In last Friday night’s District AII-3 battle at a soggy and dreary Tiger Stadium, one thing was for certain — the Tigers were going to win, either the host Central Tigers or the visiting Liberty Tigers.
The hosts prevailed as Central blanked Liberty 26-0 to get a share of the district championship with Talihina and Tulsa Regent Prep, both of whom also won last Friday night.
Due to points, Central (7-3 overall, 6-1 in district play) ended up getting the third seed and will travel to District AII-4 runner-up Hominy at 7 p.m. next Friday in the opening round of the Class A, Division II playoffs.
“I think that’s a game the boys want,” Central coach Jeremy Thompson said. “It’s not that we’re happy with the third-place finish, Hominy is a traditional school that’s good in football. We think it’s a great match-up for us. We’re pretty excited to go there and play.”
The loss eliminated Liberty (5-5, 3-4) from the playoffs, and put Gore as the fourth-place team from the district.
The story on the rainy night was the Central defense.
After a special teams miscue gave Liberty the ball at the Central 23 with 10:30 left in the first quarter, the Central defense only got four yards on four downs as Central took over possession at its own 19-yard line with 8:10 remaining in the period.
Central went down the field as Ryker Miller capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. The twopoint conversion run failed, keeping Central ahead 6-0 with 3:30 left in the period.
After the Central defense forced a short punt from Liberty, the home team got possession at the Liberty 39-yard line with 2:09 remaining in the quarter.
The same result happened as the previous drive, Ryker Miller capped it off with a 4-yard TD run with 17 seconds left in the quarter. A bad snap on the two-point conversion attempt kept Central on top 12-0 after a period.
The wet field made it hard on both offenses to get anything going in the second quarter, which ended up being scoreless — with Central taking its 12-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Just as it was to begin the game, as halftime started, the stadium lights went out. The first time it happened caused about a six- to sevenminute delay of starting the game. Fortunately, the lights came on by the time it was ready to begin the second half.
The Central defense stayed just as stingy in the beginning of the third quarter as it did in the first half.
Central defensive lineman Cole Holcomb made a fumble recovery at the Liberty 33-yard line with 8:49 left in the third quarter, Central cashed in the gift as Dillon Miller scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 7:14 remaining in the period. He also scored the two-point conversion to put Central ahead 20-0 after three quarters.
“Defensively, we played extremely well,” Thompson said. “We went for it with not very good field position twice on fourth down. With the (weather) conditions, punting into the wind and rain, I don’t think it would have mattered. We were better off trying to go for it, and (if not making the first down) put our defense in a tight spot. They came through. They’ve done that several times this year.”
Just like his Miller teammate did in the first half, Dillon Miller scored his second TD of the night on a 46-yard run with 7:02 left in the game. Zach Comer’s extra point was blocked.
Although there isn’t an outright district championship as in 2023, a share of the district championship is just as nice.
“It’s something to be happy for,” Thompson said. “Each and every week, these men come to work, prepare and give it everything they have on Friday night. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
