It wasn’t that long ago when teams looked at their schedule and saw the Luther Lions as an easy win. Sure, they always had an incredible athlete — Ben and Josh Birmingham, both currently at Central Oklahoma starred there over the years — but rarely a collection of talent.
But as teams enter the 10th week of the season, Luther (5-4, 4-3) has already secured a spot in the playoffs. And if No. 9-ranked Oklahoma Christian School (7-2, 5-2) wants to hold on to third place in the district, it must defeat the Lions on Friday night.
“It’s good to see them back,” OCS head coach Derek Turner said. “Back when I was in school they had some great teams, but here recently I can’t remember them making the playoffs.”
And Luther head coach Scott O’Hara has made that happen, even after a late start. The former head coach, Tony Roberts, who had just been elevated to head coach, left in July after his wife Jodie had been offered the principal position at Empire High School. It was an opportunity he could not pass up.
Luther then elevated O’Hara to head coach after he had been hired as the offensive coordinator earlier in the summer. O’Hara, who was a head coach in Texas, where he led his 3A squad to a 14-1 season last year, had deep roots in Oklahoma. He’s originally from Tuttle, where he played with Jason White. He went on to play football at Northeastern State.
“We saw them in 7-on-7 and they had a lot of kids out, more than they ever had out. And the coach had to leave, but what their new coach has done has been tremendous,” Turner said. “They are very young, a little raw, but they are a lot like us a couple of years ago. No standout athlete, but a good collection of talent.”
After a slow start Luther seems to be finding their way. And it all starts with their defense.
“They have a really good defense. They held Watonga to 14 points last week. They are really big up front and like to blitz a lot,” Turner said.
Offensively, the Lions operate out of the shotgun, but runs a lot more than it passes.
When Luther does go to the air it likes to do so quickly by way of out routes and screen passes. They like to get the ball in space.
The Saints are coming off a 55-14 rout of Crescent, a team Luther lost to earlier in the season.
OCS seems to have the perfect group for attacking the blitz with a great group of wideouts. Jon Sikes has been Jack Warren’s favorite target this season, as he has amassed 610 yards receiving on the year.
“That’s the thing with us. Last year it was Skylar Sikes, but they started keying on him, so now it’s Jon. If they key on him then we go to Zach Frankfurt ... It’s basically pick your poison,” Turner said.
If that’s not hard enough to stop, the Saints at times have as many as three quarterbacks on the field at the same time, meaning there is always a chance of trickery. Sikes is a capable passer, and dueled with Warren for the starting position two years ago. And he has thrown a halfback pass that went for a 40-yard gain against Watonga. Rustin Pursor is capable of the same thing.
Jeff Smith continues to rack up the yards on the ground, needing a little over 200 yards to surpass the 1,000 yard mark for the second straight season. Meanwhile, Warren has been steady as ever, throwing 14 touchdown passes to just three interceptions.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Luther.
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