High school notebook: Delans Griffin to return for Clinton

Clinton running back Delans Griffin, a Texas Tech oral commit, has been hampered this football season by a foot injury. He missed time earlier in the season and came out of last week’s win over Blanchard after re-aggravating the injury.

Clinton coach Mike Lee said he expected Griffin back in action this week against Elgin.

"He’s just got a little soreness, but it’s something he’s going to have to work through,” Lee said.

Griffin’s departure wasn’t the only injury for Clinton last week, though. Lineman Jacob Lee left the game and was taken to Norman Regional Hospital after suffering from a concussion.

"He was out of it and couldn’t speak normally,” Mike Lee said.

Jacob Lee was held overnight for observation. Although it was initially feared he might be out for the remainder of the season, Mike Lee said Jacob should miss just two games.

It’s not unusual for a high school football team to scavenge the soccer team to find a kicker. It’s rare that they end up with a receiver, too.

Putnam City did just that with Carson Lynn, a junior basketball and soccer player who was added in mid-September to help with kickoffs. Lynn routinely puts kickoffs into the end zone and has range of 40-plus yards on field goals.

But a few weeks ago, coach John Wofford gave Lynn the chance to play receiver. And he’s making a splash. He has touchdown receptions in each of the last two games and three for the season. Lynn has 155 receiving yards on eight catches.

Midwest City’s coaches are having an easier time of it this week as the Bombers get ready to host Norman on Friday.

But not because of the opponent.

The Bombers are playing on Friday for the first time in four weeks after playing three consecutive Thursday games (although one wound up moving to Friday afternoon after a lightning storm in Lawton).

"It’s been weird,” Midwest City coach Steve Huff said. "We’ve been rushing around all over the place for three weeks getting ready for games and now, all of the sudden, we have an extra day. It’s nice. Those weeks seem really short when you’re playing on Thursdays.”

A big key to Star Spencer’s success on offense has been the emergence of Franky Jamison at quarterback.

Last season, Jeremy Harris gave the Bobcats a rushing threat at running back to go with Terrance Olds and Darwin Rideau.

Jamison, after some rough times early in the season that were largely attributable to Olds missing time early, has rounded into the same type of player.

"He’s grown into that position and accepted the responsibility of what it takes to be a quarterback,” Star Spencer coach Darrell Hall said. "He doesn’t mind the pressure. He still makes mistakes, but at least he’s understanding the mistakes he’s made and learning from them.”

Star Spencer (6-2 overall, 5-0 district) plays Mannford (0-8, 0-5) this week before finishing the season at No. 1 Glenpool.

Originally thought to be out for the season, Heritage Hall sophomore Quintaz Struble has been cleared to play again.

Struble was impressing coaches and teammates the entire summer but suffered a leg injury in the team’s final scrimmage.

"I’m just so excited to get the chance to be out there,” Struble said. "I’ve been working real hard and just want to help the team.”

Struble will be a tight end and a defensive lineman. The Chargers also saw seniors Tanner France and Austin Smith return from injuries last week.

Heritage Hall (5-3, 5-0) hosts John Marshall (6-2, 3-2) on Friday.

Bethany (6-2, 3-2) faces Northeast on Friday night. It’s not a must win, but Bethany would like to end its losing streak at two games. Bethany lost to Madill two weeks ago and Purcell last week.

"I think we fell short in just about every aspect of the Purcell game,” Bethany quarterback Silas Day said. "We didn’t block well, we didn’t tackle well, we didn’t execute well. We weren’t prepared to play like we should. We didn’t respond as well to the Madill loss as we had wanted to.”

Day said with two weeks left of practices, there’s time to improve in practice, something he wants to get better at.

"We just have to use every day to improve,” Day said. "I think as coaches and players we feel like that’s been our downfall in some ways. We have used them to their full potential.”

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