Clinton running back Juan Guzman (2) darts into the end zone on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter as MacArthur's Demetrius Ingram (1) and several other defenders look on disbelief on Friday night. Guzman's score was one of three rushing touchdowns for the Red Tornadoes.
CLINTON — Something just wasn’t right with MacArthur.
Whether it was on offense, defense or special teams, the Highlanders couldn’t get out of their own way on Friday night, committing five turnovers in a shocking 31-12 loss to Clinton at the Tornado Bowl in Clinton.
Not only was it the Red Tornadoes’ first win in school history against Mac — ending a six-game losing streak to the Highlanders — but they also became only the second team in Oklahoma to reach 800 wins. The first, coincidentally, was Lawton High, which reached the milestone against the Highlanders as well last week at Cameron Stadium.
Despite his frustrations, Mac coach Brett Manning had nothing but praise for Class 4A No. 12 Clinton.
“Clinton did a good job, and they’re a good team,” Manning said. “They played really well tonight, I thought, so give credit to them. As far as we go, there’s not many teams that we can beat doing what we did tonight. The turnovers, the snaps over the head — stuff we haven’t really done the past two weeks.
“It was disappointing that we came here and played like that.”
The struggles began early for the Class 5A No. 8 Highlanders (1-2).
The first sign of trouble came on Mac’s first drive when the center sent a snap sailing over quarterback Racer Felter’s head.
Clinton (2-1) already held a 7-0 lead, so luckily for the Highlanders, Felter was able to corral the loose ball and throw it away before it resulted in a turnover.
Mac seemingly recovered nicely from the blunder, driving all the way to Clinton’s 17-yard line before disaster struck.
Felter raced for a first down on a short fourth down play, but he dropped the ball in the process, and the Red Tornadoes recovered.
The giveaway was the first of several for Felter, who committed all five of the team’s turnovers via three interceptions and two fumbles. The first three turnovers came on the opening three drives, causing Mac to go into halftime trailing 10-0.
Felter finished with 202 yards passing and a touchdown on 21-of-31 passing (67.7 percent) while also rushing for 68 yards on 15 carries.
Manning said the giveaways weren’t completely all on Felter’s shoulders, for others’ mistakes directly affected the junior’s normally crisp decision making.
Felter’s five turnovers directly led to 10 points for the Red Tornadoes.
“We just didn’t play very well,” Manning said. “It wasn’t all his fault, some of those interceptions were receivers who didn’t release properly. Overall, we just have to play better.”
In addition to the costly mistakes, the Highlanders once again struggled converting on third and fourth downs, going a combined 4-of-15 on plays of that variety.
“We have a young offensive line that’s still struggling,” Manning said. “When you have to go make a yard and you can’t, it forces us to think outside of the box a little bit. We have a lot of growing up to do and a lot of things to get better at.”
The most crucial conversion came when Felter found a wide-open Aeron Woodson in the back of the end zone on fourth down from the Clinton 25-yard line as time expired in the third quarter.
Woodson caught nine passes for 98 yards.
That score trimmed Mac’s deficit to 17-6, but the momentum was short-lived.
Clinton’s Atrel Bryson, only a sophomore, returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, putting the Highlanders in an 18-point hole with 16 seconds gone in the fourth.
Defensively, Mac gave up only 266 yards, most of which came by way of star running back Dayday Simpkins.
The senior, who entered the contest with 119 yards, more than doubled his yardage for the season, finishing with 131 yards on 13 carries — about 10.1 yards per carry.
Manning said Simpkins’ success came because of Clinton’s lineman.
“They blocked us good and just played a lot better up front than we did,” Manning said.
One good to thing to come out of the surprising loss was the return of Nasir Kemper, who suffered a broken arm during the summer.
Kemper rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on seven carries and also caught a pass for 16 yards.
The Highlanders return to the road next week as they open district play against 5A No. 2 Ardmore. The Tigers (3-0) defeated McAlester, 42-7, on Friday.
Before Mac can turn its attention to its district rival, though, Manning and his coaching staff must figure out what went wrong against Clinton and correct those mistakes.
Otherwise, a third-straight loss could be on the horizon for the Highlanders.
“I have no idea what happened,” Manning said. “It’s not that we weren’t focused — we had a good week of practice. It was the best week of practice we had all year long. It’s just one of those things I don’t know.”