High school football: Southmoore lineman Drew Nickell carted off field

He had to be taken off the field on a cart, and Southmoore coach Jeff Brickman wasn't sure about the severity of the injury afterward. He said losing Nickell would be a big blow to the offensive line.

“He's by far our hardest working player,” Brickman said. “I tell our guys if we have a team with even half the heart like he has, we'd be a whole lot better. He's a blue-collar player that's a coach's dream.”

DOUGLASS DEFENSE ON TRACK

Douglass coach Willis Alexander was most pleased with the performance of his defense Friday night against Guthrie and Tulsa Bishop Kelley. Though they were playing without starting defensive end D.J. Ward, the line held together well, and the Trojans have plenty of experience in the back seven.

“Defensively, I thought we played well. A couple mistakes here and there, but I think we're right where we need to be,” Alexander said. “Offensively, we're placing some people in some positions, but we'll come together.”

EDMOND NORTH KEEPS IT CLEAN

The most encouraging thing for Edmond North coach Jeremy Dombek in his team's two scrimmage wins over Enid and Southmoore was the lack of penalties and other mistakes that often creep into early scrimmages.

“It'll be hard to tell how the scrimmage really went until we look at the film, but I do like the fact that we weren't that sloppy,” Dombek said.

NEWTON IMPROVING IN PASSING GAME

Senior Grant Newton is taking over as quarterback for Kingfisher after the graduation of Bryce Hyatt, who threw for 1,228 yards and 13 touchdowns last season.

But Newton is not inexperienced at the position. The Yellow Jackets used him in run packages at quarterback last year.

On Friday night, he ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run against Piedmont. He faked the handoff to running back Landon Nault who drew several Piedmont tacklers toward him.

“That happens a lot when you got Landon as your running back,” Newton said. “Last year, we had a good zone read game that we ran a lot whenever I came in the game. Landon is obviously the focal point of our offense. Teams are going to want to stop him first and foremost.