Published: October 12, 2008 09:43 am      

Ringling flattens Waurika, 63-7

Eagles fall to 1-5 on the season

RINGLING — Larry VanBeber had no illusions when Waurika went to western Jefferson County Friday night — the Eagles had little chance for victory against undefeated, No. 3-ranked Ringling.

“Ringling’s a fabulous team; one of the best Class A teams I’ve seen since I was in Barnsdall coaching against Tonkawa. Ringling is big, tough and fast, and they play football the way it should be played,” VanBeber said, giving the winning team its due.

But 63-7? Eight straight Ringling touchdowns and a score by its defense in the first three quarters of the District A-4 mismatch?

VanBeber was having a tough time swallowing that outcome.

“I’ve never, ever, had a team give up 63 points — not at Empire, Barnsdall or Tulsa Webster. Getting beat like that is humiliating,” the Eagles’ first-year skipper said, after a fourth straight loss sent WHS tumbling to 1-5 overall and 1-4 in A-4.

And it didn’t help VanBeber’s outlook that for 36 minutes, the Blue Devils made rising to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in A-4 look easy.

Behind a dominating offensive line, tailback Michael Hudson rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, and after a 1-for-9 start passing, Ringling quarterback Dustin Martin zeroed-in on his final 5 passes, completing 4 for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

Although throttled most of the game by Ringling’s aggressive defense, one consolation the Eagles could take was snapping the Blue Devils’ string of shutouts at three, by getting on the scoreboard right before halftime. But even that TD was generated by trickery.

Waurika’s sixth possession of the game seemed to have bogged down at its own 31-yard line, when Jace Dunn stunned the Devils by breaking free for 44 yards on a faked punt. It move the ball to the RHS 25, and three plays later, with 1:29 left in the first half, tailback Jimmy Torrez hit wide receiver Nathan Howard with a 17-yard touchdown pass.

That cut the Eagles’ deficit to 35-6, but even their brightest moment dimmed somewhat, when Ringling’s Skylar Bartlett blocked an extra-point kick attempt by Jeff Fuller.

Ringling hardly missed a beat after giving up a touchdown for the first time since a 47-7 victory over Empire in Week Two. The Devils responded in just three plays that took 38 seconds, the last being a pass from Martin that found tight end Cole Lockwood wide open across the middle.

Lockwood zipped to the end zone with a 67-yard TD and Matthew Keenan’s ninth extra-point kick of the night sent the Blue Devils to halftime with a 42-6 lead.

Most of Ringling’s skill position starters played only one more series. Getting a 39-yard kickoff return from Bartlett that created first down at the RHS 43, Martin missed on his first pass of the second half, then discovered wide receiver Barrett Butler alone behind the WHS secondary.

The pair combined for a 57-yard TD, and after another kick by Keenan widened the gap to 49-6, RHS head coach Tracy Gandy began substituting.

The Blue Devils weren’t finished, though. With 6:12 remaining in the third quarter, the Eagles appeared to get a break when RHS backup quarterback Tyler Shores fumbled at the WHS 1. However, teammate Dakota Elliott recovered the loose ball in the end zone and the Devils’ lead rose to 56-6.

On Ringling’s eighth possession, an eight-yard run by Shores ended the TD parade, and Keenan’s final kick made it 63-6, with 43 seconds left in the third.

The Blue Devils finished with a 443-158 edge in total rushing and passing yards. Most of Waurika’s rushing total came on Dunn’s 44 yards on the faked punt and 38 yards the Eagles managed against RHS’ second- and third-team defenders in the fourth quarter.

In one of the most-lopsided verdicts in the long history of the Jefferson County War, Hudson got Ringling rolling with a 23-yard scoring sweep around right end with 7:30 left in the first quarter.

Hudson came back nearly four minutes later with a sweep around the left side for an 11-yard TD, and by the end of the first quarter, he had rushed six times for 97 yards.

Ringling’s lead rose to 21-0 with 9:42 remaining in the second quarter, on a 1-yard TD burst by fullback Dakota Zachary, and the margin grew to 28-0 four minutes later, when Martin tossed a seven-yard TD pass to Bartlett.