make more plays like that, pressuring him all night with a furious rush to tally 15 tackles for loss, including eight sacks.
Highlanders coach Brett Manning said he was proud of the way his defense suffocated the Eagles on a consistent basis.
“We had some hesitation and got caught and let a guy go deep on us for a touchdown, but other than that, I felt really good about everything we did defensively,” Manning said.
The Highlanders also forced and recovered three fumbles while holding Ike to 0-of-9 on third and fourth-down conversions, further showing their dominance over the Eagles’ offense. Ike finished with only three first downs, one of which came via a Mac penalty.
Ike coach Mike Burris said his squad just didn’t play tough enough to have any success.
“We have to do a better job up front of blocking,” Burris said. “We have to be more physical up front and take it to people. We also have to work on our pass blocking. We have to get our head into the game — we made some mental mistakes and got caught not paying attention. They beat us and did a good job coaching, but we just have to take care of ourselves.”
Mac had similar trouble converting on third and fourth downs, but those yards weren’t as crucial thanks to the double-digit cushion it held for most of the game.
The Highlanders came away with 346 yards of offense, and quarterback Racer Felter was responsible for more than half of them.
Felter completed 18 of 28 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 88 yards on 20 carries, which included touchdown runs of 10, 3 and 15 yards.
His only blunder came late in the first half when he was intercepted by Derek Coleman at the 1-yard line, ending a promising Mac scoring opportunity.
The junior connected with six different receivers, but Michelle Artzberger was his favorite target.
The senior caught nine passes for 79 yards, with four of the receptions going for 10 or more yards.
Felter’s touchdown pass came on a 6-yard strike to Javaughn Foster, giving Mac a 6-0 lead with 6:41 remaining in the first quarter.
Running backs DShaun Davis and Jordan Rollison both found the end zone on the ground, finishing with 71 and 25 yards, respectively.
Despite the offense’s feats, Manning said there were too many drives that stalled and resulted in no points for the Highlanders.
“We seemed like we were either really good or really bad,” Manning said. “We went forward or backward — there was no in between. But we have some young guys who are still learning, and we can deal with that. The attitude and the effort are there.”
The Highlanders will try to reclaim the city championship next Friday in a meeting with Lawton High, which lost a 45-35 decision to Mac’s district rival, Altus, on Thursday night. The Wolverines defeated the Highlanders last season, 50-20.
Meanwhile, Ike takes to the road for the first time this season for a contest with Class 6A-II team Choctaw. It'll be the teams' first meeting since 2015, when the Yellowjackets secured a 59-27 victory.
Although Manning is content with his team’s victory, he isn’t getting ahead himself.
“We still have a lot of improving to do,” Manning said. “That’s what these first three weeks are about. It’s about getting down what we do, and rather than Eisenhower, Lawton High or Clinton, I’m worried about us right now and want to improve. Hopefully we’ll be a pretty good team by district time.”