BARTLESVILLE BRUINS FOOTBALL SEASON ENDS; FALLS TO PIEDMONT IN PLAYOFFS
Bartlesville High School’s Sutton Williams (0) runs the ball during an earlier game. The Bruins fell to Piedmont in the first round of playoffs, 53-28, last Friday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Nov. 18, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Three hundred and sixty-five days from now, the Bartlesville High School football team might very well be celebrating in the glow of a playoff win and a bright postseason future.
But all that remains is the residue of what might have been.
What might have been if Sutton Williams had been healthy all year at tailback?
What might have been if some key linemen and linebackers had not missed portions of the year due to health issues?
What might have been if Ponca City had failed on its two-point conversion?
What might have been if the Bruins not made a glaring special teams mistake that led to the Piedmont Wildcats going up by two scores early in the first quarter of last Friday’s first-round playoff game?
A season — like a life — is defined partly by what could have been but wasn't.
Then, again, the "could have beens" is also a measure of how close success was at hand.
Based on that appraisal, the Bruins weren’t very far away. Whether they can close that gap by next season is the rudiment of the vision of the future.
As it was, Piedmont was not the right matchup for this Bruin team in this year’s playoffs.
Piedmont unleashed a brutal, grinding, ground game that succeeded in surges to keep the Bruins on their heels most of the game and powered the host Wildcats to a 53-28 victory.
It wasn’t nearly so lopsided until the last few minutes.
Bartlesville trailed by only five late in the first half, 19-14.
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Bartlesville High School’s Michael Kent (14) looks to pass during an earlier season game. The Bruins fell to Piedmont in the first round of playoffs, 53-28, last Friday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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But Piedmont stampeded to two quick scores — within 60 seconds — to charge into halftime with a 32-14 lead.
And with Piedmont’s ability to melt time off the clock like butter in a sizzling frying pan, an 18-point lead might as well have been 180 points.
Even so, the young Bruins — who have less than 10 seniors on their roster — kept on scrapping to the morose end.
Bartlesville finished the season at 3-8 — but two of those losses included a one-point decision by Ponca City, 24-23, and a nine-point setback against Claremore, 29-20.
Bartlesville finished the regular season with back-to-back wins to qualify for the 6A-II postseason tournament and set up the first-round game at Piedmont (8-3).
The same did not start in Bartlesville’s favor. The Bruins went 3-and-punt on the game’s opening possession but got off a long punt (Dillon Burson) to place the Wildcats back on their 28-yard line.
Piedmont ran most out of a flexbone and kept the ball on the ground exclusively on the 72-yard scoring march, which ended with a seven-yard run by Knoxtyn Rallo. Like Fort Knox, Rallo would be golden all night for Piedmont and scored five touchdowns.
After Rallo’s first touchdown run, Piedmont recovered a high pop kickoff that Bartlesville failed to fall on. Set up at the Bruin 27-yard line, the Wildcats again kept the ball on the ground and scored on a short burst by quarterback Jordin Holman.
Just like that, the Wildcats were up 12-0 (they failed to convert their extra points, the second one with Bartlesville’s Landon Shaw making a tackle) less than eight minutes into the game.
The fighting Bruins answered right away, with sophomore quarterback Michael Kent stringing together a 74-yard scoring march that took nearly five minutes off the clock.
The Bruins had to overcome two offensive penalties (although Piedmont was called for pass interference on 3rd-and-11). The key gains included a 16-yard gain off a busted play in which Matthew Sears got the ball and pitched it forward to Kent for a first-down run, and a 17-yard scramble by Kent down to the three-yard line.
Sutton Williams had two vital catches as well. Finishing off the drive with a one-yard plunge was Shaun Thrasher — his first-ever Bruin varsity touchdown.
Burson’s extra point cut Piedmont’s lead to 12-7, early in the second quarter.
But Piedmont came right back with a 71-yard march — highlighted by a 40-yard pass gain on Piedmont’s first throw of the game. A short touchdown run and extra point put Piedmont up by 12, 19-7.
