OWASSO THUMPS JENKS 48-10 IN BILL BLANKENSHIP'S DEBUT AS RAMS COACH

JENKS — The Bill Blankenship era at Owasso couldn’t have started better or more stunningly than it did Friday night. Not only did the sixth-ranked Rams, who only had three victories last year, defeat second-ranked Jenks in Blankenship’s first game as their coach, but they handed the Trojans their most lopsided loss since 2005 — 48-10 in a Class 6AI nondistrict matchup before a crowd of about 9,000 fans at Allan Trimble Stadium. “We just talked about in the pregame, about not backing down,” Blankenship said, who added about the winning margin, “Perfect storm kind of stuff. I’m sure, if we’re lucky enough, we will get to see them in the playoffs. But that’s kind of a mirage for your first game.” Will Kuehne, a highly touted junior move-in from Texas, had a stellar debut as Owasso’s quarterback. Kuehne completed 16 of 28 passes for 278 yards and five touchdowns — three of them going to Tyrese Sisson. Another TD pass went to running back Bryce Cabrera, who also rushed for a touchdown. “It’s great, it’s what we imagined we’d do,” Kuehne said. “Our defense played great, offensive line blocked well, Bryce protected and ran well, my receivers caught and executed. Tyrese is great for us. He’s awesome, he’s a great player to have. “I had some first-game jitters, but I was prepared and ready to go, and our team was ready.” A defining moment came late in the second quarter as Jenks threatened to score and go into halftime down only 10. But on second down from the Owasso 2, Ohio State commit Josh Proctor intercepted Ian Corwin at the goal line and raced 100 yards for a touchdown to increase the Rams’ lead to 34-10. Owasso’s defense helped set the tone for the night on the game’s first series with a 3-and-out. After Sam Thompson’s 32-yard punt return, Owasso scored three plays later on Kuehne’s 25-yard pass to Sisson. Jenks answered with an eight-play, 79-yard drive and took a 7-6 lead on Jacob Shelley’s 7-yard touchdown run. Owasso, however, moved back ahead, 13-7, with 13 seconds left in the quarter on Cabrera’s 9-yard TD run. “One of our focus points coming in was to jump on them quick and we kept going from there,” Kuehne said. Jenks cut its deficit to 13-10 on Max Merritt’s 33-yard field goal with 6:36 remaining in the first half before the Rams’ reeled off 28 consecutive points in nine minutes — an onslaught reminiscent of what Union did so many times when Blankenship was its coach or how Jenks has often finished off opponents under Trimble during his career that has includes 13 state titles. Thirty seconds later, Cabrera caught a 19-yard TD pass from Kuehne, set up by Dylan Chinn’s 45-yard reception. With 3:36 left, Sisson caught Kuehne’s third TD pass, a 24-yarder, for a 27-10 lead. And then Proctor came up with the play that broke the game open. Owasso didn’t let up as it started the second half with Kuehne’s 11-yard TD pass to Devin Tyler that made it 41-10 and Jenks was on the way to only its second home loss in this decade. Kuehne moved to Owasso for a chance to play under Blankenship, who won three state titles at Union in the previous decade and one at Fayetteville, Arkansas, last year sandwiched around four years as the University of Tulsa’s head coach. “He’s awesome, I love him,” Kuehne said. “His philosophy and leadership, he’s a great coach to have.”

OWASSO THUMPS JENKS 48-10 IN BILL BLANKENSHIP'S DEBUT AS RAMS COACH

Photo Credit: Tulsa World

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