Shawnee rallies past Guthrie, stays unbeaten
Shawnee 33, Guthrie 23

By Matt Patterson, Staff Writer Comments 2
Published: October 24, 2009

SHAWNEE — With its Class 5A-leading offense playing at home against a team that has seen its share of struggles this season, Shawnee’s 33-23 football win over Guthrie looked like it might come easy.

That wasn’t the case — or at least it wasn’t until Shawnee’s offense finally found its way — as Guthrie chased and decked quarterback Brayle Brown repeatedly throughout the first half. Brown missed on his first four pass attempts, including an interception. He was sacked twice as Shawnee failed to get a first down on its first few possessions.

But Guthrie found out the hard way it’s hard to keep a good offense down for long. After trailing 10-6 early, Shawnee went on to score the next 27 points of the game before Guthrie rallied in the fourth quarter for a pair of touchdowns.

"They brought the pressure on us more than we could block so everything had to be thrown quick,” Brown said after the Wolves moved to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in district. "They made it tough on us from the first snap on.”

Brown finished 12-of-22 for 128 yards and two touchdowns. It wasn’t his best game, but the junior didn’t mind facing a little adversity. Guthrie’s defense was a riddle he enjoyed solving.

"We adjusted some of our blocking schemes,” Brown said. "We did more rollouts, and we ran straight up between the tackles. Most games, we run it and do our offense, but this one was a little tougher.”

Tailback Jordan Acock joined the act for Shawnee. One of the best backs in Class 5A, Acock had trouble getting on track early. He eventually did, scoring on a 2-yard run early in the second half. Acock scored again, a 27-yard run when he was virtually untouched up the middle, with 3:01 left in the third quarter, and again on 6-yard run in the fourth quarter.

"This was a great win for us, because we had to fight it out till the end and win it in the trenches,” Acock said. "That’s how it’ll be in the playoffs, so it was good that we showed that we can battle through it and keep our heads up and play hard no matter what.”

Guthrie (4-4, 3-2) had its moments. Freshman quarterback Bryan Dutton hit Kentrell Brothers for a pair of 49-yard touchdown passes. Guthrie’s defense forced an interception and outplayed Shawnee for most of the first half.

Guthrie also converted on a fourth down that set up a field goal and on a fake punt that set up its touchdown. Dutton finished with 233 yards passing. Brothers had eight catches for 203 yards and three TDs.