OKLAHOMA CITY – From the opening kickoff, Putnam City North and Panther senior Milton Alford was off and running to a 49-0 rout of rival Putnam City West Friday (Sept. 27) in a 6A-II District 2 contest.

Alford took the kickoff 89 yards for a score. North had a 7-0 lead and only 14 seconds had come off the clock. It was one of his five touchdowns as the Panthers avenged an early loss to their rival last season.

After a three-and-out and a 10-yard punt for the Patriots, North struck again. Alford stayed on his feet, breaking tackles for a 2-yard run at the 9:33 mark.

“I think he is one of the best backs in 6A-II,” Putnam City North coach Derek Lane said. “This was a little glimpse of what he can do, but I think he’s gonna have a lot more nights like that throughout district.”

A week ago against Southmoore , Alford was injured and limited to seven carries for 84 yards. Lane thinks the performance was a confidence-booster.

“I think just to show him that, okay, that injury last week is not going to hinder you the whole season, that you can come out and still have a night like, like he had tonight,” Lane said.

The North defense got plenty of penetration in the West backfield and for most of the first half the Patriots had negative yardage. A West punt near the goal line was blocked by senior Kelvin Tucker. Fellow senior Kyran Axtell dove on the ball in the end zone and North held a commanding 21-0 lead with left in the first quarter.

Nearly five minutes later, after a West drive stalled a short punt to midfield, the Panthers easily drove into Patriot territory, capped by a 3-yard score from Alford, his third of the night.

Alford scored again in the second quarter, this time from 37 yards to extend the lead to 35-0 with 8:54 left before halftime.

West’s offense was still stuck and a bad snap on the punt was recovered by junior Isaiah Southern, giving the Panthers the ball at the West 1-yard line.

Senior Kameron Oliver scored on the next play to make it 42-0.

Because of the score, the game featured a running clock in the second half. In the Panthers’ lone possession, Alford got four more touches, including a 34-yard touchdown run with 3:45 left in the third quarter.

Because of several players from each team knowing each other, Lane said the impact of the win was big. West had beat North the past two seasons. In addition, Alford’s cousin is West senior Markus Stewart, who transferred to West after being a football and wrestling standout at North.

“There’s a little extra motivation to the rivalry,” Lane said.

“It feels good to finally be on this side of the win and show people in our district and around this metro area that this is a different team.”

SCHOOL	PC DISTRICT RECORD
Putnam City	2-0
Putnam City North	1-1
Putnam City West	0-2

PANTHERS SECURE SPLIT IN PC DISTRICT GAMES

With the win, Putnam City North split with its two sister schools.

Putnam City clinched the 2024 Putnam City Schools football crown, with wins over Putnam City West Sept. 6 and North Sept. 13.

The Patriots won the football crown last season, beating Putnam City and Putnam City North successive weeks en route to a 3-0 start.

YOUNG PATRIOTS SEARCHING FOR IMPROVEMENT

Putnam City West coach Greg Johnson is searching for answers and trying to plug inexperienced players into new roles after injuries.

“I thought we’d play better because it was a rivalry game,” Johnson said. “But, it’s obvious that we’re a very young team and we got a lot of growing to do.”

West is playing its third quarterback due to injuries. The Patriots struggled in the punt game, giving North a short field along with the blocked punt. Johnson said he’s using his third snapper on punts.

“Just developing that continuity is what we don’t have,” Johnson said.

UP NEXT

Putnam City North (3-1, 1-0) travels to Ponca City (1-3, 0-1) next Friday (Oct. 4) to meet the Wildcats. Ponca City fell to 6A-II’s top-ranked squad, Muskogee 59-14 Friday (Sept. 27).

A year ago, Ponca City held off a late rally to beat the Panthers.

“I know a lot of our kids remember that game and it’s gonna motivate them this week to make sure that we can finish the game this year,” Lane said.

Putnam City West (1-3, 0-1) hosts Muskogee (4-0, 1-0) next Friday (Oct. 4).

“The Roughers are going to make it rough,” Johnson joked about facing 6A-II’s top team.

Johnson is hoping his young squad can improve despite the tough opponents.

“You can learn a lot from losing just as you learn from winning. It’s something that can be devastating or contagious, you know, and we just got to work at it.”

Photographs courtesy of Richard T. Clifton

TEAM	1	2	3	4	F
Putnam City West (1-3, 0-1)	0	0	0	0	0
Putnam City North (3-1, 1-0)	28	14	7	0	49