What happened?
Lawton High School's defense had been one of the toughest in the state to score against, allowing less than 10 points a game, so how did Edmond Santa Fe hang 68 on the Wolverines last Friday in a key District 6A-4 contest.

That question was not only being asked around town, it was being asked inside the LHS fieldhouse as players and coaches did a good deal of soul searching as they try to regroup in time for a 7 p.m. game Thursday against Putnam City West, the current cellar dwellar at 0-4 in district.

"We obviously didn't play very well defensively," LHS coach Randy Breeze said. "We didn't line up correctly and outside of our three down people who actually played pretty well, the rest of the defense just didn't make plays. We had 38 missed tackles and that's just not acceptable.

"We knew going in that we were struggling with all these injuries and when you start seven sophomores at this level, it's tough because it's the biggest game they've ever played in. Then we lose a couple more starters and we're down to nine starters out of the lineup and you are not only losing good players, you're losing your veteran leaders."

There was one other factor at work in the game.

"The other thing you have to remember is that Santa Fe is an excellent football team," Breeze said. "They are leading the district (tied with Norman at 4-0) and they've lost just one game. And they have as good a skill people as there are in the state. But when you miss tackles and let them break long runs, or turn a short pass into a big play, then it just kills you. It would have made a great deal of difference if we had our two Division I cornerbacks in there, we just don't have much experience there, plus we don't have as much speed as we did with Tevin (Foster) and Maurice (Chandler)."

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