By Anvil Welch
awelch@joplinglobe.com
Willie Ng, as a quarterback for Picher High School, remembers traveling to Talihina and coming away with a 33-6 victory against the Golden Tigers in the semifinals of the 1984 Oklahoma Class A playoffs.
Chris Cawyer’s unbeaten Gorillas nipped Fox 23-21 the following week in the championship game.
Commerce, with Ng as coach, will be at Talihina tonight for a second-round contest in Class A. The Commerce team, Ng said, planned to hop on a bus at 10:30 a.m. today for the trip of some 220 miles.
Sixth-ranked Talihina and Commerce enter the 7:30 game with respective records of 11-0 and 9-2.
Ng said he wouldn’t mind Commerce coming away with a one-point win against a team that’s logged nine shutouts and allowed 27 points. Gore and Sallisaw Central, which visits Salina tonight in Class A, are the teams that solved the Golden Tigers for points during the regular season.
Talihina, coached by Kelly Gravitt, spanked Wynnewood 41-0 last week in the opening round. Commerce, meanwhile, defeated visiting Woodland 32-31 in two overtimes.
“Talihina is a power team,” Ng said on Thursday. “They line up and run right at you. They may have just four different formations. But they’re fundamentally sound.
“They’re better on offense than on defense,” Ng said. “Still, they’re very good on defense.
“It will take a supreme effort from our defense,” Ng said. “We need to slow them down. Our best defense may be our offense. We need to keep the ball out of their hands.”
Ng said that 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior quarterback Jordan Eagle Road “does most of the damage” in the Talihina running game.
Eagle Road has rushed for 1,395 yards and 32 touchdowns. He’s throw for eight touchdowns.
Gravitt said that Eagle Road, as a sophomore, sparked the Golden Tigers to second in basketball behind Pawnee.
Tailback Kane Owens, a junior, has rushed for 1,006 yards and senior Dakota Boren has added 815. The fullback is 230-pound James Cody Brigance.
Middle linebacker Brigance and strongside linebacker Tanner Trowbridge, despite a broken hand, are 1-2 in tackles for Talihina with 144 and 126, respectively.
Gravitt, a 1997 graduate of Talihina, is in is his fourth season as its head coach. He attended Carl Albert before securing his degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State of Durant.
Said Gravitt of Commerce: “Bryson Sullivan, who runs behind a big, talented line, is an outstanding player. Like us, they’ll try to establish the running game. We know about the Commerce tradition. We’ll have our hands full.”
Sullivan, who has 130 points, has rushed for 1,344 yards and 17 touchdowns on 143 carries. Austin McMain has added 535 yards and six scores on 55 carries.
Joey Bowling has completed 61 of 120 passes for 993 yards and 12 TDs. Sullivan has 18 receptions for 322 yards and five TDs and Mikey Morgan has added 17-276-2.
Leading tacklers for Commerce are linebacker Morgan (156), end Carlos Yabarra (109), linebacker McMain (102) and strong safety Sullivan (99).
The winnee of Commerce vs. Talihina, state champion in 1966, faces Hennessey or Carnegie in a quarterfinal.
