MOORE – Putnam City jumped out to a big first half lead, endured offensive mistakes and rode the defense to a 28-14 win over Southmoore Friday (Nov. 1) in a 6A-II-1 contest.

In the first half, the Pirate offense was humming. Junior Rodgerick Sloan scored on a 41-yard run up the middle with 4:36 left in the first quarter.

On the next drive, Southmoore (4-5, 3-3) went for it on fourth down at its own 34-yard line. The Pirate defense turned them away as seniors Brayden Knox, Elijah Asberr, Johnn Sheffey, Jr. and junior Tripp Alexander combined on a tackle.

That gave Putnam City (6-3, 4-2) a short field and the Pirates took advantage.

Facing a fourth down and six, sophomore Denymn Friday connected with junior Thomas Stone who made a one-handed catch to move the ball to the Southmoore 4-yard line.

On the next play, senior Marqucio Woody scored to extend the lead to 14-0 with 0:40 left in the opening quarter.

After a Southmoore punt, Friday connected with junior Savion James for a 9-yard touchdown with 8:58 left in the second quarter.

The Pirates had a three-score lead but turnovers and mistakes helped the Sabercats get back in the game. Friday was picked off by Southmoore senior Isiah Cato, who ran it back 40 yards to the PC 10-yard line.

Southmoore took advantage a few plays later on a Kasen Rinehart 1-yard run to make it 21-7 with 5:59 left before halftime.

In the second quarter, another promising drive ended due to another interception.

After a Pirate punt gave Southmoore good field position, the Sabercats scored again on a 3-yard run by sophomore Cade Cook.

The three-score lead was now a one-score game, 21-14 with 1:20 before half.

“We’re still young offensively and we just got to continue to grow,” Putnam City coach Willis Alexander said via phone. “When you got a sophomore quarterback, you got to take the good with the bad and just keep moving and keep working on improvement.”

On the next possession, Sloan had two big runs to get the Pirates into Southmoore territory. Boyd caught two straight passes, including one for a score just before the end of the first half.

On Boyd’s touchdown grab, he wrestled the ball away from two Southmoore defenders. Putnam City took a 28-14 lead into the locker room.

Neither team scored in the second half and the Pirates earned the win.

“We got after them defensively,” Alexander said. “We made plays when we had to.”

Alexander highlighted both the coverage in the secondary for styming Southmoore.

“They all work together. The pass rush helps the coverage and the coverage helps the pass rush.”

He praised Knox, Alexander, senior Sy Phipps, juniors Johnnie Efferson and Nasir Nelson.

6A-II DISTRICT 1	DISTRICT RECORD	OVERALL RECORD
Choctaw	6-0	7-2
Stillwater	5-1	7-2
Putnam City	4-2	6-3
Piedmont	3-3	5-4
Southmoore	3-3	4-5
Lawton Eisenhower	2-4	3-6
Northwest Classen	1-5	2-7
U.S. Grant	0-6	0-9

UP NEXT

The Pirates (6-3, 4-2) finish the regular season at Piedmont (5-4, 3-3) next Friday (Nov. 8) at 7 p.m.

The Wildcats, playing in their first season in 6A-II, fell to Stillwater Friday (Nov. 1), 49-7.

Putnam City earned its first winning season since 2017 when PC went 7-4 with a first-round exit against Booker T. Washington.

Photographs courtesy of Danni Johnson.

	1	2	3	4	F
Putnam City (6-3, 4-2)	14	14	0	0	28
Southmoore	0	14	0	0	14