High school football notebook: Edmond Santa Fe without center in win

PAULS VALLEY GETS UNTRACKED

Pauls Valley got its first win of the season by defeating Purcell, 28-13, on Friday night.

The Panthers played a tough nondistrict schedule against Newcastle, Bethany and Lindsay.

“I knew it would prepare us for district play,” Pauls Valley coach John Inman said. “It showed us what we needed to fix. It was kind of a blessing in disguise.”

Inman also knew his Panthers had been playing well despite their record heading into district play.

“We didn't play very well in the first three games and weren't playing anywhere close to our potential,” he said “We knew if we could limit some mistakes and be more consistent, we could be a good football team. Fortunately, we did that against Purcell.”

J.C. Eyabi rushed for 168 yards on 33 carries and scored twice for Pauls Valley.

“We really played physical up front and were very aggressive,” Inman said. “We were able to burn up most of the third quarter and fourth quarter clock running right at them.”

The Panthers face another stiff test Friday night at Dickson, which is 4-0 for the first time in school history.

“We got a challenging week ahead,” he said. “The Purcell game is such an emotional game for our kids. It's such a rivalry game. We've got to make sure we give it its due respect but then move on to our next opponent.”

WILD WEEK OF OFFENSE

Scoreboard operators must've been the busiest people in the state during Week 4 of the football season.

Jenks' 82-7 win over Tulsa Edison was only the start of the wild week of scoring. Twelve teams in Class 5A and 6A scored 50 points or more, and six of those reached 60, including Guthrie, which had all 62 of its points by halftime against Guymon.

Games like Norman's 56-35 defeat of Mustang and Norman North's 66-27 blasting of Midwest City only registered as mildly intense on the scoring scale this week.

A pair of 5A games surpassed the 110-point total, with McAlester defeating Noble 70-42 and Tulsa Memorial beating Shawnee 77-37.

The smaller classes were just as potent, with games like Madill's 59-45 win over Plainview, Lindsay's 58-41 win over Hobart, or Summit Christian's 57-56 victory over Liberty.