Hominy holds off Tonkawa, 27-21, to remain undefeated

Bucks use a time-consuming drive to hold on against Buccaneers

By Ty Loftis

HOMINY - Hominy hosted Tonkawa for a game on Friday night in which district supremacy was on the line. 

After a hard-fought 48 minutes, it was the Hominy Bucks walking away with a 27-21 win.

With 8:21 remaining in the fourth quarter, it was the Buccaneers' Blake Bristow who scored on a fourth-and-goal from 5 yards out to trim the Hominy lead to six.

On the ensuing kickoff, Hominy dropped the ball and it rolled out of bounds at the 1-yard line. Despite the poor field position, the Bucks were able to convert three third downs and drain the remainder of the time off the clock to get the victory.

“That’s what Hominy football is about,” Hominy coach Caleb Christian said. “We knew they didn’t have any time outs left, so we just kept it on the ground and were going to make them stop us.”

Hominy quarterback Jaxon Woods was a major part of that drive, accounting for 48 yards on the ground, but he was also a major part of the game, accounting for all for all four Buck touchdowns. Christian talked about Woods' performance.

“Jaxon is a great player,” Christian said. “He showed that once again (Friday). He is smart with the ball and makes great decisions when the pressure is greatest.”

Hominy started with the ball, and after moving inside the red zone, Tonkawa recovered a fumble and took advantage by getting the game's first points on a 1-yard touchdown run by Bristow.

The extra point made it 7-0 near the end of the first quarter.

It wouldn’t take long for the Bucks to answer, however, as they marched 64 yards on a drive that was capped off by a 20-yard touchdown pass to TK Sutton to tie the game at 7-all.

Three plays later, Tonkawa answered with a big play of its own, as Bristow took it 55 yards for a touchdown to take a 14-7 lead.

Heading into halftime, it would be Woods once again, as he accounted for 60 yards on a drive that was capped off by his run from a yard out. A two-point conversion by Woods gave the Bucks a 15-14 lead.

“We knew that Tonkawa was going to give us everything we wanted, but we felt ready,” Woods said. “The coaching staff did a great job preparing us and we did a great job executing.”

One of the biggest swings in the game came at the start of the second half, when Tonkawa was stopped short on a fourth-and-1. The Bucks got the ball near midfield and took advantage by extending their lead to 21-14.

On the drive, Woods gained 14 yards on a fourth-and-1 before scampering in on a first-and-goal from the 1.

“That was a big shift in the game right there,” Christian said. “We were able to not only stop their offense, who had been pretty powerful in the first half, but take advantage off of the turnover by getting six ourselves.”

After forcing a Tonkawa punt, Hominy took over at its own 35 and Woods took it 65 yards to extend the Bucks' lead to 27-14 with three minutes to go in the third quarter.

Bristow would score with just over eight minutes to go in the game for Tonkawa, but Hominy was able to sit on the ball for the remainder of the game.

With wins against Woodland and Chouteau-Mazie, the Bucks - who sit at 8-0 overall - will be district champions. That is not something Woods is letting himself think about, though.

“We have to go one game at a time right now,” Woods said. “We can’t get caught up thinking about something that hasn’t happened yet.”

Tonkawa, who suffered its first loss of the year, closes the regular season with Chelsea and Woodland.