Giant bit: Pawhuska High Huskies pummel Hominy Bucks in Class A football playoff opener

First, Pawhuska High School's football team wanted to quickly remove all hope from the Hominy High Bucks.

Then, the Huskies wanted to nail down the win and remain injury free going into the next round of the Class A playoffs.

Mission and mission accomplished.

The Huskies surged to a 36-0 lead on Friday and continued on to a 43-12 victory in the postseason opening round game at Pawhuska.

Pawhuska (9-2) accomplished two things — first, and most importantly, make a huge stride toward its goal of winning the state title; and, second, avenging an regular season upset at the hands of Hominy, 33-31, back in September.

Going into Friday's rematch, Pawhuska head coach Matt Hennesy and his staff made a notable strategy alteration from the first meeting.

"We changed our defense," Hennesy explained. "We went to cover three instead of man to man. ... They scored one touchdown late. We pretty much dominated the whole game."

When the Huskies dominate, there are generally three names directly associated with the effort — senior receivers/defensive backs Mason Gilkey and Dalton Hurd and defensive lineman Lesharo Wildcat. And, that's not to forget junior quarterback Todd Drummond, who delivered the strikes to Gilkey and Hurd that broke it open. Drummond also ran for a score.

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Gilkey hauled in one scoring toss and Hurd recorded two receiving touchdowns.

But, both of them also returned kickoffs for touchdowns — Gilkey's swallowing up 72 yards and Hurd's galloping 77 yards.

That added up to five total touchdowns between the two super-charged seniors.

But, it was defense that set the tone early.

After the Huskies went three-and-punt on their first possession, Homing got the ball and "our defense did a nice job holding them."

Drummond then got the offense in a rhythm and the rest would soon be history.

But, there was a lot of intensity on the way.

Hominy was flagged for multiple personal fouls but the Huskies didn't get drawn into the distraction, Hennesy said.

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"I was proud of our kids controlling their emotions," he said.

Pawhuska also survived a scare when Drummond was banged up in the third quarter with his helmet off, Hennesy said.

As a precaution, Hennesy pulled Drummond for the rest of the contest and installed Deacon Hendren at quarterback.

Drummond seemed to be completely fine on Saturday morning, Hennesy said.

Pawhuska now moves into the Class A Sweet 16.

The Huskies will be home this coming Friday to host Colcord, which edged Okemah in a thrilling scorefest, 53-52, in another opening-round game.

Meanwhile, defending Class A state champion Cashion — which ousted the Huskies in last year's playoffs in the state semifinals — also advanced by beating Dibble, 48-14.

Pawhuska's record since Hennesy became head coach in 2018 is now 38-10 overall and 5-2 in the playoffs, not counting a couple of forfeit postseason wins last season.

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Class A Eastside playoffs

Pawhuska 43, Hominy 12; Morrison 42, Oklahoma Union 16; Pawnee 50, Commerce 13; Woodland 52, Quapaw 18; Mounds 62, Porter 21; Colcord 53, Okemah 52; Stroud 18, Warner 0; Gore 61, Wewoka 0

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: High school football: Pawhuska Huskies open with Class A playoff win