Bixby 28
Shawnee 21
Nov. 20, 2009

There was absolutely no reason to believe Shawnee’s season was going to come to an abrupt end in a Friday night quarterfinal battle at Jim Thorpe Stadium.

The Wolves had been the most prolific offensive squad in Class 5A while becoming the first Shawnee squad to accomplish an undefeated regular season since the 1973 state champions.

During a 10-0 regular season in 2009, Shawnee outscored three non-district teams and seven district squads by a combined margin of 451-190. The Wolves then pulverized Altus in the opening round of the playoffs.

Most observers already had Shawnee penciled in as one of the four 5A semifinalists, despite Bixby having a quality program and coming into the quarterfinal clash with a 7-4 record.

Nothing transpired at the outset to make those observers change their minds as the Wolves led 21-7 at the intermission. Then, unbelievably, a Wolfpack offense that had been virtually unstoppable for 46 quarters was blanked 21-0 in the second half.

Twice in the second half, the Wolves came up empty after driving to the Bixby 1-yard line. The first threat came after SHS had moved from its 35 to the Bixby 1. But on third down, Jordan Acock lost a yard, and on fourth down, a pass from Brayle Brown fell incomplete.

Bixby proceeded to drive 98 yards in seven plays, capped by a 37-yard scoring pass from running back DeWitt Jennings to Donovan Wilson for a 28-21 Bixby lead with 3:54 remaining.

Shawnee responded by moving 70 yards to the Bixby 2, where Brown got 1 yard on first down. With less than 20 seconds to go, Brown looked for a receiver in the end zone but Robbie Turner jarred the ball loose and a Bixby teammate recovered.

“We just didn’t make plays in the second half like we did in the first half,” Shawnee head coach Billy Brown said after the game.

Greg Mayberry

Shawnee's Tanner Heatley carries the ball against Bixby in the second round of the 2009 Class 5A playoffs at Jim Thorpe Stadium. At right is Keldin Choat. The Wolves, after going 10-0 in the regular season, suffered a 28-21 loss to Bixby to end their season at 11-1.

Shawnee opened up a 14-0 lead after one quarter on touchdown receptions of 15 yards by Beau Davis and 17 yards by Leon Davis.

After Jennings scored on a 27-yard run to bring the visitors within 14-7, Saulyer Saxon grabbed a 31-yard TD pass from Brown, culminating an 80-yard drive, for the 14-point halftime advantage. Shawnee’s Kevin Dukes recovered a Bixby fumble at the Wolfpack 25 late in the second quarter.

Bixby’s defense really took over at the outset of the second half, holding the Wolves without a first down on their opening four possessions. Meanwhile, the visitors got an 11-yard scoring reception by Austin White — on Bixby’s opening second-half possession — to make it 21-14. Then, on its third possession of the second half, Bixby concluded a 45-yard drive with an 8-yard Jennings scoring dash to tie the game.

For the first time in the 2009 season, Shawnee was out-offensed. Bixby finished with 375 yards, 202 coming in the second half.

Shawnee had just 150 of its 351 total yards in the second half.

Brown concluded his junior year by hitting 15 of 28 passes for 215 yards. Saxon caught six passes for 115 yards and teammate Gabrion Frazier caught four passes for 30 yards.

Acock was Shawnee’s leading rusher with 88 yards on 24 carries.

Saxon, who is a member of the Oklahoma State baseball team, still has vivid and somewhat painful memories of the game.

“We thought we had the upper hand at halftime. We had a two-touchdown lead and they weren’t moving the ball at all,” Saxon said. “In the second half, I kind of felt their comeback. You felt the momentum shifting toward Bixby. When I start thinking about missing football, that game just pops up. I remember getting the ball to the 1-yard line and we couldn’t push it into the end zone as time ran out.

“It was the worse feeling ever.”

Shawnee ended the season at 11-1.