Nick Livingston
LAWTON — The season ends but the future is bright.
That's what Deer Creek head coach Grant Gower relayed after the Antlers fell on Friday night, 48-30, to the Lawton MacArthur Highlanders in Cameron Stadium.
Deer Creek fell to 4-6, 3-4 in district play and saw their season end, while the Highlanders finished the regular season with a 7-3 record and 5-2 in District 5A-1 with a likely trip to Carl Albert awaiting next Friday.
"I was very proud of our guys for the way they never quit, they never gave up," Gower said. "We had some turnovers in the first half, and MacArthur is so talented. They had a few creases on us with their team speed."
The Antlers got on the board first when Dakota Buck intercepted the first pass MacArthur quarterback Dylan Warner threw and returned the ball 31 yards to the Highlanders' 11. However, the offense wasn't able to capitalize and Deer Creek had to settle for a 23-yard field from Cole Mount.
It would be the last time Deer Creek would lead.
From there, Mac rattled off 34-straight points and Deer Creek was unable to battle back in the first half.
The only other score of the first half for Deer Creek was a crazy play in which Joel Blumenthal passed the ball to Hunter Dinkines waiting on the wing, who bombed a 51-yard pass to a streaking Tyler Price who was left open to give Deer Creek another six points after the two-point conversion failed.
The second half was a different story, as the Antlers were able to get 21 points to draw the score closer, but by then the damage was done.
"At halftime we challenged our guys and told them, 'What is the memory they are going to have?' They responded in a great way," Gower said. "I told them to make sure they take a great memory and I think that's what they did for coming out and playing hard."
With much of the team wounded, Blumenthal and Dinkines shared the quarterbacking duties the entire game. Combined, the pair was 14 of 26 for 154 yards and the touchdown.
In the second half alone, Deer Creek was able to get 136 of their 250 total offensive yards, and got three touchdowns. Ode Ananaba scored on a 35-yard run, Dinkines scored from 1-yard out and Brennan Miyake scored from 2-yards out with only :18 second left in the game.
"I was so proud of the way my guys came out and fought through the injuries and everything else to even be in this position," Gower said.
Overall, though the season is over for Deer Creek, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and Gower can see that as bright as day.
"I'm very excited about our future. We had 20 seniors and we had 20 seniors last year," Gower said. "That's pretty much the legacy that we have. I'm very excited about our future. Our freshman were 9-0 and several of them played tonight and did a really nice job."
