Gold shoes, camo pants and a ruckus crowd is the tradition of senior students and athletes alike, as the Bombers hosted the Edmond Sante Fe Wolves in the opening round of the playoffs.
These two teams played in the opening game of the season earlier this year with the Bombers squeaking out a win 3-0.
The game started with an opening kickoff sailing out of bounds giving the Bombers the ball at their own 35-yard line. The Bombers offense took advantage of the field position when quarterback Brendan Brown threw a strike to a wide open Connor Kinsey for 31 yards and a Bomber touchdown. The extra point was good and the Bombers led 7-0.
The teams struggled moving down the field until the Wolves offense began to get some offense going with the first quarter winding down. The Wolves scored a touchdown via the run game with 2:11 left in the first quarter. The extra point was blocked and the scored remained 7-6 in favor of Midwest City.
As the first quarter ended, it felt like we were in for another low scoring defensive fight. The game turned out to be nothing as we anticipated.
The man of the night for the Bombers was once again KeSean Brown. He caught a 10-yard pass from Brown to put Midwest City back on the scoreboard. Another missed extra point kept the game 13-6.
The second quarter continued the trend of low scoring football as both teams traded punts until Midwest City got the ball back with time running out in the half.
KeSean Brown had two big runs on the drive. He broke one for 26 yards putting the offense in first and goal, and follow up with an encore 5 -yard touchdown run. The offense converted 2-point conversion when Brown rolled out of the pocket and completed the pass to Cedric Fair. The Bombers had a 21-6 lead and all the momentum heading into the second half.
However, the momentum wouldn’t last long. The second half began with Sante Fe charging down the field gaining several first downs. Keaton Torre filling in for OU commit Justice Hansen was determined to find his big target Malik Earl all night. Finally, he did hooking up with Earl for a 51-yard touchdown pass. The extra point was good cutting the lead to 21-13.
On the ensuing kickoff, KeSean Brown returned the kick 79 yards to the house for the fourth Bomber touchdown of the night
On the next Wolves possession, Torre and Earle hooked up again in what might be one of the best catches the fans at Jim Darnell Stadium have ever seen. Malik tipped a jump ball in the end zone and fought it away from a Bomber defender with one hand to hold on for the touchdown.
The extra point was blocked again, but the lead shrunk down to nine with the Bombers leading 28-19.
Then, the Midwest City defense flexed its muscles when it mattered most. A forced fumble by Tyquae Russell and recovery by Dejai Johnson set the Bombers up in the red zone looking to score again.
Brown bulldozed his way in for the 1-yard score. The extra point was good putting the Bombers up 35-19.
The defense wasn’t through. Bryan Hartfield intercepted a pass on the next possession and returned it for a 30-yard score pushing the lead to 42-19.
As the game neared the end, KeSean Brown wasn’t quite down yet rushing for a 6-yard score. Osvaldo Estupinan successfully nailed the extra point to make it 49-19.
The Wolves added another touchdown with Malik Earl catching his third touchdown pass of the night to trim the lead to the final score of 49-25.
The Bombers will travel to Jenks next week to face the highly touted Jenks Trojans. This game could be one for the ages. The Bombers are striving for their first gold ball since 1995.
