CHOCTAW — Shootouts have become the norm for Lawton High — an accustomed lifestyle, so to speak.
The Wolverines (5-3, 3-2) are eight games through the season, and half of those have seen combined scores of 80, 73, 101 and 98. That’s a collective average of 88 points per game.
In those four games — in which both teams surpassed 30 points — LHS is 2-2 and has been outscored 177-175. In all, the Wolverines are averaging about 39.1 points per game while simultaneously surrendering an average of about 31.4 points.
In other words, offense is aplenty and defense is scarce.
LHS’s latest shootout came on Thursday night, and boy was it a doozy.
The Wolverines held off the Yellowjackets for a 54-44 win, but it took a couple of breaks to get the job done.
It of course takes luck to win games, and against Altus, Midwest City and Stillwater, luck wasn’t on the Wolverines’ side. Change a few plays here and there, and LHS is sitting at 8-0 or 7-1 right now.
However, luck finally struck the Wolverines’ football program, and it was the perfect storm.
In addition to LHS scoring three non-offensive touchdowns — a kickoff return, a blocked punt return and a fumble return — the Wolverines forced three turnovers in the form of an interception and two fumbles.
On top of all that, a pair of favorable calls benefitted LHS down the stretch.
About halfway through the fourth quarter with LHS leading 48-36, the Choctaw kicker sent on onside kick toward the west sideline, where it ended up in the hands of coverage man Cole Smith.
The officials initially ruled it Yellowjackets’ ball, but the call was reversed after some deliberation. Moments later, Miles Davis went 51 yards untouched for his fourth rushing touchdown of the night.
Fast forward to about two minutes remaining, and Choctaw appeared to have stopped quarterback Eric Wiley at the line of scrimmage on 4th-and-one at the LHS 22-yard line, but the Wolverines were given the first down without a measurement.
Yellowjacket fans were upset, and understandably so. Choctaw deserved to win just as much as LHS did.
Sure, the Wolverines had 10 more points than Choctaw, but the Yellowjackets outgained LHS by 208 yards, 570-362, and had 20 more first downs, moving the chains an unprecedented 35 times.
If not for the scoreboard, I think maybe — just maybe — Choctaw won that game.
However, the score is the only thing that matters, and that’s the beauty of football, especially at the high school level.
It was another classic barnburner in Class 6A-II District 1, and the teams put on an absolute show. It’s a shame one squad had to lose and have its playoff hopes essentially dashed.
Speaking of show, that’s exactly what the crowd at Bill Jensen Field in Choctaw got from the running backs in this contest.
Before long, the game became an electric back-and-forth between Davis and Choctaw’s Corey Williams and Deysean Moore. The three combined for 680 yards rushing and 10 of the game’s 11 offensive touchdowns.
Davis led the way, tallying 300 yards on 37 carries to go along with his four scores. On the other side, Williams finished with 264 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries, and Moore carried the ball 22 times for 116 yards and three scores.
It took Davis only six carries to reach the century mark, thanks in part to an 80-yard run on his second touch of the game on LHS’s first drive.
Of course, each had their fair share of chunk-yardage gains.
In addition to the 80-yarder, Davis had four other runs go for 10 yards more, including touchdown run of 42 and 51 yards. Eight more went for at least 5 yards.
Williams had similar feats, bursting free for runs of 23, 34 (TD), 14, 11, 16 (TD), 18 and 10 yards. Only eight of his 25 carries went for less than 5 yards.
Moore had only three carries go more than 10 yards (12, 21, 12), all of which came on consecutive carries, but seven other carries went for 5-plus.
In all, the teams combined for 732 yards rushing and 932 total. It was an offensive showcase to behold.
Sure, defense is nice, but these high-yardage, high-scoring games are what makes this game so exciting. I’ll take a shootout over a defensive slugfest any day of the week.
Luckily, I’m guaranteed that almost every week as the LHS beat writer. The Wolverines seem to provide a new kind of excitement on a weekly basis.
The top five teams in District 1 standings (Stillwater, Midwest City, Del City, LHS and Choctaw) collectively average about 35.9 points per game, making it the Big 12 of Class 6A-II.
As a lifelong Sooners fan and an Oklahoma State graduate, I wouldn’t have it any other way.