By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
LAWTON – Piedmont was on the verge of sending a seismic shock wave across the Class 5A playoff landscape Friday evening.
The Wildcats were minutes away from a monumental upset of top-seeded Lawton MacArthur until it slipped away.
In the end, the Highlanders escaped with a 14-10 victory thanks to a remarkable one-handed catch by Vaughn Poppe and a 4-yard touchdown run from Devin Bush that stood up as the game-winner and spoiled a spirited effort from the Wildcats.
Poppe came up with his juggling, one-handed grab on a 4th-and-9 to keep Mac’s game-winning drive, and its season, alive. A play later, Bush carried four yards to give the Highlanders their only lead of the game, 14-10, with 4:16 to go.
On the ensuing drive, Piedmont drove the ball to the MacArthur 10-yard line with just more than a minute remaining in the game, but Josh Mars‘ fourth down pass intended for Cole Riggs fell incomplete near the goal line and Mac ran out the clock.
Mars, a sophomore, turned in the best game of his young career. He carried 26 times for 114 yards and a touchdown. Cannon Wood, also a sophomore, totaled 75 yards on 18 rushes.
Riggs lost a fumble on Piedmont’s opening possession of the game, but atoned for his mistake with a diving interception in the end zone.
Piedmont’s defense limited Mac’s star running back Isaiah Gray to two yards on five carries in the first half. Gray, MacArthur’s single-season rushing leader, left the game with an apparent injury late in the first half and did not return.
The Wildcats led 10-0 at half thanks to Mars’ touchdown run and Talon Cope’s 30-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.
The Highlanders’ rally started on the opening kickoff of the second when Montez Edwards ran Cope’s pooch kick back to the Piedmont 7-yard line. Bush scored on a 3-yard run three plays later to cut the ‘Cats’ lead to 10-7 with 11:03 in the third quarter.
The teams traded red zone interceptions later in the third quarter as Piedmont clung to its 3-point lead deep into the final quarter.
Piedmont finishes the season with a 5-6 record and was agonizingly close to pulling its second massive upset in three seasons under head coach Jeff Hall. PHS stunned No. 1 Carl Albert in Hall’s first season.
It’s not the time of the year for moral victories, but the Wildcats’ effort was their best of the season and the future appears particularly bright in Piedmont.
PHS relied heavily on its sophomore class this year and will return several key contributors next season.
