Leaving so soon?

For a team that just knocked out the state’s No. 3 Class 3A team, the Blanchard celebration after the game wasn’t exactly pandemonium.

The No. 11-ranked Lions knew what they could do. All they needed was a spark from a sophomore.

More importantly, that sophomore needed a spark.

John McCracken ran for 163 yards on 25 carries, helping the Lions upset the District 3A-2 champion Wildcats 14-11 Friday night in a 3A first-rounder. Blanchard (8-3), the fourth seed from 3A-1, will play Berryhill next weekend.

“I knew I was capable,” McCracken said of having a big game. He gained only 635 yards in the regular season — a 63.5-yard per game average.

Madill ended the season 10-1, a week after completing its first undefeated regular season in 19 years. Madill last won a playoff game in 1998 and had last hosted a playoff in 1997.

Wildcats coach Kerry Roberts was nowhere to be found at Alumni Field shortly after the game, the agony of a lone defeat obviously hitting him hard. But he said Saturday that Blanchard deserved to win and Madill didn’t.

“Mentally we made so many mistakes … little mistakes,” Roberts said. “Offensively we were never in sync.”

Blanchard was a big reason for that, Roberts said.

The Lions did what only two other teams accomplished this year and held senior running back Darryl Fields to less than 100 yards rushing. Fields had 58 yards on 19 carries, needing only 14 more yards for 1,500 on the season.

“We played our hearts out,” Fields said. “I know my teammates did, too.”

But he didn’t go out without big plays. After Blanchard took a 14-3 lead, Fields returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown.

“I put it in my mind, if they kick it to me, I would return it somehow,” Fields said.

The 14-3 deficit was Madill’s biggest of the season, and the Wildcats had never trailed during the fourth quarter all season. They turned the ball over on downs with 5:13 left when quarterback Spencer Bond threw an incomplete pass intended for Kevin Roberts on fourth-and-4 from the Blanchard 24. McCracken ran for four first downs on the next drive as Blanchard ran out the clock.

Kerry Roberts said he considered going for a field goal instead to tie while the wind blew against the Wildcats’ backs. Derek Martinez kicked 1-of-2, missing a 37-yard attempt into the wind early in the second quarter but making it later that period from 25 yards out to pull Madill within 7-3.

McCracken fumbled in the end zone at the end of a 17-yard run with 2 seconds left in the first quarter, but a teammate recovered it for the touchdown.

In the third period, Blanchard took advantage of a 65-yard march sparked by a 15-yard pass interference call by the Wildcats. McCracken ran five times for 35 yards during the drive, capped off by a 1-yard sneak by Blake Stringer with 4:42 left in the third.

Fields followed with his touchdown kickoff return, and Bond completed a pass to Gage Goff for the extra two points.

Fields, recruited by Oklahoma as a linebacker according to Kerry Roberts, came up with two big defensive plays in the period. He sacked Stringer for a 7-yard loss on fourth down, but shortly after linebacker Kenny Dennison picked off a batted Bond pass, Fields recovered a fumbled lateral toss when McCracken failed to turn around for the catch.

“We had tons of opportunities, but we didn’t take advantage of them,” said Bond, who was 8-for-17 for 76 yards with two interceptions.

It’s the only game this season Madill didn’t score a touchdown on offense, that due in part to Blanchard’s commitment to stop the running game.

Kevin Roberts had six receptions for 42 yards in his last Madill game.

Stringer was 7-of-11 for 73 yards.

I.C. Murrell
221-6527