Senior Brandon Nguyen (#35) and junior Bradley Fritch (#22) celebrate after the Irish recovered a fumble against Bishop Kelley Friday night. Photo by Joe Bendiez.

In just his first year as head coach, Justin Jones’ first playoff game with McGuinness will be in Oklahoma City. The Irish had a bumpy September, but finished strong with six straight wins to end with an 8-2 record and second place finish in the district standings.

New life has been given to this team since an embarrassing loss to district champion Clinton. Now they control their own fate with teams like Harrah, Sallisaw, and Douglass in their way to Boone Pickens Stadium.

Clinton sits on the other side of the bracket, but the possibility of a rematch in the state championship is not out of the question. The state tournament is wide open, and the Irish have a legitimate shot at making the big game in Stillwater.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, the Irish have an early test with Harrah in the first round. The Panthers rolled through their schedule until falling to Douglass and Glenpool in two of their last three games of the season.

Harrah is a strong team that can pound the ball, which the Irish have struggled containing at times during the season. However, anything Harrah can put on the board, the Irish can easily match it.

In their last time competing in the 4A state playoffs, Irish football should leave with a win, but do not be surprised if it is close. The Irish faithful have been spoiled with six consecutive multiple touchdown wins; this should not be the case if Harrah holds up to the hype.

Both teams boast impressive records, and ultimately it comes down to who can control the tempo and come out as the aggressor. In McGuinness’ two losses, the Irish never gained any momentum. Even in the Millwood game that was lost at the last second, the Irish had a lead for a majority of the game, but could never put it away.

It should be an interesting Friday night and after the way Jones has taken this team to a whole new level, there is no doubt he can lead the Irish to great things. Let’s see if it translates in the post-season and the Irish can keep rolling.

2-2. That was McGuinness’ record after losing back-to-back games to Millwood and Clinton. However, something changed. Maybe it was the competition, but McGuinness has not looked this dominant since the times of Ryan Randolph and Gabe Ikard were wearing the green and black.

Head coach Justin Jones and the Fighting Irish won their sixth consecutive game after another blowout victory. It may have been senior night, but it was a night where many juniors, sophomores, and even freshmen saw playing time.

Jones did not run up the score, which was a classy move on his part. However, the way the Irish were playing in the first quarter, triple digits was not out of the question.

The offense took their foot off the pedal, though, and let Will Harjo close the game. The defense did not let up, though.

The Irish defense was hungry for blood. Tiger’s blood. They were relentless, and there were a few opportunities for Guymon to finally put up points on the scoreboard, but the Irish wanted the shutout and got it.

Camden Tharp once again had a stellar night, and now has senior Austin Augustus back in the line-up. He let the entire stadium know that as well after scoring the first touchdown of the night.

McGuinness’ offense should be a tough test for any team that stands in their way in the playoffs. Danny Krenger and Jacob Lewis are a one-two punch that fight for every yard and will burn you if you give them a lane.

The Irish ended the first quarter with 42 points, and luckily for the Tigers, the game ended earlier than usual and did not have to wait as long to get back to the panhandle.

The ride back home for the Tigers is long, but not as long as the road to a gold ball. McGuinness has looked tough the past six games, but nothing is a guarantee in the playoffs. Bishop McGuinness will need to embrace that loss from Clinton and use it as motivation.

The playoffs are no place to be pushed around. To be a state champion, McGuinness will need to be the aggressor in every game. From the opening kickoff till the final gun.

No time was wasted in a blowout victory over the Elgin Owls.  McGuinness drove down field in just a little over a minute on their opening drive, and Jacob Lewis got the scoring going in a dominating performance from both sides of the ball.

Bishop McGuinness looks like the team that went in to Kelley and smacked the Comets around.  After tonight’s 56-7 win over the Owls, the Irish made it three wins in a row, and no more tough games remain on the schedule.

The new and improved Irish offense certainly seems like it is finally clicking.  It has finally sunk in, and it’s a whole new ball game for teams playing the Irish.

Last week the run game was what won the game in Elk City, but the aerial attack was what kept Elgin from even competing.  Camden Tharp threw five touchdown passes on the night, and despite the loss of Austin Augustus, Tharp is still left with plenty of options.

Cody Chancellor made two great touchdown catches, and also David Love seems to be one of Camden’s favorite targets in the redzone after catching one of Tharp’s touchdowns.  Senior Duncan Branum and sophomore Will Martinez also found the endzone to contribute to the Irish scoring fest.

The defense can go unmentioned in this game, though.  Despite a second half touchdown when it was an eight touchdown game, the Irish defense looked better than ever.  The Irish keep wreaking havoc, and the usuals are coming up big; Brandon Nguyen, Jeffrey Pozo, Charlie Evenson, Bradley Fritch, Duncan Branum.  However, senior Tyler Konarik was on crutches for most of the game, and his status is unknown on when we will see him back in a his #6 jersey.

Thankfully, the Irish got the job done, pressuring Elgin senior QB Garrett Lorah and not allowing anything huge from Elgin senior RB Kevin Brown.

However, it was not all fun and games.  The scariest part of the night came with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter.  Elgin sophomore WR Keegan Speas took a hit from a fellow Owl, and could not get up for about half an hour.  From what we learned, he could move his fingers and toes, but paramedics carried him off the field on a stretcher and was transported to a local hospital.

