OWASSO, Okla. – Grove turned the ball over three times and came up short on the scoreboard as the second-ranked Midwest City Carl Albert Titans defeated the Ridgerunners 55-21 in the Class 5A semifinals.
Carl Albert, a 16-time state champion, will try once again to take home the golden ball when they meet McAlester (11-2) next Saturday for the Class 5A Championship game at the University of Central Oklahoma.
Grove senior running back Emmanuel Crawford ended the night with over 6,600 career yards – a Class 5A record. His three touchdowns on the night netted 152 yards.
Grove senior quarterback Carson Trimble had 96 yards in the air and rushed for 41 yards.
Two costly interceptions in the first half worked against Grove allowing Carl Albert to take an early 14-0 lead with a Xavier Robinson run of 21 yards and a 39-yard pass from Reed DeQuasie to Tashawn James.
Grove’s Crawford, who looked like he was going to get thrown for a loss, wiggled around Titan defenders and scored cutting into Carl Albert’s lead 14-7.
Carl Albert scored twice in the second quarter to take a 27-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Titans exploded in the third quarter putting up 21 points on a Trey Washington 75 pass from Dequasie, a 12-yard bootleg run by Dequasie and a 67-yard run by Robinson.
Trystan Haynes scored on a 67-yard punt return for the Titans in the fourth quarter.
Crawford added points in the fourth quarter on an 80-yard touchdown run and a 6-yard touchdown run.
Scoring Summary
Carl Albert 14 13 21 7 — 55
Grove 7 0 0 14 — 21
First Quarter
- CA: Robinson, 21-yard run. (Ethan Spiwak Kick)
- CA: Trystan Haynes 39 pass from Reed Dequasie (Spiwak kick)
- G: Emmanuel Crawford 4 run (Cory Martin kick)
Second Quarter
- CA: Robinson 6 run (Conversion run failed)
- CA: Dequasie 6 run (Spiwak kick)
Third Quarter
- CA: Trey Washington 75 pass from Dequasie (Spiwak kick)
- CA: Dequasie 12 run (Spiwak kick)
- CA: Robinson 67 run (Spiwak kick)
Fourth Quarter
- CA: Haynes 73 punt return (Spiwak kick)
- G: Crawford 80 run (Martin kick)
- G: Crawford 7 run (Martin kick)