The Weatherford Eagles football team defeated the Cache Bulldogs 52-21 Friday night at Woody Roof Field, resulting in an undefeated regular season, something which has not been accomplished by Weatherford since 2009.
‘We played hard, kept playing hard and tackled really well in the second half,” Roof said. “I am proud of the effort and how physical we were. Not everything went our way, but we kept playing hard and making plays. When you do those two things, usually good things go your way. I am so proud of this team and how we won tonight.”
Cache runs a unique style of offense, which includes a jet sweep with some misdirection. A wide receiver is normally in motion with the quarterback right under the center. The quarterback either hands it off to the receiver in motion like a jet sweep, he can pass it to someone or he can hand it off to the running back behind him resulting in a misdirection play.
“Cache is tough to defend,” Roof said. ‘They force us to be sound and we must be lined up right to defend them. They can put us in some bad spots at times, but our guys played well and we have made some really good tackles.”
Weatherford controlled the game from the start. They forced two 3-and-outs and scored two touchdowns early in the game. Quarterback Gunnar Gaunt found Murphy Beck open for a 27 yard touchdown pass.
On the next touchdown, Malachi Johnson took it 56 yards for a touchdown on Weatherford’ s first offensive play of their second offense possession, putting the Eagles up 14-0. Cache responded with a touchdown of their own, but Weatherford was ahead 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Weatherford put a drive together early in the second quarter with plays like Michael Mayfield making a great catch from Gaunt. Weatherford finished the drive with a 5-yard rushing touchdown, putting Weatherford in front 21-7. The Eagles had a drive going, but was unable to score before halftime. Weatherford got the football back, but Rayshon Blatnick missed a field goal right before halftime. The score at halftime was 21-7.
“I thought we played extremely well on both sides of the ball, with the exception of one drive late in the second quarter when we fumbled the snap in the red zone,” Roof said. “I thought we let up a little on that drive. The fumble really bothered me because we were close to going up by three touchdowns. Other than that, we are playing hard, just like we have all year. If we play like we did in the first half, we should be good. We need to go score and take some time off the clock.”
In the third quarter, Cache scored a touchdown, making the score 21-14. Weatherford needed a play to get momentum back on their side and Gaunt found Ethan Downs open on a pass play. Weatherford finished this drive with an 8-yard touchdown by Johnson, giving Weatherford a 28-14 lead with less than five minutes to play in the third quarter.
Bryson Cook had an interception and he almost returned it for a touchdown, but was tackled at the 3-yard-line. On the next play, Gaunt scored a touchdown, making the score 35-14.
‘The quarterback rolled to his right and I just sat there and he threw the ball right to me,” Cook said. “I saw this play on film and knew where he liked to throw the ball and was there to make the play. We also practiced this on defense and watched tons of film on this game.”
Cache responded with a touchdown, but the Eagle offense was far from done. On the Eagle’s next offensive possession Hoffman had a 69 yard rushing touchdown, giving Weatherford a 42-21 lead.
The Weatherford defense held strong with plays like Tyler Jack Hoffman getting to the Cache quarterback and making the sack.
With 5:29 left in the game Johnson scored a 26 yard rushing touchdown, making it his third touchdown of the night and it gave Weatherford a 49-21 lead.
‘The offensive line was the biggest part of tonight,” Johnson said. “We scored touchdowns because of them. We are really close on and off the field and this win feels amazing, but we have bigger goals to accomplish.”
On the next offensive possession for Cache, Mayfield intercepted the Cache pass, setting Weatherford up with great field position. Weatherford did not score a touchdown, but Blatnick made a field goal, giving Weatherford a 52-21 lead late in the game.
“Missing the 47-yard field goal in the first half really did not matter, but it matters to me,” Blatnick said. “Every field goal matters to me and I am glad I redeemed myself late in the game. Also, we scored more than 50 points when I made the kick, which is a big deal. had lots of pressure on me to make the kick, but I just went out there and kicked the ball.”
Weatherford won the game 52-21 and are back-to-back district champions for the first time since 1992. With the win they finish the regular season 5-0 in district play and 8-0 overall. The Eagles capped off an undefeated regular season for the first time since 2009.
“Going undefeated in the regular season is so hard to come by,” Roof said. “Going undefeated in the regular season is something we wanted to do before the season started. Our guys played so hard every week and we never really had a bad game, which is what you have to do to win your district. I am so proud of this group of guys and we did what it took to win every game in the regular season. This is not our ultimate goal and we will celebrate this accomplishment, but will go right back to work for the playoffs.”
Linebacker Braedyn Epp said this game took lots of preparation and it took everyone doing their part to win the game.
“We were told from the beginning, they are a tough team to beat,” Epp said. “We could not afford to take a play off and we all did our jobs one play at a time. We did a very good job preparing for this game though watching film and we came out and executed well tonight.”
Blatnick said Cache also runs a funky kickoff return called a starburst and he tried to kick it into the end zone every time to prevent a big return.
“On kickoff returns for Cache, they run what is called a starburst,” Blatnick said. “On some of the kickoffs, they like to hand the ball off to other players to misdirect our defenders. Kicking the ball into the end zone was really important to keep them from doing this.”
Blatnick said standing on the sideline also can help him determine who to kick the ball to on kickoffs.
“Standing on the sidelines, I get to watch their players to see who runs the fastest or who can break the most tackles,” Blatnick said. “When it comes to kickoffs, I remember what I saw on film and what I saw from them playing during the game and I can decide where to kick the football and which players to kick it to or not to kick it to.”
Weatherford will not play this week as they have a bye week. They will play, 7:30 p.m. November 20 against the winner of Bethany and Cushing. Bethany and Cushing play Friday at Cushing.
“Coach Roof told us after the game if we lose a game, our season is done, which would not be fun as a senior,” Epp said. “I really want to go back to the state championship and finish my final game as a winner, but it will take great preparation and it will have to be a team effort.”
Roof said going to the state championship game last season helps the team this season because they now know what it will take to get back to the state championship game.
“Last season was really good experience,” Roof said. “We know what it takes to get to the state championship game and we know what we have to do to get back to the state championship game.”
Cook said he really enjoys playing on this football team.
“I love this football team,” Cook said. “We win as a team, lose as a team and whatever happens during games happens. Being part of a team like this is beautiful and we always play our hardest together.”