By MIKE BROWN Sports Writer on Nov 26, 2012, at 4:34 PM Updated on 11/26 at 4:34 PM
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
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Gary Rose, who has guided Carl Albert to eight state titles in his 17 seasons at the helm, said the current team is one of his most gratifying because of how far it has come.
The eighth-ranked Titans were 1-5 before winning its last seven in a row, including playoff upsets of No. 5 Claremore (41-16) in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Bishop McGuinnes (56-33) in the semifinals.
“If you’d said to us in Week 2, `You guys are gonna upset (No. 9) Del City and beat the pants off of Claremore and McGuinness and be playing for the state championship, we’d have said you were crazy,” Rose said.
“There’s no way we thought we could get there. We never thought this was a bad team. We lost to five good teams. But so much had to get better,” Rose said.
The Titans DID get better.
"We blocked the sled, blocked the boards, blocked each other and just worked at it every single day," Rose said.
The payoff? The Titans are playing East Central in Saturday's Class 5A chamiponship game in Boone Pickens Stadium.
The Cards advanced with a 26-14 win over No. 7 McAlester in the other semifinal game. East Central is 9-4 officially and unbeaten on the field. Four wins were forfeited for using an ineliglble player.
“They're 13-0, as far as I'm concerned. I haven't seen anyone beat them," Rose said of the Cards. "They’re the best team we’ve faced this year – very talented and tough, and that’ll be our challenge."
What must the Titans do to contain the Cards?
"Naturally, you have to do the best you can to take away those three receivers (Stanvon Taylor, Deontre Youngblood and Demontre Burkhalter), but the quarterback (Tre’Von) C/herry is scray and they’ve got a good running back (William Goree). They’re a five-weapon team. They have more weapons than any team we’ve seen.”
The Titans don’t have as many weapons, but they get a lot of mileage out of the ones they have. QB Steven Thompson has rushed for 33 touchdowns while accounting for 3,125 yards of total offense. Ironically, he’s done his best work since taking on double duty as a cornerback in the defensive secondary.
“Normally, you don’t want your quarterback playing a lot on defense but we had to have him,” Rose said.
The secondary underwent major changes after a 21-7 loss to Deer Creek in Week 4, with 6-foot-1, 194-pound sophomore “who can really run” being elevated into the starting lineup.
Carl Albert’s pass defense improved immeasurably. Opponents averaged 224.2 passing yards over the first six games, but just 111.1 over the next seven. In the quarterfinal win over Claremore, the Titans intercepted four passes, including two they returned for scores.
-- Mike Brown
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