Bixby breaks state's consecutive wins record in route to Class 6A-II state championship

EDMOND — Braylin Presley grabbed the state championship trophy and carried it through the hundreds of fans that had stormed the field as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

The Oklahoma State commit was met with the roar of the crowd as he made his way to the student section with his teammates trailing him down the split pathway.

The state’s best player had helped lead Bixby into the conversation as one of the best high school football teams in state history and he and the Spartans wanted everyone to know about it.

Top-ranked Bixby whipped No. 4 Deer Creek 63-14 on Thursday night at Chad Richison Stadium to win its fourth consecutive Class 6A-II state championship. The win also cemented Bixby’s 49th consecutive win, breaking the state’s 11-man record previously held by Wagoner at 48.

“We’ve had a pretty good run the last couple years,” Bixby coach Lauren Montgomery said, “and I'm just super proud of everybody that’s hung in there. If you knew how rough it was in 2010 and 11 a lot of guys, a lot of these coaches hung on and kept plowing and kept pushing. I think it’s good for those guys to see the fruits of their labor.”

Oklahoma Class 6A-II football: How Bixby and Deer Creek matched up in the state championship game

Bixby's Braylin Presley (1) and Cody Paschall (81) celebrate after beating Deer Creek for the Class 6A-II state championship Thursday night at Chad Richison Stadium in Edmond.
Bixby's Braylin Presley (1) and Cody Paschall (81) celebrate after beating Deer Creek for the Class 6A-II state championship Thursday night at Chad Richison Stadium in Edmond.

Scoring 50 points for the 10th game this season, Bixby became the highest Class 6A single-season scoring team in state history. Bixby scored 787 points this season, averaging 60.5 points per game to surpass Jenks, which had 766 points in 2010 for an average of 50.4 points in 14 games.

Bixby scored 60 points seven times this season and won 11 of its games by at least 42 points en route to another undefeated season. The Spartans scored 42 points in the state title game before Deer Creek was able to get its first touchdown of the game. That was Bryson Rouse's 25-yard interception return. Rouse added a 6-yard TD run.

“All credit right there goes to Coach Montgomery,” Presley said when hearing about the record-breaking numbers. “He came here in 2011 and in 2014, he started the dynasty. Ever since then he’s been building and building and building and he’s going to continue to build even with the senior class leaving, but he’s one of the reasons behind all this. He’s one of the reasons we can do what we do.”

The two teams came to the state championship game with two completely different track records. Bixby had been a winner of six of the last seven state championships to go along with its 48-game win streak. Deer Creek had one state championship win in 2000. This year was the Antlers' first winning season since it joined Class 6A-II in 2016.

On Bixby’s first offensive play from scrimmage, Presley threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Preston Solomon. The pass was career touchdown No. 100 for Presley. The senior then ran for the next two touchdowns from three yards and then 11-yards out.

His fourth and final score of the game came with 38 seconds left on the clock in the first half. Presley ran for a 94-yard touchdown, giving him enough career rushing yards to surpass Nic Roller, who held the Bixby rushing record with 4,985.

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“I was tired to say the least,” Presley said of the long run. “When I got back on the sideline they told me I broke the rush record, which I knew I was close to, but I didn’t really acknowledge it. I got back to the sideline, I was just filled with emotion right before halftime.”

Presley finished with 16 carries for 171 yards. He had five catches for 20 yards. He fell nine yards short of 5,000 rushing yards after sitting for a majority of the second half all season, including the state championship game.

Solomon had three touchdown catches, one each from Presley, Christian Burke and Connor Kirby. Jersey Robb added a 5-yard touchdown run, and Zach Blankenship added a 16-yarder to complete Bixby’s scoring.

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Bixby's defense had four interceptions and held Deer Creek to 31 passing yards. Jakeb Snyder returned one of the interceptions for a 39-yard score. Bixby also held Deer Creek to just 39 rushing yards on 22 attempts.

After dominating Class 6A-II for nearly a decade, Bixby will move up to Class 6A-I next season.

‘When we came to Bixby in 2010,” Montgomery said, “these guys were first-graders and so to come up in our program, the summer work, the JV game, everything they’ve done. We’ve got a lot of good football players on the field. So I think that makes them special.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Class 6A-II football: Bixby sets Oklahoma consecutive wins record