Bishop McGuinness coach Kenny Young tinkered with his defense a bit in the weeks leading up to Friday night’s football game against Douglass.

McGuinness quarterback Camden Tharp takes off on a long keeper to score the first TD of the game Friday. Photo by Steve Sisney, The
He figured the Irish would need the adjustments to slow down the Trojans’ strong running game.

But for the most part, McGuinness stuck to what had worked all season and came out with a 14-7 win at home.
“We knew they couldn’t really pass,” McGuinness linebacker Jameel Whitney said. “We wanted to slow down their run.”

And Whitney, playing on the strong side, and middle linebacker Jay Lester played big parts in the Irish accomplishing that.

Douglass finished with 188 yards on the ground but had just two rushing plays of more than 15 yards, and those came on the second and third plays of the game.

“The first six weeks was about getting ready for this game,” Young said. “Guthrie’s offensive line was huge, so was Bishop Kelley’s and Weatherford’s and Woodward’s. It wasn’t a shock to our system seeing those guys who were so much bigger than us on the other side.”

Young had moved the speedy Kyle Ahmad to free safety last week, anticipating the need for speed to help if Douglass’ running backs broke loose. He also brought in a 5-2 defense to help defend the run. But on the couple of occasions when McGuinness went to the new look, Douglass quarterback Antyoun Smith completed deep passes, so the Irish went back to their normal looks.

The win keeps McGuinness (5-2 overall, 3-1 District 4A-1) alive for a district title. Now they need some help from Douglass next week when the Trojans host Weatherford.
Douglass (5-2, 3-1) needs to bounce back quick with another critical game looming.

“It’s a tough loss, but this was two really good football teams,” Douglass coach Willis Alexander said. “Their defense is pretty good.”

They certainly were. And it was Whitney leading the way, getting in on 21 total tackles.

Whitney even got the deciding points, coming on a 4-yard touchdown late in the first half after the Irish defense forced one of five Douglass turnovers.
The game wasn’t as wild as last year’s between the two, when Douglass was stopped at the 1 as time ran out for a 29-25 McGuinness win.

But it was just as tight.

McGuinness scored first on Camden Tharp’s 35-yard touchdown run that also came shortly after the Trojans had turned the ball over. Douglass later tied the game in the second quarter.

Both teams had chances to score in the second half, but the Irish went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Douglass 15 early in the third and couldn’t convert. On the next drive, Douglass drove to the 20 before Shon Bridges’ pass was picked off in the end zone by LaRone Richardson. Richardson brought it out and looked as if he might score before fumbling it back to Douglass at the Trojans’ 37, but Douglass never threatened after that.

This article is courtesy of Ryan Aber, NewsOK.com