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Newcastle falls to Blanchard, 48-14

went deep for the ball and caught it and ran toward the sideline.”

Rogers (who now has 57 yards receiving on the year) said the Lions were just as good as advertised in the pre-season hype. Blanchard went 11-2 and lost to Heritage Hall, 37-7, in the Class 4A state championship game a year ago.

“Blanchard is as good as advertised,” Rogers said. “They went to the state championship game last year. I think they will go this year, too. They’re just a really good football team. We’re just going to watch a lot of film and work on our defensive scheme now. We have to work harder and that’s all we can do.”

In the second half, Nance scored on a 12-yard run and Smith scored on a 3-yard run as Madron kicked each of the PATs to make the score 41-7 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, Smith scored on a 2-yard run and Madron again made the PAT for a 48-7 lead.

With 6:15 left in the game, Fox ran the ball in for the Racers from 13 yards out and Crook kicked the PAT for the final 48-14 score. Blanchard had 372 total yards to Newcastle’s 272 total yards.

“They were pretty much as advertised,” said Newcastle head coach Jeff Brickman. “They have a great coach in Jeff Craig and he’s been here for a while now. I’m trying to do what he has done here at Blanchard. I told him he’s established a great culture and he’s a great coach. I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time. Hopefully, we can get to where they are at. That is our goal.”

Brickman and his staff tried their best to keep the Lions at bay, but it wasn’t to be. The Racers knew they would have to score some points to keep pace with Blanchard.

“I thought we would have to score about 35 points to keep it close,” Brickman said. “Our defense played well enough to keep them within that range. But, offensively, we’ve got

The Newcastle Racers lost to the Blanchard Lions, 48-14, last Friday in a non-district football matchup. The Lions were touted as one of the top Class 4A teams before this season began – and they certainly proved it against Newcastle at their home field.

In the first quarter, the Racers started off strong and pounded the ball down deep into Blanchard territory but couldn’t capitalize. That’s when the Lions went to work.

Jamie Nance, a heralded recruit who is headed to the University of Nebraska next fall, caught a 61-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cole Smith. After Blanchard’s Bryce Madron kicked the ball for the point-after, the Lions were up quickly, 7-0, with 5:25 left in he first period.

A little over three minutes later at the 2:13 mark of the first quarter, Madron reeled off a 54-yard touchdown run and made the PAT for a 14-0 Blanchard lead. Madron (just a junior) had just 11 carries but had 204 yards rushing in the contest.

In the second quarter, Madron again scored from 35 yards out and made the PAT for a 21-0 lead for the Lions. Smith (who was 7-of-13 passing for 98 yards) later scored with a 3-yard run but the pass for the 2-point conversion failed. Still, Blanchard was up by a commanding 27-0 advantage.

Kyndell Rodgers finally stopped the bleeding for Newcastle, catching a 28-yard pass from quarterback Chase Fox for the score. After kicker Zach Crook booted the extra point, it was 27-7 in favor of Blanchard before halftime.

“I just came out and did the best that I could to try and help my team out,” Rogers said. “I was just trying to get the job done. We put in a new trick play yesterday and I just ran it. I to find something consistently that we can hang our hat on. If I were looking at myself as a critic, I couldn’t tell you what our identity is on offense.

“We try to run the ball but when things aren’t going well, we jump ship too early. We need to keep calling some more run plays. You can’t be one dimensional and just throw it all the time. In the second half, that’s what we tried to do was run it more and see what we could hang our hat on. In high school, it’s all about playing defense and running the football. We’ve got to be able to do that.”

Brickman had very high praise for Nance, a truly talented football player who is going to play for an up-and-coming Nebraska team next fall under former Cornhusker quarterback Scott Frost.

“He has to be really good to go to Nebraska,” Brickman said. “He is very talented. Blanchard’s quarterback is more of a running quarterback and at times it might be hard for them to get (Nance) the ball way down the field. They try to get him the ball other ways with either a jet sweep or throwing him short passes. We tried to take the long ball away from them. But, if you give them any space, he is special. He is an unbelievable athlete.

“I saw him during track season ›. I can’t say enough good things about the kid. When I watch him, he doesn’t get frustrated even though they run the ball a lot and he’s a great receiver. I watched his body language. If most kids like him don’t get 20 balls thrown to them per game, a lot of them won’t act well. But, he understands what they are offensively. When he does get the ball, though, you hold your breath and hope one of your guys can get a hand on him and hopefully slow him down.”

Nance (who rushed four times for 37 yards) is a threat whenever he touches the ball. He was very respectful of the team that Newcastle put on the field last Friday.

“We didn’t come out on rapid fire tonight but we played well,” Nance said. “We have to respect Newcastle. They’re an old rivalry and we just had to play our game. I started off sloppy tonight. Without my teammates tonight, I couldn’t have done what I did. When I scored my first touchdown on the screen pass, it got me ready.

“On my second one, I jetted across for about 10 yards or so and got into the end zone. That got me up and I just like to play my game. My game speaks for itself but I need to execute for my team and that’s what I tried to do.”

Nance was very humble in his assessment of his recruitment process with Nebraska. The senior is listed at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds. But, physically, he seems to be about 6-foot-3 and a little heavier with his muscular physique.

And, make no doubt about it. He’s got the mental capacity, too, to make it at the next level.

“My recruiting process opened up last year around track season,” Nance said. “All these schools came to talk to me but Nebraska was just the one I loved the most. They didn’t push me or anything. They were laid back and told me the truth about my chances. When I went there, that’s when I fell in love with them.

“Coach Frost is a great dude and all of their coaches are great. I caught their last game against Colorado and it didn’t come out as we had hoped. But, the team has to build up to working with a new coaching staff. Their next game is against Troy and that will really push them to see where they are. I’m looking forward to catching two or three more games this year.”

Newcastle will play at 7 p.m. on Friday at Clinton in its first district game of the year. The Red Tornadoes are coming off their first losing season (3-7) and their first time to not make the playoffs in several years.

But, they are 2-1 this year with victories over Class 5A Woodward (42-12) and Lawton MacArthur (31-12). Clinton barely lost to 2017 Class 3A state champion Heritage Hall, 20-12. They are the winningest team in Oklahoma high school football history with 585 wins.

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