LeFlore County football round up for Week 1 games.
Central and Heavener playing close football games is nothing new.
Read more: LeFlore County football roundup for Week 1See all the Week 1 results for Oklahoma football games for Week 1 HERE.
Since the series renewed in 2020, the Tigers won the first game but the others were all competitive contests.
But the two teams took the series to a new level in both teams’ season opener Friday night.
Central defeated Heavener, 27-24, in one of the wilder games fans have experienced at Harvey Stadium as both teams made mistakes, but also made big plays.
In other LeFlore County games this week, Panama outlasted its neighbor Spiro, 44-30, Thursday night in a game that ended early due to a player injury; Poteau is now 2-0 under new Coach Jake Hayes following a 21-14 win at McAlester, Talihina continued to roll with a 34-6 win at Porter to improve to 2-0 also; and Arkoma dropped to 0-2 with a 36-20 loss at home to Canadian.
Central standout Braxin Goodson scored on a 10-yard play on the first play of the second overtime to give the Tigers the win in the only time all game Central had the lead.
Just seconds earlier, Heavener’s Brandon Sanchez kicked a 24-yard field goal to give the Wolves a 24-21 advantage.
The Wolves had a golden advantage to win in the first overtime. Heavener’s Julian Sanchez intercepted a pass on Central’s first play to give Heavener the ball and a chance to clinch the win. The Wolves drown to the one-yard line to set up fourth and goal from the inside the one. Heavener Coach Jeff Broyles decided to kick a field goal, which was shorter than an extra point.
Sanchez had been perfect on three extra points and would kick a field goal on Heavener’s second drive. This time, Central blocked the field goal, keeping the game tied at 21 and setting the stage for Goodson’s heroics.
Heavener started the game looking like the Wolves would cruise to an easy win. Heavener quarterback Brandon Seymour scored on a 1-yard run on the Wolves’ opening drive of the game for a 7-0 lead. Heavener added another score with 8:29 remaining in the second quarter on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Seymore to Saul Silva, who had gotten behind Central’s defense and outran the secondary for a 14-0 lead.
Central’s offense woke up and scored on a 10-yard run by sophomore Kiefer Bailey as the Tigers pulled to a 14-7 deficit at halftime.
The Tigers had to punt on their first drive of the third quarter as Kason Free hauled in a 25-yard scoring pass from Seymour to give Heavener a 21-7 advantage.
Central answered right back with a 67-yard pass from as Bailey hit Goodson on the sideline, where he outran Heavener’s defense for a 21-15 score after the Tigers completed a two-point play.
With 4:07 remaining, Central used a 6-yard run by Goodson to tie the score at 21. The Tigers’ two-point PAT failed, leaving the score tied. Heavener drove down the field and got close to scoring, but never could get the big play to allow Sanchez the chance for a winning field goal.
Central improves to 1-0 and the Tigers have a bye next week before visiting Roland on Sept. 19 in a battle of a pair of Sequoyah County teams. Heavener is 0-1 and visits Panama next week in one of the longest, if not the longest series in LeFlore County as it will be the 65th meeting between the two schools. The Razorbacks have dominated the series lately before Heavener got the win last year.
Poteau is now off to a 2-0 start after the win at Class 5A McAlester. The Pirates stay on the road next week to visit Tulsa NOAH, which should allow the Pirates to complete a 3-0 start in non-district play as NOAH is 0-2 and struggling.
Talihina continued to show it has no hangover from last year’s success as the Golden Tigers visited Porter and came away with a 34-6 win. Talihina is 2-0 and host next week off before playing Broken Bow’s junior varsity on Sept. 18. Porter is 0-1 and hosts Woodland next week.
Arkoma dropped to 0-2 in Jack Armstrong’s return as the Mustangs’ head coach. The Mustangs are 0-2 and make their first road trip next week to Graham-Dustin.
Panama, now 1-0 after defeating Spiro, can now go 2-0 against LeFlore County teams when the Razorbacks host Heavener, hoping to avenge last year’s loss.
Spiro, now 0-1, hosts 1-0 Pocola, which had a bye this week.
For several schools, this is the last game before conference play starts in two weeks.
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