From the very start, the Henryetta Knights were determined to get a spot in the playoff ranks Thursday. Along the way a new school record was set.
Within a minute of the opening kickoff Henryetta got on the board. The Knights kicked to Keys then Nathan Nail picked off a Cougar pass for a 30 yard touchdown run. By the time the game was over Henryetta had 54 points compared to 20 for Keys.
Not only did the Knights post a lot of points on the board but HHS senior running back Nick Hudson broke a rushing record that had stood for 40 years. Hudson needed 113 yards to get the new record when that game started. He had a ten yard run in the second quarter that gave him 1,566 yards, one yard over the mark set by John Walker in 1982.
When the game ended, Hudson finished up with 121 yards on the ground putting the new mark at 1,574 and provided one of the touchdowns.
Two long runs added more thrills for the Henryetta fans. Will Perez caught a total of four passes for 171 yards during the night with three touchdowns including one for 80 yards.
Right behind him in the running was Jason Powders who caught a 64 yard pass for a touchdowns.
Sophomore quarterback Brady Norman threw ten times during the evening with eight completions and four touchdowns. That ended the regular season for him with 159 completions out of 165 attempts for 1,435 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The Knights will be going to Eufaula next Friday night for the first round of playoffs. That will be the first time the Knights have seen the playoff brackets since 2016.
On a rainy Friday night, the Eufaula Ironheads squeaked out a 24-21 win over Idabel. Both teams went into that match with a perfect district record. Eufaula’s only loss during the year went to Vian by a 40-26 difference.