The Checotah Wildcats (3-1) rallied in the second half to top the Pirates of Locust Grove for a 68-42 victory.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties in the first half but we overcame those and played Checotah football in the second half. I’m very proud of this team and our fans,” Checotah head coach Zac Ross said.

Locust Grove scored first on the first possession of the game on a 57-yard run to go up 7-0. Penalties forced Checotah to have to punt on their next possession. The Wildcat defense played hard with the efforts of Jayden Casey, Kaden Rice and Shooter Eagleberger, who led the team with eight solo- tackles.

The Wildcats then drove down- field and scored when Elijah Thomas took the football down the sideline into the end zone. Locust Grove drove downfield and appeared to think that they were going to score but Casey intercepted the football at the Checotah threeyard line.

Three plays later, Wildcat quarterback Cole Roland threw a pass to Preston Cannon who turned on the jets and took the football for a 55-yard reception. Cole then passed the football to Rice for a 12yard reception inside the Pirates’ 10-yard line. The next play Roland hands the football off to Jayden Ellen who scores on a right sweep. However, the play didn’t stand because of a holding penalty. The next play Ellen takes to the left side and easily scores.

Checotah running back Jayden finished with 275 yards on 19 carries for five touchdowns.

The next two Checotah possessions were plagued with penalties.

The Pirates took a 2212 lead with a quarterback keeper. But Roland found Thomas again for a touchdown and threw another pass to Thomas on a successful two-point conversion to make the score 22-20.

The Wildcat defense then forced Locust Grove to punt on a four-and-out giving the football back to Checotah with 1:25 on the clock. Roland led his team downfield and threw a touchdown pass perfectly over Thomas’ shoulder as he went into the endzone to take a 26-22 lead into the halftime break.

The second was all Checotah as they finished with 650 total offensive yards with 425 rushing and 225 passing. Freshman quarterback Cole Roland completed 11/20 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran eight times for 30 yards and a touchdown.

Thomas ran the football four times for 100 yards and two touchdowns. He also had five receptions for 123 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Checotah received great play from Jayden Lake, Elijah Mohammad, Jordan Ellen, Jax Harding among others.