EL RENO — Weston Golson pounded his chest several times and pointed to the skies with his left hand as he trotted to the back of the end zone.
Just moments prior, the senior receiver caught a perfectly timed pass from Racer Felter at about midfield before outrunning two El Reno defenders on the way to a 71-yard touchdown, giving MacArthur a 30-20 lead (extra point pending) with 45 seconds remaining in the first half.
Golson celebrated the momentous score with his teammates, having no idea what had transpired behind him during the play.
He shook his head disbelief when he looked back and saw yellow laundry lying 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
The penalty was holding, and the culprit was senior offensive lineman Christian Maldonado.
The infraction moved the Highlanders back to their own 13-yard line, and but that was only the first phase of a crushing sequence of events for the Highlanders.
Mac went with some trickery on the next play, as Felter handed off to running back Dshaun Davis, who ran toward the north sideline and pitched the ball back to an incoming Ryan Andrews.
Andrews was cut off by Indians defensive end Kolton Hunt almost immediately, though, and when he changed directions to avoid a significant loss, he was met by linebackers Dekota Wilson and Darius Moore.
Having nowhere to go but backward, Andrews stepped into the end zone and attempted to roll past the pressure. He wasn’t successful.
Andrews dropped the ball as he was slung down, and Hunt was the beneficiary, jumping on the loose ball for a touchdown.
That score, which gave El Reno a 26-24 lead at halftime, served as the crushing blow for Mac, for the Indians would go on to outscore the Highlanders 27-18 in the second half to secure a 53-42 win and a spot in the playoffs.
As a result, Mac was left on the outside looking in for the first time since 2001 with a 4-6 record (3-4 in District 5A-1), losing three of its final four games. It was also the program’s first losing season since going 3-7 in 1999.
Highlanders football coach Brett Manning summed it up perfectly after his team’s season-ending loss on Friday night.
“It was just a nightmare year.”
Despite finishing 6-5 last season, many in the media — including myself — shrugged off the 2017 campaign as an anomaly and expected the Highlanders to return to the top of Class 5A this season.
The preseason AP poll was reflective of that, with Mac entering the season ranked No. 4 behind only Carl Albert, Bishop Mc-Guinness and Ardmore — teams that went a combined 28-2 in the regular season this year.
That hype quickly dissipated, though, for the Highlanders were out of the coveted top 10 by Week 4, and they wouldn’t return for the remainder of the season.
After opening the season with a 39-7 drubbing of Eisenhower, Mac lost its next three games by a combined score of 112-58. Most of those 58 points came in a 41-32 loss to Lawton High.
Losses are losses, of course, but at least three of those defeats could’ve easily gone the other way if not for a play or two.
Going back to the El Reno game, the fumble in the end zone wasn’t the only play that sealed the Highlanders’ fate.
Despite the adversity facing the team with nearly three quarters of the defensive starters out, Mac was never out of the game until the final moments. Even with Indians quarterback Dorian Plumley — who rushed for 375 yards and three touchdowns — running wild, Mac held a lead in the fourth quarter.
However, the straw that broke the camel’s back came when Plumley hit a falling Hunt for a 24-yard touchdown on 4th-and-10 on the first play of the fourth.
The Highlanders would regain and lose the lead once more later on, but take away that play and the fumble, and Mac might be prepping for No. 1 Carl Albert right now.
Now flashback to Week 2 against LHS.
With the ball on the 5-yard line and Mac trailing 35-32 with only seconds remaining, Felter was intercepted in the end zone by Chateau Reed, who returned the ball 100 yards for a walkoff touchdown.
A similar situation happened against Duncan in Week 9.
With 20 seconds remaining and Mac trailing by only three, Desmond Pettit stepped in front of a long-hanging throw from Felter, intercepting it and returning it 30 yards for a score.
Heck, if the Highlanders recovered a late onside kick against Altus or kept the Bulldogs from picking up a first down with less than a minute to play, Mac could’ve possibly tied that game at 37 and forced overtime.
The point is, though the Highlanders’ six losses look bad on paper, they could’ve finished 7-3 or 8-2 with a little luck.
Luck wasn’t on Mac’s side for most of the season, though.
Last season, I guaranteed “the Highlanders everyone has come to fear will be back next season.” Given how things actually went down, I’ll hold off on making such a prediction this time around.
Mac’s future is unknown, but this isn’t some horror film where the nightmare never ends. Even perennial power Carl Albert, which has won 32-straight games and back-to-back state championships, went through a down period in 2014 and 2015, going 13-9 during that time.
The Highlanders could very well be going down a similar road back to prominence.
All programs go through peaks and valleys, Mac just so happens to be going through one of their lowest valleys since the turn of the century.