By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
There were two ways Yukon you have chosen to finish the football season.
Go out like a lamb or like a lion.
The Millers chose the latter of the two.
Yukon finished the 2019 season with a dominating performance, rolling to a 68-34 Disteict 6AI-1 win over Edmond Memorial on Senior Night at Miller Stadium.
The Millers, who finished the season with a 4-6 record, rolled up over 500 yards of offense, had three runners rush for over 100 yards and never let the contest get close. The Millers rolled to a 29-0 lead early in the second quarter and scored on all six possessions in the first half in opening a 43-7 lead at the break. YHS scored on their first three possessions of the second half and finished the night scoring on nine of 11 possessions.
It was the second week in a row that the Miller offense had hung 60-plus on an opponent and in their last four games of the season scored 220 points (an average of 55 a game). The Millers rushed for 479 yards in the game and finished the season with over 4,000 rushing yards.
YHS scored less than three minutes into the game and never looked back.
“I was happy with the way the players treated tonight,” YHS head coach Jeremy Reed said. “We challenged them all week and it is not always easy when you know this game is your final one when you don’t have a playoff game on the line or a winning season on the line. I was just real proud of the challenge they accepted to be great finishers and what they did tonight.
“The players warmed up well, but you never know until that ball is kicked off of what could happen,” he said. “I was really pleased with how they came out and played and took care of business really early. I’m happy for those seniors that they got to go out not with just a win, but a dominating win. The bad thing is we are playing some really good football and now it is over.
“You want to be playing your best football at the end of the year and going into the playoffs. I feel like we are, the bad luck of it is we don’t have a game next week. But, I can’t say enough of how proud I am of this team and they got better week after week and it just kind of a shame that it is over.”
The Millers took the initial lead on their first possession after the defense forced a Memorial punt. Landon Donoho scored the first of his three touchdowns on a 10-yard run on the Millers’ fourth offensive play. YHS had taken over at the 50 and after an 18-yard run by Caden Hernandez and a nine-yard run by Camron Farmer, Donoho found his way to the end zone.
YHS went for two after the score and Ryan Weller’s pass to Nate Hahn made it an 8-0 game with 9:01 left in the quarter.
Farmer scored the Miller’s second touchdown with 6:09 left in the first on a 22-yard run. Brayden Dutton set up the score with a 23-yard run on the first play of the series.
Farmer, who also scored three touchdowns on the night, added his second on the Millers next possession, scoring on a 13-yard run. Farmer had opened the drive with a 28-yard run and Donoho had a 19-yard run in the eight-play, 73-yard drive. Cody Watson’s extra point made it 22-0 six seconds into the second quarter.
Makari Slaughter gave the Millers a four-touchdown lead with an 11-yard scoring run that capped a six-play, 61-yard drive. Dutton’s 31-yard pass to Colton DeKinder helped set up the score, opening a 29-0 lead with 7:53 left in the half.
Enid did made it a 29-7 game, but Isaiah Butler returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown and a 36-7 lead.
Slaughter scored on a 47-yard run on the Millers’ final possession of the half, opening a 43-7 lead.
Touchdowns runs of one by Farmer and 24 from Donoho to open the second half ran the lead to 55-7 just three minutes into the second half. Dutton scored on a one-yard run to make it 61-14 before Memorial did score twice to make it 61-27.
Donoho added his final touchdown on a two-yard run to open a 68-27 lead with 3:05 left in the game.
“I thanked the seniors after the game and told them they were leaving with the most 6AI wins time at Yukon,” he said. “This was a group that won only two or three games in the seventh, eighth and ninth grade years. They had never been successful as a class, but I wanted to remind them of all the accomplishments they did in their three years of high school football.
“I told them team that even though our record says 4-6, we achieved a lot bigger things for this program to move forward than a record.”
Donoho led the Miller ground game with 150 yards on 19 carries, Slaughter ran for 110 on only four carries and Farmer had 103 on 15 to lead to YHS ground game.
“We had a good start to the game, the kids were focused and ready to play and that is all you can ask for,” Reed said. “It is tough when you know that the clock is ticking and when it reaches zero you are done for the year. It is never fun when you know it is done.”
