Jeff Harrison
EDMOND — The Edmond Memorial football team already knows where they’ll be when the playoffs get underway next week, but Justin Merideth doesn’t want it to play like it. Last week the No. 9-ranked Bulldogs (6-3, 5-1) locked up second place in District 6A-2 and the right to host a first-round playoff game when they topped rival North 10-0. Tonight they’ll wrap up the regular season with road trip to Putnam City.
“We want our players to focus on winning this week and getting ready for the playoffs,” the first-year head coach said.
Putnam City (3-6, 2-4) enters tonight’s game with slim playoff hopes. The Pirates, who have district wins over Lawton Eisenhower and PC West, need to a pair of upsets to get in. They not only need to beat the Bulldogs, but also will have to get the same from Lawton Eisenhower in their matchup against Norman.
“They do have a chance to get in and because of that we know they’re going to come out firing,” Merideth said. “And they’ll do everything they can, use every trick in the book and we have to match their intensity.”
The Bulldogs will play Mustang or Lawton in the playoffs. Lawton defeated Norman North on Thursday night. Putnam City North defeated Del City , as they eliminated the Eagles from the race and took fourth in the district.
“We’re pretty confident the winner of the Del City/PC North game is the team we’ll be playing, and both of those teams are pretty good so we’ll be looking forward to it,” Merideth said.
Memorial is coming off a brilliant defensive effort last week against the Huskies. The ‘Dogs limited North to just 67 yards of total offense to go along with an interception return by Nelson Medeiros. This week they’ll have to change gears for the Pirates’ spread attack.
“They’re going to throw the ball all over the place and they have a good running back so they’ll run some tradition run plays,” Merideth said. “It’s a more traditional offense, there’s not a lot of option plays.”
The Pirate offense is led by quarterback Caleb Lee. This season he’s passed for 1,351 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also throwing 10 interceptions. The junior has plenty of targets downfield and isn’t afraid to spread the ball around.
David Anwanwan leads the team with 24 receptions for 275 yards and three touchdowns. But Casey Curtis and N.J. Ap’e have combined for 48 catches for 463 yards and four touchdowns.
Anwanwan is also the Pirates most effective ball carrier, having picked up 275 yards and three touchdowns on just 24 carries.
Merideth said he’d like to see better execution from his offense as they prepare for the postseason.
“Watching the film from our last game, it always seemed like we were one block away, one pass away, one player away from really clicking and that’s execution,” Merideth said. “We’re real close to being really explosive.”
The Pirates are allowing 30.3 points per game and have only held opponents to under 20 points twice this season. Their leading tackler is Devon Bruner with 103 stops, while Alex Shannon has 88 tackles and one sack. Deondre Gray leads the team with four sacks.
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Putnam City Stadium.
