October 6, 2009

By Robert Przybylo
The Oklahoman

With apologies to Moore, this will mostly be about Santa Fe. I had an anonymous e-mail sent this morning (seriously, who sends those type of things?).

Anyway, the gist of it was ragging on me for praising the Santa Fe kids for “doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”

Stuff like that irks me, really does. Some teams pick up their ball and go home the first time adversity comes their way. Santa Fe did not do that when it had plenty of reasons to do so.

I’ll tell you what was the clincher for me. It was the Del City game. A nearly perfect defensive outing by the Wolves, limiting to Chris McAlister and Donavan Dan as much as possible.

Santa Fe did almost everything right but lost 13-12. That was it. In my head, I had written “those kids won’t bounce back.” At that point, Bruce Gowen’s kids were 1-4 with two losses by one point (DC and North), another in OT (Mustang) and a 15-6 loss to Memorial.

They did bounce back, and that is a credit to their character and that starts with the seniors and the coaching staff.They did bounce back, and that is a credit to their character and that starts with the seniors and the coaching staff.

I truly believe if Santa Fe was in 6A-2, this week’s game would have been all about playoff positioning. Think Santa Fe and North would be battling it out for third.

But that’s not the cards that were dealt. The kids never made excuses. They were honest about how tough it was to stay positive, but in the end, they did just that – stayed positive.

Santa Fe 34, Moore 14

Though a disappointing season (in terms of wins and losses), I didn’t see that on those kids’ faces after the game.

The seniors were too busy hugging each other and taking photos and soaking it all in. I think I even saw a smile on Gowen’s face.

Brian Mills scored twice and ran for 137 yards and Will Long threw for two touchdowns before calling it a night.

Mills’ final carry of his career put him over the 1,000-yard mark and was a touchdown. That is a cool way to go out.

Long took one snap in the second half and gave the reins to Ty Hensley. Long was greeted with hugs aplenty, so that’s when (being the genius I am) I realized he wouldn’t be back out there.

I focused on Mills and a video with him should be on NewsOK later today or this weekend, but all those seniors really didn’t quit on each other. From Matt Leavell to Tyler Shaw to Randy Mack and up and down the line.

Hopefully, Moore doesn’t get discouraged, either. The effort is there, just give ‘em a little time.

I’ll be back early next week with a Santa Fe season recap.