Blanchard stops Wagoner from another dramatic final-play win for Class 4A championship
EDMOND, OKLAHOMA – Wagoner’s been here before.
Anyone who witnessed last year’s Class 4A championship game can attest to it.
In a game mostly played on Thursday night, the Bulldogs again took it down to the final play of the contest. Instead of a game-winning field goal as they registered to beat Cushing last year for the title, they needed a touchdown against Blanchard.
And after driving from their own 25 with 46 seconds left, there the Bulldogs were, just 12 yards away with four ticks showing on the clock.
But Wagoner quarterback Kale Charboneau’s pass under pressure sailed out of reach of everyone and through the back of the end zone, and the Lions claimed gold with a 19-14 victory at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Chad Richison Stadium just as the clock moved into Friday morning following a kickoff that was lightning-delayed two hours and 15 minutes to 9:15 p.m.
Blanchard hangs on to defeat Wagoner for Oklahoma Class 4A state football championship
Two passes from Charboneau to Witt Edwards wrapped around one to Aven Goodlin accounted for the yardage on the desperation drive. Wagoner (13-1) had forced a Blanchard three-and-out after Lions' defensive lineman Jake Carter picked off a pass batted by fellow lineman Lade Saunders for what was Wagoner’s sixth turnover of the game.
But in the end, it was a place Blanchard (13-1) had been before.
In ending Wagoner’s bid for a repeat, the Lions also ended a 23-game win streak with the 4A title win. Back in 2017, the Bulldogs’ then-state record 48-game win streak was dismantled by Blanchard as well as a quest for a fourth consecutive state title.
This was Blanchard’s first gold ball since 2012.
“It took a whole lot, man, from all the way back through the summer and putting a little bit in each week,” said Blanchard junior Coric Pierce, who had two of Charboneau’s four interceptions and also an 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Carson Cooksey that gave the Lions a 13-0 lead in the first half.
Blanchard kept Wagoner’s offense off the board until 11:53 was left in a 19-7 game, and it was a drive similar to the last one the Bulldogs mustered. With 17 seconds left in the third quarter, Charboneau hit Aven Goodlin for 6 yards; then Witt Edwards for 29 and the final 20.
The three-play drive took just 24 seconds.
“If you keep going to games like this, you’re going to have the thrills like we did last year and the devastation of this year. It’s all just part of it,” said Wagoner coach Dale Condict, his squad having missed out on a chance for a seventh gold ball in 13 seasons.
“If we’d played with the urgency we had in the fourth quarter the whole game, I think we’d have come out on top but you can’t make the kind of mistakes we did, from the turnovers, to several dropped balls that would have been big plays to giving up first downs on a couple of fake punts we’d prepared for all week as they keep their offense out there for it. But give them credit for a job well done. That’s what it takes.”
Blanchard coaches and players celebrate following the Lions' 19-14 win against Wagoner in the Class 4A championship game that ended on Dec. 1, 2023.
Wagoner wound up outgaining Blanchard 370-290, but the difference was 222-118 in favor of the Lions at the half. Three of Charboneau’s picks came there.
Wagoner’s only score through three quarters was a 77-yard kickoff return by Shaun Atkins to make it 13-7.
‘Without turnovers, they’re almost impossible to stop, so turnovers made the difference,” said Blanchard head coach Jeff Craig. “It came down to that last play and all I told them was don’t let them catch it for a touchdown.”
The Lions only had one turnover – an Edwards interception, but on that drive, free safety Brayson Carter jarred the ball away from Charboneau and recovered it near midfield.
They dodged a second turnover when just after the Edwards touchdown reception on Blanchard’s ensuing first-down play at the 27, Goodlin came up with a loose ball and took it to the end zone, but the play had been ruled down.
“From our vantage point, it looked like a scoop-and-score and that would have been a huge momentum swing, but we gave them momentum too many times,” Condict said.
It was an opportunistic Lions' defense that lost two starters through the year with injury as well as some special teams work that took advantage of those, and in the end, snapped another Wagoner streak.
“I don’t know what it is but we seem to have their number right now,” Craig said. ‘I know they’re a great ball club we take a lot of pride in playing. We want to be that type of program and I think we’re making our mark.”
Photos by Michael Kinney
-- Mike Kays | @SBLiveOK
