ARDMORE – Bethany overcame early success from Ardmore’s unique flexbone offense and got its own offense going en route to a 41-9 rout Friday (Oct. 25) in a 4A-2 contest.

“The defense made some good adjustments on an offense you don’t see very often,” Bethany coach Jon Arthur said via text. “Things just clicked after that little slow start early.”

While the Bronchos dealt with the flexbone ,Ardmore drained a lot of time off the clock early but were kept out the end zone. Each team turned it over in the first quarter but the Tigers scored first on a 37-yard field goal from Christopher Tellez with 2:38 left in the first quarter.

The seventh-ranked Bronchos scored on the next drive on a 1-yard dive from junior Judson Gilliland. The junior set up the score with a 24-yard run on third down to get to the Ardmore 10-yard line.

On the next possession, senior Wyatt Geissler intercepted an overthrown pass from Ardmore sophomore K’drien Miller and returned it 44 yards to the Tiger 22-yard line.

That led to a 5-yard touchdown run from junior Evenson Malaska with 8:04 before halftime.

Ardmore had to punt on the next series. The Bronchos drove for another score, capped by a 21-yard touchdown strike from senior Jackie Payne over the middle to a leaping Geissler with 3:36 left in the second quarter.

Bethany would get the ball back again before the break. Ardmore drove to midfield but sophomore Wyatt Keefer sacked Miller on third down to force a punt.

Payne hit fellow senior Garrett Johnson for a 51-yard reception to move the ball down the field. Later, Payne and Geissler connected for a 27-yard score to make it 28-3 lead with :33 before half.

After the halftime break, the Bronchos scored on the first offensive play of the third quarter. With Gilliland in at quarterback, he pitched it to Malaska, who cut up field and sprinted 72 yards for a touchdown. Bethany led, 34-3.

The Bronchos scored one more time on an 11-yard run from senior Jackson Dull with 6:58 left in the game.

With reserves in the game, Ardmore got a late touchdown from junior Jax Birth on a 72-yard run.

Arthur said assignment changes by the Broncho defense to Ardmore’s flexbone were a key to the win.

“(Ardmore) was getting the ball all the way to the pitch and doing a good job blocking our safeties,” Arthur said. ” We swapped some responsibilities a little bit and gave them a little different look than what they were that they’d been seeing and ended up letting us get some other guys running to the football.”

Arthur highlighted senior linebacker Devonta Melton.

“He was physical up front. They’re trying to run full back dive out of that option. Look and those kind of things. I know he made just a bunch of plays there at the line of scrimmage or even for a loss,” Arthur said.

4A DISTRICT 2	DISTRICT RECORD	OVERALL RECORD
Tuttle	5-0	8-0
Blanchard	4-1	7-1
Bethany	3-2	6-2
Harrah	3-2	5-3
Ardmore	2-3	4-4
Chickasha	2-3	2-6
Tecumseh	1-4	3-5
Madill	0-5	1-7

UP NEXT

Bethany (6-2, 3-2) returns home to meet Tecumseh (3-5, 1-4) next Friday (Nov. 1).

The Savages fell in overtime, 47-41, to Chickasha Friday (Oct. 25). Tecumseh’s lone district win was over Madill, who is winless in district play.

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.

	1	2	3	4	F
Bethany (6-2, 3-2)	0	28	6	7	41
Ardmore (4-4, 2-3)	3	0	0	6	9