By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Piedmont head coach Jeff Hall has seen a variety of Week 10 playoff scenarios in his year’s of coaching high school football.
The one in front of the Wildcats as they prepare to host Woodward Friday night at 7 inside F&M Bank Stadium is, by far, the most preferable.
If PHS beats Woodward, the ‘Cats will be in the playoffs. It’s that simple.
“I’ve been in positions where you needed this team to do that and that team to do this,” Hall said. “Where we’re at is so much better.”
Piedmont took control of its own destiny with a dominant second half last week at Lawton Ike. The Wildcats outscored the Eagles 21-6 to overcome a 6-0 halftime deficit to win 21-12.
“Without a doubt that’s the best half of football we’ve played this season,” Hall said. “Both sides of the ball kind of put everything together.”
Cole Riggs, Josh Mars, Cannon Wood and Tyson Benford all made big plays on offense. Defensively, Piedmont swarmed to the ball and slowed down Eisenhower running back TreVaughn Walton.
The Wildcats also limited penalties and did not turn the ball over.
The win combined with the chance to clinch a playoff berth has made this week of practice one of the best of the season.
“We want our kids to want to be here and not to feel like they have to be here,” Hall said. “It’s a whole lot easier to require things out of kids when they’re having success and wanting to do things.”
Woodward (3-6, 1-4) enters the game in the spoiler role after a 51-13 loss to Carl Albert last week.
“They are well-coached. Their losses have been because they didn’t always have the athletes to matchup at times,” Hall said of the Boomers. “They like to spread you out and try to stay balanced on offense and they have a good defensive scheme.”
If Piedmont gets by the Boomers, the Wildcats will likely make their second trip to Lawton in three weeks, this time to face Lawton MacArthur. The Highlanders are 9-0 entering their regular season finale with Ardmore Friday.
