CHCKASHA — Sometimes the greatest success on the football field isn’t shown on the scoreboard.
In Friday night’s game at Chickasha, yes, Weatherford lost 42-28. However, the team showed improvement in the running game and coaches were encouraging players after the game to continue to work hard because they were closer this night than previous nights.
“We can get better, we still lost the game, but I felt like especially on the offensive side, we were able to sustain some drives tonight and move the football a little more,” coach Reagan Roof said.
Weatherford rushed for 150 yards on 30 carries. Jackson Blackmon accounted for 91 yards on eight carries.
“Jackson’s a kid who’s never played tailback before this year. So, he’s just naturally slowly finding his feel for the position. I feel like every week he’s been a little better seeing the holes and running a little tougher,” Roof said.
Stone Chism had 66 yards on 16 carries. “The same thing with Stone. He’s kind of out of position. We’re trying to do a lot with him. They’re just some of those sophomores who are getting week. We just Chickasha’s Ma’lek Murphy, who is a six-foot, one-inch and 200pound senior, was able to break tackles most of the night and scored three rushing touchdowns on the night.
Roof said the defense tried to make stops.
“Defensively, most of the night, we had our guys in position to make plays, we just weren’t able to get him (Murphy) tackled. Coming off last week’s loss, we could have gone one way, we could have pulled out tent or we could have fought through it. I felt like we fought through it, had a good week of practice and were better this week. If we can continue to do that, we’ve still got some games we can win,” Roof said.
As the coach alluded to, Weatherford was coming off a 41-10 loss at Elgin the week before. He said he was happy with areas of the game, but said the team still has improvements it can make.
“I’m happy we responded coming out of last week’s showing and played better, did some better things, improved in some areas. But, overall, our tackling, I’m disappointed in how we tackled. I know he’s a good back, but we can tackle better than we did tonight. That really was the difference in the game. We had them in third down a few times and just couldn’t get him on the ground and couldn’t get off the field,” Roof said.
Weatherford was able to run the ball and complete some deep passes on the night, including the first offensive play of the game, where quarterback Reese Villines found C.J. Nickson open for a 53-yard touchdown pass, giving Weatherford the early 7-0 lead.
Chickasha scored the next two touchdowns to go ahead 147 before Villines again found Nickson, this time for a 16-yard touchdown pass, tying the score, 14-14.
Victor Garcia also scored a rushing touchdown in the first half, which tied the score in the second quarter, 21-21, before Chickasha scored a touchdown to go ahead 28-21 at the half.
“I think they know we have an opportunity here to go get a bit upset and it would be a big win for us. I think they know we’re close and things are clicking a little better. The sense of urgency is good. I like it,” Roof said about his team after halftime.
He also talked about the teams’s offensive and defensive play.
“I think we looked a lot better in a lot of areas. We’ve definitely been cleaner. We’ve eliminated a lot of the penalties we’ve been having in the past and been able to sustain some drives offensively that we haven’t been able to do all year. So, on the offense side, I’m pleased we’ve been playing a lot better,” Roof said.
“Defensively, we have to make tackles. He’s a really good back and we knew that coming in and the missed tackles are killing us. He’s good enough we know we’re not going to come in and just shut him out. We have to limit his big plays and you have to limit the big plays by getting him on the ground and when we get them in third and long, fourth and long, we have to get off the field. We’ve given up two critical plays in those situations,” Roof said.
In the second half, Chickasha went ahead 42-21 before Weatherford answered with a touchdown in the fourth quarter on a run by Stone Chism of two yards, cutting the lead to 42-28.
The loss drops Weatherford to 0-1 in District 4A-1 play and 1-3 overall.
The Eagles host Woodward Friday. Weatherford also will have the 2022 Fall Homecoming ceremony before the game. The ceremony begins 6:40 p.m. with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
“We need another great week of practice. We had good week this last week. If we continue to have a good week of practice and continue to get a little better and come out and tackle better and still take another step offensively,” Roof said.