CHOCTAW — Elijah Reyes had never scored a touchdown in his varsity career.
However, that all changed on Thursday night.
The junior scored a pair of defensive touchdowns in less than two minutes during the third quarter, sparking Lawton High to a 54-44 shootout win over district rival Choctaw at Bill Jensen Field.
As Reyes received celebratory handfuls of ice down his back from teammate Hector Becerra, one of the LHS assistant coaches said it perfectly — Reyes was a “scoop-and-score machine.”
“I scored my freshman year on the freshman team, but this one is going in the books,” Reyes said. “We really needed that for our team.”
After Choctaw’s Jaden Muskrat sacked quarterback Eric Wiley in the end zone for a safety, trimming the LHS lead to 28-23, the Wolverines were in desperate need of a stop.
The defense did its job and forced a three-and-out, and freshman Kaden Henley bullied his way through the offensive line and blocked the ensuing punt. From there, Reyes scooped up the loose ball and took it 23 yards to the end zone.
“I can’t get all the credit for that, Kaden Henley got that for me, and I just had the instinct to scoop it and score,” Reyes said. “Him being that young and doing what he does, I think he’s the best thing we have because he can still grow. He’s one of the best players on the team, and him showing what he can do as a freshman is the best thing for this team.”
Reyes’ second score came about 1 minute and 18 seconds later when Nick Daniels stripped Choctaw quarterback Thad Williams, and the ball bounced right into the awaiting hands of Reyes.
Reyes covered the necessary 25 yards for a score, giving the Wolverines a commanding (and shocking) 41-23 lead with 33 seconds remaining in the third.
That score was one of three turnovers for the LHS defense, which otherwise struggled for most of the night to contain the Yellowjackets’ run game.
Choctaw finished with 415 yards rushing, averaging about 7.2 yards per carry. In all, the Wolverines surrendered 570 yards.
Corey Williams did most of the damage, rushing for 264 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries.
One of Corey Williams’ scores came on a 76-yard run on the final play of the third quarter, just moments after Reyes’ fumble recovery.
Deysean Moore scored three times and ran for 116 yards.
Despite those struggles, the defense managed to make stops when it was absolutely necessary.
The Wolverines stopped Choctaw inside the red zone on two occasions, both of which came in the second half.
The Yellowjackets turned the ball over on downs at the LHS 8-yard line early in the third quarter, but that ultimately led to the safety.
The second came with Choctaw threatening at the 13 with less three minutes remaining in the game. A score would’ve made it a one-possession game, but a botched handoff resulted in the Yellowjackets’ second lost fumble, allowing the Wolverines to run out the clock thereafter.
“We got after the defense at halftime and challenged them,” LHS coach Ryan Breeze said. “They came out and had a phenomenal third quarter. They get two scores, and that was huge. Not only did we get some stops, but we got some turnovers.
“But still, we’re going to have to tackle a little better than we did. Choctaw has a phenomenal scheme, and they’re going to put you in one-on-one situations where you have to make the tackles. They’re hard to stop, and they score a lot of points.”
Reyes said the defense’s relentlessness prevented the Wolverines from getting down on themselves when the Yellowjackets were experiencing success.
“We were all saying on the sideline that’s it’s not over until it’s over,” Reyes said. “We all kept ourselves in the game and didn’t let it hurt us. We knew our offense could get it done, and we knew we had to get back out there and play our hardest.”
Offensively, star running back Miles Davis rushed for 300 yards on 37 carries, scoring on runs of 3, 42, 3 and 51 yards. He was responsible for all but 57 yards of LHS’s offensive production.
Elsewhere, Chateau Reed returned a kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, making up for his one-catch, 7-yard night.
“Miles is phenomenal, and I thought the offensive line did a great job up front for us to run and put up the yards we did,” Breeze said.
“This was a big win for us. We would’ve liked to get our 15 district points, but the No. 1 objective was to win, and we got that done. We’re going to go celebrate this win because we beat a dang good football team on the road.”