MOORE — Turnovers are the great leveler. Westmoore found this out Thursday during its 26-16 loss to Putnam City at Moore Stadium.
Despite being talked about as a possible state champion caliber squad, the Jaguars did the unthinkable against the Pirates (4-2 overall, 2-1 District 6A-2). They turned the ball over eight times.
“It’s really tough,” Westmoore coach Billy Langford said. “It’s been a long couple of days. Hopefully we will learn from our lack of focus. Hopefully we will grow from this and turn it into a positive at some point. But it is tough to stomach that and to know you turned the ball over eight times and still only lose by 10 points.”
That includes five interceptions by quarterback Jhames West, who had a total of two in his previous five games. West was coming off his best performance of the year when he accounted for five touchdowns the week before.
“We just weren’t focused,” West said. “We had our worst week of practice all week. We let one get away. They are no where near the talent we have. It was pretty tough to know as a quarterback you led your team to a loss. That’s never good.”
The Jaguars have no time to sulk about the loss. It now must hit the road and travel to Tulsa to face No. 2 Jenks.
“We have to put this loss behind,” West said. “For me having five turnovers, that’s going to be hard to do. Honestly, I don’t even know if I’ve done it yet. But I have to do it.”
Playing the Trojans under any circumstances is always a difficult task. But coming off a loss makes the job tougher.
“They are a really good football team,” Langford said. “They don’t have many weak spots. You are usually able to pick out one or two guys who are usually a little bit weaker than the others. But they go from being good to really good.”
Jenks is coming off a 24-7 win over No. 3 Broken Arrow. After a couple of early season losses, it’s riding a four game win streak and sits atop of the 6A-2 standings. They are led by quarterback Kyle Alexander and tailback Barr’e TreyVonne.
“Those are the guys we are planning on stopping defensively,” Langford said. “Offensively we’re just going to have to grind it out and take care of the football.”
Westmoore is in a second place tie with BA, Sapulpa and the Pirates. With only four teams advancing to the postseason, it can’t afford to drop too many more games.
But a win over Jenks would do more than just strengthen its case for the postseason. It will remind the Jaguars they are not as bad as they played last week.
“It’s huge,” West said. “Would show that last week was a fluke and that we can play with the best of the best.”
Michael Kinney Follow me @eyeamtruth mkinney@mooreamerican.com
