After a bye week, Putnam City opens 6A-II District 1 play Thursday (Sept. 25) at 7 p.m. with Northwest Classen at Douglass High School.

The Pirates opened the season with a 48-35 loss to 6A-I Yukon. Since then, the Pirates have put up eye-popping numbers with 75-0 rout of Putnam City West and another rout, 56-14, over Putnam City North.

Despite outscoring opponents, 179-51, over the first three games, Putnam City coach Willis Alexander knows the road gets tougher in district play.

“We have to play better,” Alexander said after the win over North. “My goal is have one more point than the team were playing. That’s how we play. So we’ve got a long way to go.”

After the Knights, the matchup with defending state champions, Choctaw, looms large. 6A-II power comes later in tough district.

“If we want to be a championship-level program, we have to be consistent with what we do,” Alexander said.

Senior CJ Turnbull has been electric, completing 29-of-47 for 561 yards over the first three games. Turnbull has 11 touchdowns and only one interception. He’s also the Pirates’ leading rusher, carrying the ball 33 times for 312 yards and six touchdowns with an average of 9.5 yards per rush.

Junior Kahmi Herrera has added 126 yards on 17 carries with a score.

Senior Savion James has been Turnbull’s biggest target. James has six catches for 190 yards and four touchdowns.

Senior Rodgerick Sloan, Jr. has spent a lot of time split out as a receiver rather than in the backfield. Sloan has seven catches for 177 yards and three scores. Sloan also has 20 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Alexander said Sloan’s emergence was due to hard work.

“He had that injury bug in sophomore year, but he really committed to the weight room in the last couple off seasons,” Alexander said. He’s slowly, slowly, slowly, blossoming to the player that we think he is.”

Alexander said Sloan has a similar skill set to Deebo Samuel in the NFL.

“We can do a lot with that. Yeah, he’s a weapon.”

Senior Mitchell Taylor has also emerged, with seven catches, 74 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Shawn Jones III has snagged five passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior tight end Travis Stone has caught three passes for 47 yards. Stone has also contributed as a blocker as well.

On defense, junior Evan Metoyer has 27 tackles, including three for a loss. Senior Deshawn Buford is just behind Metoyer with 26 tackles. Buford has two sacks and five tackles for loss.

Original has eight other players with double-figure tackle numbers over the first three games.

Junior Jarius Polly has two interceptions.

UP NEXT: NORTHWEST CLASSEN

The Knights enter district play at 1-2 with a 20-0 win over Western Heights last Friday (Sept. 19).

Northwest Classen had 162 yards against Southeast Sept. 5. Stats from the other two games are not available.

Junior Anthony Jones has completed 4-of-18 passes for 48 yards with two interceptions against the 5A Spartans. Jones’ leading receiver was senior Jordan Jackson, who caught three passes for 35 yards.

Sophomore Trell Parks carried the ball 20 times for 111 yards. He averaged 5.6 yards a carry.

Photographs courtesy of Richard T. Clifton.