Destiny Christian's Mahoney deserves some credit

By Jason Kersey
jkersey@opubco.com

Destiny Christian’s Arthur Mahoney, by all accounts, has had an incredible season. Through five games, Mahoney has rushed for 1,361 yards and 21 touchdowns for a stunning yards per carry average of 12.26.

But despite his numbers, Mahoney isn’t talked about much when the top players in the state are discussed.

Why? Because Mahoney plays for an independent school and with a perceived lack of competition.

Is some of that true? Sure. Mahoney hasn’t and won’t face any defenses that even resemble a Norman North. But that can’t be everything in evaluating a player’s talent.

First of all, if it was so easy to put up those kind of numbers against the independent Oklahoma Christian schools, we would be talking about someone every year. Last year, according to NewsOK stats, the leading independent rusher was Wesleyan Christian’s Zeb White, who averaged 6.24 yards per carry. White was listed as a junior last year, and Wesleyan Christian hasn’t submitted any stats this year, so I’m not sure what he has done this year.

Second of all, it is shown all the time that facing weak competition doesn’t necessarily mean a player can’t succeed at a higher level. We are seeing it this year with Enid’s Daniel Barwick, who transferred from Class B’s Pond Creek-Hunter and has had success at the 6A level. Mahoney started the 2007 season at Moore before moving to Destiny Christian, so it would have been interesting to see how he would have developed as a 6A running back. We’ll have to see if he gets any college attention, but I think he deserves it.