Swinging back, Bartlesville scored as a result of a defensive takeaway (fumble) at the Wildcat 30-yard line. On the Bruins’ subsequent possession, Williams scored on a four-yard pass from Kent. Just like that, the Bruins were back within five, 19-14, with 2:33 remaining until halftime.
Piedmont struck back quickly — a 74-yard touchdown run by Rallo, a defensive interception with 1:37 left, and a 44-yard scoring jaunt by Rallo.
Bartlesville had an excellent-looking shot in the final minute of the first half — but Kent had a pass intercepted inside the red zone.
The Bruins recovered an onside kick to open the second half — only to give the ball back on an interception thrown by Sears off a trick play.
That led to a 64-yard touchdown possession for Piedmont, with Rallo scoring from 10 yards out, leading to a 39-14 lead.
On their next possession, the Wildcats scored again on a red zone run and went up 46-14.
Early in the fourth period, Bartlesville finished off a 65-yard touchdown march with Williams bursting the final 16 yards off the left side. That made it a 25-point game, 46-21, with 9:15 remaining.
Piedmont added one more touchdown — off a 77-yard drive — on a 23-yard run by Rallo.
Bartlesville then scored on its final possession (80 yards) on Williams’ three-yard bolt. Key gains on the drive included a 10-yard catch by Gavin Thomas, a 17-yard scramble by Kent on 4th-and-8, and a 31-yard pick-up off a screen pass to Williams. The PAT settled the final score at 53-28.
Less than three minutes of game time later, the final buzzer sounded on the game and on Bartlesville’s season — its fourth in a row playing in the postseason, based on the expanded playoff format.
Perhaps a year from now, the Bruins will be in the midst of a playoff run — and all the learning experiences of growing pains will be the building blocks for a new era of Bruin grid glory.
BARTLESVILLE: 0-14-0-14 — 28
PIEDMONT: 12-20-14-7 — 53
FIRST QUARTER
PIED — Knoxtyn Rallo 7 run (PAT fail, bad snap), 6:22.
PIED — Jordin Holman 2 run (2-pt run fail), 4:08.
SECOND QUARTER
BART — Shaun Thrasher 1 run (Dillon Burson kick), 11:18.
PIED — Brody Williams 3 run (Noah Ward kick), 6:53.
BART — Michael Kent 5 pass to Sutton Williams (Burson kick), 2:33.
PIED — Rallo 74 run (Ward kick), 1:55.
PIED — Rallo 56 run (Ward kick), :54.7.
THIRD QUARTER
PIED — Rallo 10 run (Ward kick), 8:03.
PIED — Gregory Own 7 run (Ward kick), 4:26.
FOURTH QUARTER
BART — Williams 16 run (Burson kick), 9:15.
PIED — Rallo 23 catch (Ward kick), 5:21.
BART — Williams 3 run (Burson kick), 2:45.
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BRUIN SEASON SCORING
86 points Sutton Williams (sr.): 12 rushing TDs (5, 8, 6, 1, 22, 1, 2, 4, 3, 22, 16, 3), 2 receiving TDs (54, 5), 1 2-pt run.
38 points — Matthew Sears (jr.): 1 rushing TD (6), 5 receiving TDs (26, 34, 10, 16, 51), 1 2-pt catch.
32 points — Dillon Burson (sr.): 32-32 PATs.
30 points — Daeton Stevens (soph.): 4 rushing TDs (1, 8, 7, 6), 1 receiving TD (58).
24 points — Boden Roberts (jr.): 4 receiving TDs (11, 19, 65, 27).
24 points — Harrison Ketchum (sr.): 4 receiving TDs (71, 46, 75, 62).
14 points — Michael Ken (soph.)t: 2 rushing TDs (19, 13), 1 2-pt run.
12 points — Evan Goad (jr.): 2 receiving TDs (6, 47).
6 points — Ivan Griffith (sr.): 1 receiving TD (24).
6 points — Gavin Thomas (soph.): 1 receiving TD (20).
6 points — Shaun Thrasher (sr.): 1 rushing TD (1).
6 points — Christian Ketiku (soph.): 1 interception return.
6 points — Adrian Jones (jr.) 1 interception return.
1 point — Maci Alleman (soph.): 1 PAT.