Weatherford corrected mistakes made the previous week and beat El Reno Friday night in its home opener, winning 41-14 on senior night.
“We played excellent,” Weatherford coach Reagan Roof said. “We did not make the same mental mistakes we made last week against Kingfisher. We played well and our defense forced a lot of turnovers and we did a great job capitalizing on El Reno’s mistakes.”
El Reno was short-handed as their starting quarterback Dorian Plumley was out due to a foot injury.
El Reno had a big play early on a slip screen, but Weatherford’s defense kept El Reno from scoring as they forced a turnover on downs.
Sam Hoffman scored the first touchdown off a pick six. El Reno ran a short out route and Hoffman jumped the route, caught the ball and took it to the house. Weatherford was ahead 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Weatherford scored its first offensive touchdown of the game as quarterback Gunnar Gaunt found wide receiver Cameron Patee for a 20-yard touchdown. Late in the second quarter, Malachi Johnson scored a short rushing touchdown, his first four on the night, giving Weatherford a 20-0 lead going into the locker room.
“El Reno ran a different defense then we expected, so we had to make some adjustments on offense,” Roof said at halftime. “We wore their defense down late in the second quarter and we tackled really well on defense. We need to come out and play a complete game of football and I want to take a lot of time off the clock and go score on the first drive.”
Weatherford expanded its lead with plays like Ethan Downs scoring a touchdown as he caught a short pass from Gaunt. This play gave Weatherford a 27-0 advantage with 7:25 left in the third quarter.
Weatherford kept getting defensive stops and played a more physical game than El Reno did. Johnson finished Weatherford’s drive near the end of the third quarter with an 8-yard rushing touchdown, making the score 34-0.
Brett Bozarth had an interception early in the fourth quarter. Johnson scored his third touchdown early in the fourth quarter on a 65-yard rushing touchdown, making the score 41-0.
“I saw the hole open up and ran as fast as I could,” Johnson said. “The line blocking helps us and I was a little scared during practice because of all the new plays we were learning, but I learned them and executed really well.”
Lineman Tyler Jack Hoffman said the line blocked really well, allowing big run plays like the one Johnson scored on.
“We all played well on the line,” Tyler said. “We played as a complete team and are glad we came out with the victory.”
The starters got to rest most of the fourth quarter and Weatherford won 41-14.
“We played well tonight and improved from last week,” Roof said. “The challenge is to keep improving each week. Good football teams get better each week and do not stay complacent and I think we will continue to get better.”
The defense did not give up a point in the first 3 quarters. Defensive coordinator Taylor Sossamon said they played much better than they did against Kingfisher.
“Even without their quarterback, El Reno still was a good team and made some plays early on us,” Sossamon said. “However, we played really well on defense and did a good job stopping what they threw at us. We had 2 game plans, one if Plumley played and one if he did not play.”
Weatherford improves to 2-0 and returns to action, 7 p.m. Friday at Woodward.