PARK HILL — After an abbreviated Week 2 outing at Checotah, the Keys Cougars rebounded Friday night, beating Eufaula 19-13 in a rainy, penalty-filled game.

“It is what it is,” Keys coach Gary Willis said. “It’s good to get back on the field and get a win.”

Despite playing a clean first half with only two penalties, the Cougars were flagged 13 times in the second half, including three times on their first possession after halftime. By contrast, the Ironheads racked up five of their nine penalties in the first quarter alone.

Among the penalties called were off-setting personal fouls late in the fourth quarter that led to some confusion. Senior quarterback Trevor Eubanks scored on a 28-yard touchdown run to break a 13-13 tie. However, communication issues between the officials and the Keys coaching staff led to the line of scrimmage for the point after attempt getting pushed back to the 35-yard line.

“On that last touchdown run, there was a personal foul on Eufaula on the play, which means it was a live ball foul,” coach Gary Willis said. “When we made it to the end zone, there was some retaliation, which was a dead ball foul.

“We declined the penalty and the touchdown stood. Eufaula accepted the penalty. Normally, the choice on whether to take the penalty yards on the PAT or the kickoff would be made by a coach, but the refs asked one of the kids on the field to make the call rather than consult one of us. The field was pretty slick and our kicker had already missed one attempt any way.”

Cougars senior kicker J.J. Ozturk and Eufaula freshman kicker Jake Hunn each missed a point-after attempt. Ozturk also booted two kickoffs out of bounds, one in each half.  

Keys (1-1) will play Westville next week in the Cougars’ District 3A-7 opener. In their home opener Friday, the Yellowjackets (1-2) were shut out by Class 2A Kansas, 25-0.



        Eufaula              Keys

First downs               16                                     14                       

Rush yards                170                                    84

Pass att-comp            11-15                             11-16                                   

Pass yards                 77                                    130

Interceptions              2                                         0                                   

Fumbles-Lost             2-1                                    2-2

Punts-avg                  3-35.6                           3-33.6                                   

Penalties-yds             9-44                             15-139                  



Individual stats

Rushing

Eufaula — Cody Holder-Cathy 16-111, Dillon Larkin 5-22, Trey Moore 1-7, Chad Pryor 6-30

Keys — Rylan Davenport 1-4, Trevor Eubanks 10-49, Josh Ferguson 8-30, Jesse Haeberle, 2-1



Passing

Eufuala — Larkin 11-15-2, 77

Keys — Eubanks 11-16-0, 130



Receiving

Eufaula — Cody Faries 2-36, Moore 2-24, Daxton Williams 2-14

Keys — Tyler Blankenship 5-93, John Haeberle 1-12, Tyler Hunter 2-20, Riley Radomski, 1-6