Pirates dominate Oakman, clinch second seed in Class 3A Region 5

By Derek Trimm
Winfield correspondent
WINFIELD — The Winfield Pirates dominated the Oakman Wildcats 43-0 to clinch the number two seed in Class 3A, Region 5 on Friday, Oct. 22, and secure a home game in the first round of the state playoffs. 
The Pirates used their potent rushing attack to help roll up the yards and points. In the game, senior running back Drew Cook eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark on the season. Cook has 1,063 yards on only 97 attempts, an average of 11 yards per carry.
Winfield raced out to a 22-0 lead at the half and added three more scores in the second half including a defensive touchdown to cruise to the 43-0 victory.
“We didn’t have a great week of practice, and it showed,” said Winfield head coach David McKinney in an interview following the game. “Our guys responded, we got a little bit better and were more intense. With senior night you have 10,000 distractions, and it took us a little bit to get going. I am tickled to death for the win, and we got a short week next week, and we have to try to close our regular season on a good note.”
Oakman received the opening kickoff and was unable to get their offense rolling punting to Winfield, but the Pirates turned the ball right back over to Oakman, as the Wildcats defense was able to cover a fumble and took over at the Winfield 47 yard line.
Winfield’s defense forced Oakman into a three-and-out and punted back to the Pirates, and they setup at their own 3 yard line.
Keelan Hughes got Winfield’s offense rolling, rushing three times for 14 yards, and then quarterback Aidan Quinn ran for 12 more yards up to the Winfield 29 yard line.
On first-and-10 at the 29, Cook rushed through the middle of the Oakman defense for a 71 yard touchdown run.
Jacob Barnes' extra point attempt was no good, but Winfield took the lead at 6-0 with 5:49 left in the first quarter.
Winfield’s defense forced another Oakman punt, but the punt backed the Pirates up to their own 1 yard line.
The Pirates needed 11 plays to cover the 99 yards as Hughes capped the drive with a 3 yard touchdown run.
Quinn passed to Miles Gann for the 2 point conversion to make the score 14-0 with 9:16 remaining in the second quarter.
After holding the Wildcats and forcing another punt, Winfield took over at the midfield stripe and went back to the running game as Quinn picked up 25 yards on first down, and then Quinn and Hughes traded carries down to the Wildcats’ 8 yard line.
Hughes finished off the drive with a 9 yard touchdown run and with Cook’s 2 point conversion run, pushed the Winfield lead to 22-0 with 5:13 left in the second quarter.
In the second half, Winfield got things started at its own 45 yard line after a kickoff out-of-bounds.

The Pirates used a mix of runs and passes to cover 55 yards as Quinn passed to Sean Wyers for a 25 yard touchdown pass to finish the drive.
Barnes added the extra point to push the lead to 29-0 with 9:47 left in the third quarter.
Moving ahead to the fourth quarter, the Winfield defense got on the scoreboard as Gann picked up a fumble and rambled 32 yards for a scoop-and-score touchdown.
Barnes’ extra point was good and Winfield’s lead grew to 36-0 with 10:14 left in the game.
After forcing another three-and-out and a punt, Winfield took over at its own 23 yard line and needed only two plays to reach the end zone again.
Braxton Tilley ran for 11 yards to the 34, and Cook then broke through the middle of the defensive line and then cut back to the right and went 66 yards for a touchdown.
Barnes’ tacked on the extra point to make the score 43-0 with 7:21 to play in the game.
Oakman’s offense used up the remaining time on the clock but was unable to score and closed out the game with Winfield on top.
Winfield finished the game with 418 total yards, 297 rushing and 121 passing.
Cook led the rushing attack with 11 carries for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Hughes ran 10 times for 67 yards and two scores. Quinn rushed six times for 54 yards and Tilley ran twice for 13 yards.
Quinn completed 10-of-18 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown.
Wyers led the receivers with three catches for 37 yards and a touchdown. Cook caught one pass for 30 yards. Preston Nelson caught two passes for 26 yards. Thackary Box caught two for 19 yards. Hughes had two grabs for 9 yards.
Winfield (8-1, 5-1 in Class 3A, Region 5) will close out the regular season on Thursday, Oct. 27 against the Lamar County Bulldogs  (5-4, 3-3 in Class 2A, Region 5).