MacArthur football coach Brett Manning met with The Lawton Constitution’s Kevin Green ahead of the Highlanders’ District 5A-1 matchup with No. 4 Altus.
Manning discussed the freshman class, Nasir Kemper’s breakout performance, quarterback confidence and the challenges the Bulldogs bring.
Freshman takeover
Manning has raved about the freshman team for weeks, and those young players had an opportunity to live up to their coach’s praises on Friday night.
With Mac handling Western Heights with relative ease, several standouts left their mark on the varsity level — one doing so permanently.
Freshman quarterback Isaiah Gray tied the school record for longest touchdown run when he found a hole in the Jets’ defense and ran 99 yards to the end zone. That is a milestone that can’t be broken, so Gray will forever be in the Highlanders’ record books.
“He’s impressive,” Manning said. “He stands in the pocket and delivers the ball, and when he throws it, he has the ability to scramble and run. I think he’s going to be a good one.”
Elsewhere, fellow freshman “Man-Man” Dallas caught a 30-yard pass from Gray, and Devin Bush scored on a short touchdown run.
“It’s been stuff we’ve been seeing for a while now all season long,” Manning said. “I think it’s a not only a talented class, but it’s also a group of good kids who are well-behaved. I can see they’re going to be a lot of fun to coach.”
The freshman squad is 4-0 against 9th-grade teams and 1-1 versus JV competition.
Kemper shows potential
One player whose performance was overshadowed by Gray’s historic run was Nasir Kemper.
Kemper finished with 117 yards rushing and two touchdowns on runs of 44 and 54 yards. His previous season-high came against Southeast a week prior when he ran for 90 yards and a score.
The sophomore also caught four passes for 47 yards against Western Heights.
The sophomore is continuously acclimating himself to the fast-paced environment of high school football, and he’s doing so successfully.
Manning said he is happy with Kemper, who’s averaging 76 yards per game.
“He hit the holes, and he’s getting better in his pass blocking,” Manning said. “He’s an athletes who we can use in a lot of different ways, and he had several catches also.”
Felter’s confidence growing
Coming to the Western Heights game, quarterback Racer Felter’s main goal was to limit his mistakes.
Through the first half of the season, Felter was averaging more than one turnover per game, and he knew that had to change if Mac were to have a shot at climbing back into the district title race.
He was able to eliminate his mistakes last week, completing 12 of 13 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for two scores. He had no turnovers in the 42-point win.
“It was a pretty big rebound game,” Felter said on Friday night. “My turnovers have been pretty high this year, so I’ve been really concentrating on keeping the ball out of the other teams’ hands. This game is going to be a turnaround for not only me, but also for my offense.”
Manning admitted some of Felter’s turnovers were frustrating, but he appreciates his work ethic to improve at practice.
“I wasn’t very happy with some of his throws in the Southeast game,” Manning said. “The main point of emphasis was we have to be smarter with how we throw the ball and where and when we throw the ball. It was something we talked about a lot last week, and he went out and did a really good job. Hopefully that will continue, and it’s going to need to continue because we have a tough stretch ahead of us.”
What to expect from Altus
To put it simply, Mac is quite familiar with Altus and its style of play.
The Highlanders saw a similar flexbone offense against Ardmore earlier this season, but they struggled to slow down the No. 3 Tigers’ rushing attack, surrendering 392 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
Despite that, Manning is confident his team can disrupt the Bulldogs, who lost to Ardmore, 21-6, a couple of weeks ago.
Mac led Altus through most of last year’s game before succumbing to three turnovers in a 26-15 decision, and Manning said he believes his team is better equipped this season to secure the upset.
“I don’t think we’ve totally hit our stride yet,” Manning said. “We’re still learning and still getting better, but we’re not quite there yet. The potential is there for us to be a pretty good team, but we have to keep getting better each week.
“We just want to be solid in our schemes, both offensively and defensively. We want to go out and have a good game defensively so we don’t allow them to keep the ball the whole game and don’t allow them to put a lot of points on the board. Offensively, we’re going to have to find ways to move the ball. They’ve got a really solid defense, and that’s not going to be easy. We need to make big plays every now and then and move the chains and keep our offense on the field.”