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NORMAN — After a 1-9 season, you’d think Stillwater would be excited by hanging with and almost beating Norman in a half-game at Friday’s Top of the World Classic.

But you’d think wrong.

Stillwater quarterback Jerame Littell. PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN

New coach Tucker Barnard spent the last seven years as defensive coordinator at Shiloh Christian, an Arkansas powerhouse, and he isn’t OK with losing, and isn’t OK with his players being OK with it.

“We’re not going to accept the almost, the things we almost did,” Barnard said. “If we want to be a championship football team, we have to be able to finish, and we didn’t finish tonight. I’m not going to let them allow themselves to be happy with, ‘We almost did it; we played them tough.’ It’s awesome, and it’s a step, but it wasn’t good enough.”

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