Friday October 25, 2024 a legend was crowned as the Putnam City Pirate football team faced off against Stillwater High School for revenge in the second round of playoffs. The Pirates were ready to battle Stillwater for the second consecutive year hoping for a Cinderella story.
The win against Stillwater would give the Pirates the #2 seed in the playoffs with a first round bye. More importantly, Putnam City was inducting Steve Largent into the Putnam City Hall Of Fame.
“We’ve been trying to keep our competitiveness to a higher standard because after we go down we tend to lose our cool and tempers tend to flare up between our team. We have been working on it and it has been benefiting us because it keeps the fight and everyone keeps their composure. We’re starting to win football games,” sophomore Braxton Chase said.
The Pirates had so much to gain from a big win against Stillwater, and they would be ranked 2nd in their district. In the beginning the PC defense was holding their ground against the tough Stillwater offense. As they scored the first touchdown of the game Putnam City was a couple of minutes away from winning this game.
The offense did a good job wasting the clock and keeping the defense off the field as much as possible. Putnam City did their best to keep the Pioneers out of the end zone. Around the second quarter the Pirates held Stillwater to only 7 points and were doing their job by showing their hard work throughout the week
”As an offensive linemen our expectations are very high and especially our standards and our quarterback is someone who appreciates our protection for him. We are executing our game plan,” sophomore Chris’shawn Rhodes said.
At halftime, the Putnam City football team congratulated and inducted Steve Largent into the Putnam City Hall Of Fame. Steve Largent is one of the most accomplished Pirates in school history. Mr. Largent wished the team luck and told them to finish the job.
The Pirates were locked in and they were ready to get back out there after halftime. Unfortunately, as the time was going down it was not looking too good for the Pirates.
”The Defense is one of the main parts of our team and we like to get things started and get our offense fired up and stay after it. If defense aren’t fired up then the game isn’t good,” senior Nate brown said.
At 4th and final quarter, the Putnam City Pirates were down 28-7. As the final seconds ticked down the Pirates would go on to lose 28-7 against the Pioneers. It was a tough but hard fought loss for the Pirates but they regrouped to win against Southmoore High School 28-14 the very next week. The Pirates will face Piedmont High School next, and will host a playoff game in the first round of playoffs.
”We are going to keep getting stronger and keep working on our condition to keep on playing against these tough teams and will not settle for less,” senior Jaiden Summers said.
Putnam City is a playoff contending team and looks to make it deep into the playoffs as long as the Pirates keep on executing the game plan the coaches have set forth. A winning season is what the Pirates have not seen in a couple of years but this is the year the Pirates will have a shot at making it to the state championship and playing at UCO.