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Friday Night Fights August 28, 2001 by Mac Thompson High School Schools Columnist
Well it's officially that time of the year again. Oklahoma high school football kicks off this Friday night with several key rivalries right off the bat:
Moore vs. Westmoore
Norman North vs. Norman
Lawton vs. Lawton Ike
Ada vs. Ardmoore
Ah, yes, this is what it's all about. Two-a-days are over. The pep rallies are just getting underway. It's time to put up or shut up for many athletes across the state.
This is the first in what will become a weekly column where I preview the upcoming games, and sometimes review the past Friday night's battles. Without further ado, let's get started.
Moore War The first game we're going to preview is the infamous Moore-War. A couple of year's ago I was talking to a business associate in Seattle and he told me he had heard about a great new football rivalry in Oklahoma called Moore-War. I told him it was like nothing I'd ever been to before. It is, in my opinion, the best rivalry in this state. I know Jenks-Union has produced much higher profile games, but the Moore-War still takes the cake.
Now onto the game.
The Moore Lions should dominate the Jaguars, for what I believe will be the eighth or ninth straight Lion victory over Westmoore. This year, the Lions are again a legitimate 6A contender. In the past two seasons, the Lions have lost just a game away from the state championship. Last year, it was a heartbreaking 29-27 loss to Tulsa Union.
The Jaguars are in rebuilding mode. Second year head coach Mike Whaley will have to replace more than 30 seniors off last year's team -- a team that included current OSU starting tight end Billy Bajema. It's really too bad that this is the first game for both teams. If this game was scheduled for one of the final regular season weeks, I think the game would be a real dogfight. However, with the inexperience on the Jaguar team, I'll pick the Lions to crush Westmoore 44-14.
Norman North-Norman The battle of Norman will be an exciting game this year. The city of Norman has not really provided much contention to the rest of the state since Norman high split in 1998, giving birth to the Norman North Timberwolves. This year's match up should be an all-out air attack.
With the success of OU's new passing offense, both Norman schools are getting on board. Norman should be the better of the two with maybe the best QB in the state leading the Tigers in Zac Taylor. Last season, Taylor completed over 50 percent of his passes and threw 14 passes (Heupel anyone?).
Leading the Timberwolves will probably be junior Tommy Mangino, son of OU offensive coordinator Mark Mangino. The Timberwolves will probably be improved from a year ago, but like in the Moore War game, I'll go with the experience.
Taylor and the Tigers will pull away in the second half to beat Norman North 38-21.
Lawton Ike-Lawton In the early 1990s, the Lawton Ike Eagles dominated Oklahoma high school football, producing crop after crop of division one athletes. Since then, the Eagles have dropped off considerably. Until now...
The Eagles look to be absolutely dominating this season. Once again, they have a crop of talent. According to Mark Rogers, the Eagles might have as many as six players sign D-I scholarships. That's awesome. Maybe, just maybe, someone from this side of the state can finally challenge Jenks. Maybe?
The Lawton Wolverines should be good too, especially on the defensive side of the football. The Wolverines have won three straight district titles and will probably win their fourth in 2001. Offensively, Lawton should be solid, but a little young.
In this game, I'll take the Eagles. I truly think the Eagles have the best shot at Jenks as I've seen in the past three seasons. For this game, I'll take the Lawton Ike Eagles to beat up the Lawton Wolverines 24-6.
Ada-Ardmoore In our final preview of week one, we'll take a look at the Ada-Ardmoore match up. Ardmoore is a school that continues to produce a wealth of speed at the key positions. Ada was the sleeping giant of 5A that was awakened last season.
I smell an upset here. Even though the Cougars went all the way to the state championship last year, I feel that Ardmoore is going to pull off the upset. I've really got nothing to base this on. It's just a gut instinct. I'll take Ardmoore to go to Ada and pull of the upset, 20-16.
Well that sums up my week one predictions. I've been counting down the days on my calendar to the start of the high school season since the first of June. I'm pumped that it's finally here. I'll see you at the game!
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