Please pray that the injury is nothing too serious, and keep Keegan and his family in your thoughts.

Heading in to Friday night, Elk City was hanging their heads high boasting a 5-0 record.  However, by night’s end, it was McGuinness standing tall after earning a tough victory on the road.

The Fighting Irish proved they are capable of winning a big road game.  After pounding it out for four quarters, the Big Elk found themselves on the wrong side of a 20-6 Irish victory.

The story of the first half was the two defenses.  Elk City and McGuinness kept each offense out of the endzone the first two quarters, but the Big Elk took a 6-0 lead after returning an Irish fumble 94 yards into the endzone.  However, it could have been a different story.

The Irish offense had ample opportunity to take control of this ball game early, but finally settled down and took advantage of second half Elk City mistakes that made life easy for Tharp and Co.

The run game keeps showing improvement and how well balanced the offense can be.  Sophomore RB Jacob Lewis is validating his starting role week in and week out, but it was junior RB Danny Krenger who ran in the second Irish touchdown of the night minutes following Tharp’s score on a QB sneak.

Justin Jones managed the clock well, burning time off the scoreboard to not allow any chance for Elk City to come back.  To seal the deal, the run game on the final Irish possession kept finding a way to move the chains, but the series ended on a 26 yard touchdown pass to junior WR Cody Chancellor in a fourth-and-long situation.

McGuinness improves to 4-2 on the year, and 2-1 in district play.  The Irish season continues next Friday at home against the Elgin Owls.  Kick-off is set for 7:30 PM, and following the game will be the “Into the Night” Midnight Madness scrimmage for Irish boys basketball.  Be at Pribil early and leave McCarthy late.

Slowly the season looked less bright after two straight losses, but head coach Justin Jones bounced back with a victory over his former team.

The seventh-ranked Irish slept easy with a 32-6 rout of Woodward. However, McGuinness’ homecoming game was no cake-walk, no matter what the score says.

“It was a great team performance, it was a tough battle,” Coach Jones said. “Hats off to Woodward, they came to play tonight. They were very physical, and our team held up really well to that. We got some issues corrected in the secondary from last week. We still have a long way to go.”

Woodward definitely did show up. However, their offense had little to show for on the scoreboard. The Irish defensive struggles were a thing of the past, stopping Woodward for most of the night.

The lone Boomer touchdown was not scored until the game was well in hand.

Camden Tharp’s last homecoming game was a nice on the stat sheet, finding the end zone multiple times through the air and on the ground.

Coach Bryan Pierce’s offensive line kept Tharp from rushing passes, and allowed for the run game to be effective.

If there was one play that stood out, it was junior Cody Chancellor’s touchdown caught in the back of the end zone as time expired in the second quarter. Chancellor went up to grab a Tharp pass, and brought it down to give the Irish a three touchdown lead to end the half.

The Irish season continues Friday in Elk City, and will seek to improve their record to 4-2.

Early in the first quarter, Junior RB Danny Krenger takes the hand off from Senior QB Camden Tharp (Photo by Joe Bendiez)

A problem like stopping the run game is not fixed in one week.  Clinton took advantage of an Irish defense deflated early, and ran away with this ball game.

All night long, the Red Tornadoes suffocated the McGuinness offense, and only allowed a late second quarter drive when sophomore RB Jacob Lewis punched in a three-yard touchdown.  The final from Clinton, Oklahoma was unfortunately 42-7 Red Tornadoes.

Clinton senior RB Jalee Rainge was going to be hard to defend, and the Irish found out early what Rainge could do when he turned on the afterburners.  Rainge broke a 71-yard touchdown run to give Clinton their first score of the night.  The scoring did not stop.

The pass game was just as effective.  Clinton receivers were running routes to perfection all night, and Clinton junior QB Garrison Mendoza had a field day with the Irish secondary.

Whether it was not being prepared or Clinton was that good, coach Justin Jones honestly can not afford to lose any more games this season.  McGuinness snuck into the playoffs last season, but they may not have the same luck this year if the district is as good as it is projected.

The Irish come home to the Woodward Boomers, Coach Jones’ former team, next Friday.  After a less-than-average day from the Irish offense, they will definitely need time to work things out before they head to Elk City for another big district game.

If there is a bright side to this game, the Irish were in the exact same position last year.  They started out the season 2-0, then lost their next two at the hands of Millwood and Clinton.

Right now there are a few things that need to be corrected on both sides of the ball.

Blown assignments left and right left Clinton receivers open all night long.  The Irish struggled against the rushing attack from Marc Robinson and Millwood, and it was no different when Jalee showed off his speed.

Senior QB Camden Tharp took a lot of shots trying to make plays himself scrambling, because the pass game was going nowhere.  It seemed like every pass was either under or over-thrown, dropped, or it only picked up a few yards.

McGuinness tried to keep fighting in this game, and they gave it their all to cut the deficit, but Clinton was just better.  Millwood was a team McGuinness should have beat, but there was no doubt that Clinton completely dominated McGuinness on both sides of the ball.

Only one game into district play, the Irish will need to put this one in the past and remind us of the team that beat the snot out of Bishop Kelley on the road.  It is hard to tell where Jones goes from here, but when Friday rolls around, the Irish will need to go out and get back to playing McGuinness football and protect their home turf against Woodward.