Lawton High receiver Caelab Fuller (9) attempts to get away from a Deer Creek defender after making a catch on Friday night at Cameron Stadium.
Sometimes all it takes is a little push.
Despite his team trailing by only three heading into halftime, Lawton High coach Ryan Breeze was not satisfied with how his defense performed in the first half. Doing his best to avoid flashbacks of last week’s loss, in which the Wolverines surrendered 599 yards and 56 points, he knew he had to find a way to get the squad excited.
So he pushed — pushed hard — and the defense responded accordingly, shutting out Deer Creek in the second half on the way to a 34-17 win at Cameron Stadium on Friday night. The win gave LHS (3-2, 1-1) its first district win of the season.
“We went into halftime madder than heck,” Breeze said. “Defensively, we felt like we had to play better interior-wise to win the game. We got after (our players) and challenged them at halftime. We told them we’re not going to get out-physicalled, and no one is going to come in here and push us around. They responded well, and that’s what we need to have defensively.
“That’s the best defense we played all year, so we’re extremely pleased.”
The defense made momentous stops several times after the challenge was made, but with the Antlers within striking distance at 26-17 in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines needed one more stop to put the Edmond-based team away for good.
Enter Demarcus Andrews.
Andrews intercepted a pass from Deer Creek’s Gavin Houska in the end zone before returning it to the 42-yard line in enemy territory, giving LHS its only forced turnover of the game.
“He’s an extremely heady player,” Breeze said of Andrews. “He’s intelligent, he’s a straight-A student and he’s always in the right position. The big pick down here on the goal line, that was huge to keep them out of the end zone. I think we were up nine at the time, so that was a big play.”
In all, the Wolverines’ defense held the Antlers (1-4, 0-2), who accumulated 406 yards of offense, to 5-of-13 on third downs and 0-of-4 on fourth downs.
That was one of the biggest improvements Breeze noticed, considering Midwest City managed to not only convert, but also score on plays of that variety last week.
“We want to take that performance and build on it and carry it into next week,” Breeze said. “We’ve told them all week that defense wins championships, and for us to win a championship, it’s going to have to be led defensively. We feel like we’re going to score points, and I thought the coaching staff did a great job at halftime of making some adjustments and moving some people around. It obviously showed in the second half.”
Andrews also made an impact on offense, catching three passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. His longest reception came in the third quarter when he drifted behind an unsuspecting Deer Creek defense just in time for quarterback Eric Wiley to find him in open space for a 44-yard gain.
That play resulted in a 19-yard touchdown strike from Wiley to Chateau Reed.
Reed, who finished with four catches for 35 yards, is usually Wiley’s favorite target, but Wiley said having multiple threats to throw to makes his job much easier.
“It’s good because if the defense picks up on one person, I can throw it to the next, and they can go score,” Wiley said.
Wiley didn’t have his best game yardage wise, finishing with 110 yards through the air, but it was perhaps his best performance in terms of completion percentage.
The junior completed 9 of 13 passes, including two touchdown tosses, to finish with a completion percentage of 69.2. He’d been lingering in the 30-40 percent range through the first four weeks.
Wiley said he can see the improvement in his game every week.
“I think I’ve been getting better as I’ve gone along,” Wiley said. “I’m getting more experience and getting more time in the game, and I haven’t had that.”
No to be outdone, running back Miles Davis was his usual self, embarrassing the opposing defense with ease on the way to 245 yards and a touchdown on 36 carries — 6.8 yards per touch.
Davis’ coup de gras came late in the fourth quarter, making several tacklers miss before breaking free for a 63-yard gain to the Deer Creek 6-yard line, setting up a 1-yard touchdown sneak for Wiley.
Sixteen of his carries went for 5 yards or more.
“He played really well the entire night,” Breeze said. “He played his guts out, and he played a handful of snaps defensively when we had to have a stop. He’s a special, special player.”
With the Antlers out of the way, LHS can now focus on the meat of its schedule.
The Wolverines have a relatively easy task against Putnam City West next week, but the real challenge comes to Lawton on Oct. 12 in the form of Class 6A-II No. 1 Stillwater.
The Pioneers handily defeated Midwest City on Friday night, 31-13.
However, Breeze said that was the result he was hoping for from Stillwater.
“We wanted Stillwater to go in and beat Midwest City because we felt like the best team didn’t win last week,” Breeze said. “If we win nine in-a-row, that’s a Gold Ball. We’ve preached it all week, and now us and Stillwater can battle it out.”