CLAREMORE, Okla. -- A quarterback switch gave Claremore, Okla., a much needed lift Friday night.
Aaron McCollough took control of the offense to start the second half and the sophomore guided the Zebras to two quick second half touchdowns as Claremore defeated Rogers High 17-14 in a nonconference game.
How They Scored
Claremore, Okla. 17
Rogers High 14
Rogers^0^7^0^7^—^14
Claremore^3^0^14^0^—^21
First Quarter
Clare — Vincent 32 field goal, 6:41
Second Quarter
Rog — Evans 2 run (Nolan Kick), 8:31
Third Quarter
Clare — Reliford 7 run (Vincent kick), 8:29
Clare — Basks 42 pass from McCollough (Vincent kick), 5:59
Fourth Quarter
Rog — Thompson 5 run (Nolan kick), 11:54
McCollough was 2-for-3 passing for 79 yards an one touchdown as the Zebras scored two touchdowns in a span of just over two minutes in the third quarter. Both completions were to senior Dustin Basks, who started the game at quarterback but moved to receiver to start the second half.
"McCollough is just young and he hasn't had a chance to prove himself, so we gave him another shot," said Claremore coach Rob Gilbreath. "It also allowed us to go to Basks. Tonight, McCollough came through and he threw two good balls."
Rogers led 7-3 at halftime but McCollough hit Dustin Basks for 37 yards on the second play of the second half to setup a seven-yard touchdown run by Derrick Reliford that gave the Zebras a 10-7 lead. McCollough then went to Basks again on the Zebras next possession with a 42-yard touchdown pass to the senior speedster that gave Claremore a 17-7 lead with 5 minutes, 59 seconds in the third quarter.
Rogers cut the margin to 17-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter when Justice Thompson capped an 80-yard drive with a five-yard scoring run. The Mounties were driving for the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth period but quarterback Cole Evans and fullback Bryan Grigsby couldn't connect on a pass play on fourth-and-8 at the Zebras 25.
"Claremore prepared well for us, and we just didn't execute," Rogers coach Shawn Flannigan said. "We had a lot of plays that were there that we just didn't execute. Not a good deal."
Rogers finished with just 206 yards rushing on 46 carries, an average of 4.4 yards a carry. Rogers also turned the ball over three times, including losing fumbles on its first two possessions of the game.
"We had a good game plan and we went with seven, eight different defenses on them," Gilbreath said. "We tried to confuse them, and our defensive staff did a great job."
Extra Points
• The Mounties first completion of the year went for 36 yards when quarterback Cole Evans hit a streaking Justice Thompson for a 36-yard gain to the Claremore eight. Evans scored two plays later on a two-yard run to give the Mounties a 7-3 lead.
• Rogers was forced to punt on its second possession of the game but punter Brett Hauser took the snap and ran eight yards for a first down after several Zebras player broke through the Mounties line. But the drive ended six plays later when the Mounties lost their second fumble of the game.
• Claremore finished with 259 yards of offense, including 175 in the second half.
• Grigsby, who rushed for 446 yards last week, finished with 29 yards on 13 carries.
Up Next: Rogers ends its nonconference schedule next week when the Mounties travel to Jefferson City, Mo. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Sports on 09/13/2014