By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Through the first 24 minutes, Yukon was still in the position to make a run at Jenks trailing by only 13 points.
Jenks took the position away in a hurry in the second half.
The Trojans scored on their first three possessions of the second half and pulled away for a 48-17 win over the Millers in a District 6A-1 contest at Miller Stadium.
The Millers, 4-2 overall and 1-2 in district play, were handed their second straight loss after a 4-0 start. YHS will play what amounts to their “game of the year” this Friday in the road to Westmoore. The Jaguars are 2-1 in district play after a 69-10 loss to Broken Arrow.
Yukon fell behind 10-0 early in the game, cut the lead to 10-7 and trailed 20-7 at the half. The Millers needed a stop on Jenks in the first possession of the second half and then a touchdown drive to make a strong run at the Trojans. Yukon did get a touchdown on their first possession, but gave up scores on Jenks three possessions that put the game out of reach.
“It got away from us in the second half, but I felt like we were a turnover away or a touchdown away from it being a super tight ball game,” Miller head coach Jeremy Reed said. “The second half got away from us, but it was not like last year’s game, there was no give up in our kids tonight though.
“All you can ask for in big games against a really good opponent is opportunity,” he said. “I thought we had a lot of opportunities tonight. Offensively we had four drives in the first half, the second was three and out and every issue on that drive was us. We would call the play, it got called the opposite way. We call a play and someone doesn’t hear tag. You can’t do that against anyone one, a junior high team or Jenks.
“Defensively, how many times did we have them in a long yardage situation and let them out of it. All you can ask for is opportunities to put people in those situations. You want to put people behind the chains and tonight it was almost worse when we put them behind the chains.”
One of those happened late in the first half. YHS had Jenks in a first and 31 situation at the Miller 43-yard line. But, Jenks quarterback Ian Corwyn was unphased by the distance. He threw a 23-yard strike to Justin Murphey on second down and Dreyson Waters scored from 20 yards on the next play to give the Trojans a 20-7 lead with 46 seconds left in the half.
It happened again the second half as the defense had Jenks in a third and 16 at the Miller 25. Corwyn, who has started 33 games for the Trojans at quarterback, fired a 25-yard touchdown pass to Demarko Chase that opened a 34-14 lead with 5:01 left in the third.
The Millers held Jenks to a field goal on the first possession of the night, then found themselves down 10-0 after Corwyn tossed a 27-yard scoring aerial to James Pruitt with 2:41 left in the first.
Yukon made it a 10-7 game on the next possession, putting together an 80-yard 14 play drive with Noah Davis scoring on a two-yard run. The Millers caught a pair of breaks on the drive. Jenks was called for an offside on a third down and four play for a first down and on fourth and five play the Trojans were called for a pass interference.
A 15-yard run from Isaiah Butler and a 10-yard run from Antonio Washington moved the ball to the nine-yard line. Davis scored three plays later on a third down with 9:14 left in the half.
Down 27-7 in the third quarter, the Millers put together a 65-yard drive in seven plays. Jackson Young tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Owen Olsen to make it a 27-14 game with 7:56 left in the quarter.
The Millers final score came with 4:45 remaining in a 35-yard Cody Watson field goal.
“There are a lot of positives we can take from this game,” Reed said. “Just knowing that our kids didn’t quit and they fought really hard. Not that it is something to write to mom about, but that is the most points they have given up to a team when they have won the football game. And, I thought we left some points out there.
“I thought we did a great job on the offense line,” he added. “You could look out there and see the difference (in size) in our kids and their kids, and I thought our kids did a great job of executing the game plan we had in place. Defensively, I thought there were a lot of times we had great pressure on their quarterback. He does a great job of awareness. We knew their offense was going to be very, very tough and obviously that showed tonight.
“There is a reason Jenks is Jenks, there is nothing negative you can say about their program, they play very hard and with great fundamentals and technique.”
