TUTTLE — Coming off a big 4A-2 victory last week against Blanchard, shorthanded Bethany ran into a Tuttle team that showed why it’s atop Class 4A as the Tigers routed the Bronchos 69-0 Friday (Oct. 10) at Richison Family Stadium.

Bethany’s offense sputtered most of the night with junior tailback Wyatt Keefer and senior Baren Tehee out due to injury.

Meanwhile, the Tigers scored early and often with big plays in space and in the secondary.

Bethany coach Jon Arthur said Tuttle’s speed was a big problem for the Bronchos.

“(Tuttle is) obviously exceptionally talented and they’ve got guys all over the field that are quite faster than any guy we’ve got on our roster. We did a did an okay job stopping the run early. They just got some guys that can run by you.”

The Bronchos punted after their first possession but the first two passes from Tiger senior quarterback Cruz Campbell fell incomplete. His next two passes accounted for 69 yards, capped off by a 47-yard strike to junior Jalen Lane.

After another Bethany punt and a Tuttle return to the Broncho 22-yard line, the Tigers scored again with a 32-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Donnie Schluter.

In all,Tuttle scored four times in the first quarter. Bethany finally made it to midfield at the beginning of the second quarter.

For the game, Campbell had four touchdown passes (two to Jalen Lane and two to Schluter). Senior Shawn Rounsaville, Jr. added two rushing scores before the backups entered the game in the second half.

By contrast, the Bronchos entered Tuttle territory twice.

In the second quarter, the Tigers punted from inside the 10-yard line and Bethany started a drive from the Tuttle 44. The first two rushes went nowhere and junior Brody McLaren was sacked on third down. The Bronchos turned the ball over on downs.

Tuttle marched down the field to the Bethany 11 but the Bethany defense held. Tiger junior Tiger Olivares missed a 29-yard field goal.

The other time the Bronchos crossed midfield was in the fourth quarter when junior Deacon Howell took a short kickoff and returned it 41 yards to the Tuttle 40-yard line. Again, the Bethany offense went backwards and turned the ball over on downs for the the Bronchos’ final offensive possession.

Bethany’s defense had another stop in the third quarter, McLaren was picked off while trying to throw the ball away to avoid a sack deep in Broncho territory. A personal foul after the interception backed up Tuttle after the returm. From there, the Tigers went backwards.

Senior Seth Greiner blocked the 42-yard field goal from Olivares to end the scoring threat.

Arthur said film sessions will definitely be a teaching tool.

“Defensively, we didn’t tackle well at times. So we’re going to go look at some open field taking angles and all those kind of things, just because that’s something you can’t, we can’t replicate that speed in practice.”

Arthur praised sophomore defensive lineman Breck Brady.

“He did a nice job . . . stopping the run game and did a good job, closing on some down blocks, spilling their stuff, spilling their power and counter game.”

UP NEXT

The Bronchos have a short week, travelling to Harrah (4-2, 2-1) next Thursday (Oct. 16) for a fall break matchup with the Panthers.

Harrah slipped past Chickasha, 28-25, Friday.

With four games remaining and Tuttle the clear favorite to win 4A-2, Arthur pointed to the importance of this stretch on the schedule. Bethany is tied with for second place with two of the next four opponents.

“These four (games) are all four (games) that hopefully do what we need to do. We’ve still got a really good place to be.”

Photographs courtesy of Kristie Escoe of Life in Action Photography.

	1	2	3	4	F
Bethany (3-3, 2-1)	0	0	0	0	0
Tuttle (6-0, 3-0)	27	7	14	21	69