WARR ACRES — Putnam City took a big step toward joining the elite in 6A-II with a 28-27 win over defending champ and second-ranked Choctaw Friday (Oct. 3) at Pirate Stadium.

The fourth-ranked Pirates (4-1, 2-0) snapped a five-game losing streak to the Yellowjackets (2-3, 1-1).

“We overcame adversity,” Putnam City coach Willis Alexander said. We found a way to be successful, I mean, that’s a building block.”

Original never trailed and racked up 268 yards of offense. But, Putnam City needed a fortunate bounce and a bad snap to beat Choctaw.

Late in the third quarter, the Yellowjackets tied PC, 21-21, by capping off a drive helped by two costly penalties.

On the ensuing kickoff, senior Savion James sprinted to the middle of the field to the Pirate 35-yard line. Choctaw sophomore Kentrell Gaddis II cut James legs and spun him around. During the spin, the ball was jarred loose.

It bounced once on the turf and into the arms of PC senior DeJon Ackerson, who caught it in stride. Ackerson got past the kicker and sprinted away from Choctaw junior Jacob Schommer for a 59-yard touchdown.

“(I was) focused on getting that ball and taking it to the crib,” Ackerson said.

The Pirates held on to the lead. Choctaw took a short field in the fourth quarter and threatened to tie the game.

Senior Landon Gaston and the Jackets moved the ball inside the PC 10-yard line. A holding call and two incomplete passes stalled the drive and Choctaw turned the ball over downs at the 10-yard line.

Putnam City marched down the field with senior quarterback CJ Turnbull and senior running back Rdogerick Sloan, Jr. leading the way.

It was a drive that could have put the game away, eating over six minutes of game clock. But, Sloan fumbled in the backfield (recovered by Turnbull) On the next play, the drive stalled and Original punted.

“We left some plays on the field. We shouldn’t have gave them the ball back.”

Choctaw got the ball at 24-yard line with 1:06 remaining. The Yellowjackets moved down the field, thanks to two questionable pass interference penalties as well as an offsides penalty.

Just outside the goal line, Choctaw had a chance to tie.

The Pirate defense, intent of stopping senior Mayor Morgan (who finished with 115 yards on the ground)

With three sconds left, PC didn’t account for junior Israel Hammond.

Hammond took a jet sweep and strolled into the end zone as time expired. The game would be tied, pending the extra point.

Alexander called a late timeout just before the first extra point attempting to ice freshman kicker Dillon Gambill.

On Gambill’s second extra-point attempt, the snap was high and off target for the holder. The ball squirted to the turf and the Pirates jumped on it to earn the win.

Turnbull rushed 16 times for 97 yards and Sloan added 80 yards

“I thought the offensive line did a good job of controlling the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage,” Alexander said. “That’s one thing we really wanted to work on this whole off season and everything. We got to be able to run the ball.”

Turnbull passed for 137 yards on 6-of-14 attempts.

UP NEXT

The Pirates travel to Cameron Stadium in Lawton to play Lawton Eisenhower (0-5, 0-2) next Thursday (Oct. 9) at 7 p.m.

Southmoore routed the Eagles, 48-0, Friday.

Photographs courtesy of Danielle Johnson.

	1	2	3	4	F
Choctaw (2-3, 1-1)	7	7	7	6	27
Putnam City (4-1, 2-0)	7	7	14	0	28