'Continually apply pressure': Stillwater's Class 6A-II title win caps magical defensive season

EDMOND — At first, Cameron Johnson didn’t realize his teammate had intercepted the pass.

He was too busy rushing the quarterback. 

After taking care of his assignment, Stillwater linebacker Johnson was elated to see fellow senior Trey Gregory had gained possession of the football. The play worked as defensive coordinator Clarence Holley had designed it: cause confusion with a twist, drop defensive end Gregory into pass coverage and put him in prime position to hide out and get the ball.

It was one of many plays that allowed Stillwater to win its first state title since 1967. The Pioneers defeated Choctaw, 26-21, on Friday afternoon in the Class 6A-II final at Chad Richison Stadium, as senior quarterback Gage Gundy and running back Noah Roberts combined for 300 rushing yards. 

But there was another piece that propelled the Pioneers through this magical season: their crafty, in-your-face defensive schemes.

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“We put a lot of work in for this,” Johnson said. “This kind of makes me emotional because this is what we were playing for since we were little kids. We didn’t complain, and we accomplished it.”

Throughout the season, Stillwater dissected opposing offenses and put a damper on their big plays. As the difficulty level of each test increased, the Pioneers continued to deliver, giving up no more than 21 points in a district contest.

On Friday, they faced the biggest challenge. 

Choctaw’s offense is known for its unique schemes, and senior quarterback Steele Wasel had thrown for 449 and 385 yards in his two previous playoff games. 

The Pioneers had to be realistic. They couldn’t stop the Yellowjackets entirely, but they could limit their effectiveness and walk away with a gold ball.

“What we wanted to focus on was eliminating the big plays, just don’t let them beat us with the big play,” Holley said. “Make those guys pitch and catch over and over … and so on. And we did that. They didn’t throw one over our head all day. They didn’t get a trick on us.”

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Instead, Stillwater unleashed its trickery on Choctaw. The Pioneers added their first touchdown when wide receiver Talon Kendrick turned what appeared to be a jet sweep into a 35-yard pass to Julius Talley. 

Talley’s big game continued when he returned an interception 14 yards, setting up another Stillwater touchdown. It was one of three picks for the Pioneers — Ryker Martin and Gregory also joined the party. Wasel, an Akron commit, is an efficient passer who had thrown only four picks all season before Friday, but that didn’t fluster the Pioneers.

Although the Yellowjackets managed to accrue 243 rushing yards and 281 passing yards, the Pioneers applied pressure when it mattered most, shifting the momentum after Choctaw took a 7-0 second-quarter lead. Talley and Garhett Reese finished with 12 tackles each, and Zac Tyson added 10.

“We talk about, ‘Pressure makes pipes bust,’” said Stillwater coach Tucker Barnard. “It's something that we say in our locker room a lot, and we try to continually apply pressure, and we wait for the mistakes to start happening. … It’s a testament to what these guys have done, the work that they put in and to keep fighting when it didn’t look like it was going the way we wanted it to go early.”

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