Defense up to the task as El Reno beats Duncan to win District 5A-1
El Reno 14, Duncan 7

By Matt Patterson, Staff Writer Comments 1
Published: November 7, 2009

EL RENO — With its offense sputtering, El Reno leaned heavily on its defense Friday night.

El Reno quarterback Jakeil Everheart, front, breaks away from the Duncan defense on a touchdown run Friday. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

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Turns out, the group was more than up to the task, as El Reno held off a second-half Duncan charge to capture the 5A-1 district championship with a 14-7 win at Memorial Stadium.

It’s only the third team in El Reno history to go through a regular season unbeaten. But that milestone looked threatened in the second half as Duncan capitalized on an El Reno fumble and marched down the field, scoring on a 20-yard pass from Brandon Wilson to Michael Rice that cut the lead to seven.

Duncan had the momentum, but not for long. El Reno’s defense rose to the occasion each time it was called on in the second half during Duncan’s six possessions.

"Second half we had our backs up against the wall a couple of times and came out on top,” defensive lineman Cody Dauphin said. "Our linebackers played a great game, so did our D-line. They have a powerhouse run game and we stopped it.”

El Reno’s players knew they were in for a battle, especially when facing Duncan’s ground game.

"That was a fight,” El Reno linebacker Tank Mulanax said. "It was more than a football game. There was that one drive when they got a fumble recovery and we couldn’t stop them, but we tightened up and held them the rest of the game.”

Early on it looked like it might be a runaway for El Reno. Quarterback Jakeil Everheart scored on a 32-yard run in the first quarter, breaking four tackles to get to the end zone. Everheart struck again with four seconds left in the first half, hitting Jovia Franklin across the middle for a 31-yard touchdown pass that made it 14-0.

Everheart finished with 148 yards passing, but 129 of that total came in the first half. Still, Dauphin said he had faith in his team’s offense.

"I really didn’t feel that it was on us as a defense,” Dauphin said. "I figured if they scored, our offense would come back and score. They like to perform under pressure.”

Dauphin said the goal was to hold Duncan to under 200 yards on the ground, which the Indians did. Duncan finished with 158 and had just 78 at the end of the first half. The win gives No. 2-ranked El Reno two home playoff games. Mulanax said a confident team just got a little more confident.

"That’s definitely a momentum booster,” Mulanax said. "It gives us a better trail as far as who we play next. I think we believed we could go undefeated. Now we have to start over and win some more games.”