YUKON – Bethany moved the football against 4A power and rival Tuttle Friday (Dec. 6). The Bronchos stopped the Tigers in the red zone early in the Class 4A semifinal at Miller Stadium.

But, the Bronchos couldn’t finish drives with scores and the Tigers’ explosive offensive finally broke through for a 24-0 win to advance to the title game.

“I really felt we moved it really well between the twenties,” Bethany coach Jon Arthur said. “We got to be able to punch it in down there.”

Each team drove inside the 20-yard line in the first quarter but couldn’t cash in.

The Tigers (13-0) rode the running of junior Shawn Rounsaville, Jr. but the six-minute opening drive fizzled after at the Bethany 13-yard line.

The Bronchos (10-3) answered with a drive of their own, with junior Judson Gilliland on the ground senior Wyatt Geissler and junior Evenson Malaska catching passes.

At the Tuttle 10-yard, Gilliland ran the ball three times and got the to the 1-yard line. Facing a fourth down, Gilliland tried to throw it and was intercepted by senior Ty Hudson, ending the threat.

With Rounsaville carrying most of the load, Tuttle got to the Bethany 29-yard line before another pass from junior Cruz Campbell fell incomplete on fourth down.

Bethany drove to near midfield when Jackie Payne was intercepted by Tuttle junior Jett McCoy with 6:57 left in the second quarter.

This time, the Tigers found the end zone.

Senior CJ Simon caught a 29-yard touchdown pass with 4:09 left before halftime.

The Bronchos stalled on the ensuing possession leading to good field position for Tuttle. The Tigers extended the lead on a 22-yard field goal by junior Garrett Ogg to make it 10-0 with :18 before half.

After the intermission, Bethany went on a nine minute drive with Gilliland shouldering most of the load.

The Bronchos got to the Tuttle 26-yard line, but started going backwards. A holding call and and sack of Payne moved Bethany back to the 40-yard line.

They’d get back to the 29-yard line but failed to convert on fourth down..

With 2:48 left in the third quarter, Tuttle took two plays to score when Campbell connected with sophomore Jordan Lane on a 76-yard score to make it 17-0.

Bethany had to punt on the next possession and a short punt. That led to Campbell finding the other Lane twin, Jalen, for a 19-yard score to make it 24-0 with 11:49 left in the fourth quarter.

Trailing by four scores, Bethany had to go to the air. The Bronchos successfully got to the Tuttle 11-yard line but a penalty wiped out a touchdown pass from Gilliland to senior Braxton Mullins. The drive died four plays later.

“I felt the game plan against them is you got to get first downs and keep them off the field and slow the game down,” Arthur said. “We were able to do that a lot of times again, just got a punch in the red zone.”

The Bronchos reached the semifinals for the first time since 2018 (when Bethany fell to Tuttle in the title game).

“I think we definitely had a group of kids this year that really committed to getting to this point,” Arthur said. “Teams are different every year and sometimes you’ve got to have that little extra to get to that point throughout the offseason, throughout the summer. This team had that and I think our young guys have really bought into that.”

Class 4A OSSAA Football Championship
FIRST ROUND/FRIDAY, November 15, 2024
Tuttle 34, Elk City 6
Hilldale 21 Miami 9
Ada 53, Cushing 50
Bethany 28, Weatherford 6
Elgin 43, Ardmore 0
Sallisaw 27, Grove 26 (OT)
Wagoner 49, Poteau 21
Clinton 21, Blanchard 20

QUARTERFINALS/FRIDAY, November 22, 2024
Tuttle 49, Hilldale 7
Bethany 30, Ada 6
Elgin 49, Sallisaw 0
Wagoner 29, Clinton 0

SEMIFINALS/FRIDAY, December 6, 2024
Tuttle 24, Bethany 0 (Yukon High School)
Elgin 33, Wagoner 10 (East Central University)

CHAMPIONSHIP/SATURDAY, December 14, 2024
Tuttle vs. Elgin (University of Central Oklahoma)

	1	2	3	4	F
Bethany (10-3)	0	0	0	0	0
Tuttle (13-0)	0	10	7	7	24

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.