WARR ACRES – Several Putnam City Pirate football players earned All-City honorable mention from The Oklahoman.

Senior quarterback Judson Keefer threw for 2,293 yards and 24 touchdowns. A threat on the ground as well, Keefer led Putnam City with 660 rushing yards, scoring eight touchdowns.

“He was the heart and soul of our program, of our program this year.  And he’s going to be thoroughly missed,” Putnam City coach Willis Alexander said. “The young man’s grown tremendously from the time that I got there in April (2023).”

Alexander pointed out due to injury and other issues that Keefer never had a consistent set of skill position players around him.

“For him to, you know, have the season that he had, he was a district MVP, that says a lot.

Keefer led the Pirates to their first home playoff game since 2007. He has committed to play at Southern Nazarene.

Senior Ethan Scott led the Pirates with 779 yards receiving and 11 touchdown catches. He also had 21 tackles and two interceptions on defense.

“Ethan reminds me a lot of myself as a player, having an understanding where to find the holes in the zones, understanding how to work routes and understanding how to get open,” Alexander said. “Him and Judson had a connection that was almost like they knew what each other was doing.”

“You talk about the confidence they had in each other on just making the throw and eat to make me catch. He can get to the right spot.”

Scott missed the three games after straining his MCL and Alexander believes Scott could have eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark and that Scott would have made a big difference, given the Pirates’ slow start.

Junior Johnn Sheffey had 40 tackles, eight sacks and a team-high 15 tackles for loss.

“The motor, don’t stop.  (Sheffey) just works extremely hard. You don’t have to worry about asking him to give his all, go game speed and everything,” Alexander said. “We have to tone him down actually, You, count on him and you can trust him.” 

Junior Brayden Knox led the team in tackles (100) and sacks (nine). He also had 14 tackles for loss. Know also emerged as an offensive weapon, rushing for 209 yards in sporadic use.

“He’s a Division I athlete,” Alexander said. “He has multiple Division I offers right now. You’re talking about a kid that  when he finishes growing, because he’s still growing,  He’s going to grow itself probably out of a linebacker position. You know, he’s probably going to end up  being an edge, you know, a 3-4 edge, a 4-3 defensive end.”

“Having a talented kid like that is going to allow us defensively to do a lot of things with him.  His versatility along the front seven is gonna be very valuable for us next year.”

“(Knox) only knows one speed. That’s full speed. That’s gold. He gets mad when you got to tell him to stop.”

Sophomore Tripp Alexander had 43 tackles and eight tackles for loss.

“I don’t know if he’s a good player or not,” Willis Alexander joked about his son. “I think his upside is tremendous. He probably played his best game against Muskogee’s all world tackle. A lot of teams have problems blocking him.”

Alexander mentioned that his son hasn’t stopped growing physically and he’s encouraged him to bulk up and possibly move to an inside defensive lineman position.

Freshman defensive back Gabriel Osborne collected 46 tackles and had two interceptions. He also had 276 yards on kickoffs and punt returns.

“He is the next big thing,” Alexander said. “He has to continue to grow.”

Alexander said he’s hesitant sometimes to recognize freshman because sometimes they can’t handle the attention.

“It’s just a maturity thing with him. Once he figures it out, he’s going to be very, very special. He’s going to be the next big thing out of Putnam City.”