In the 21st century, one region has dominated 6A-I football.
A Tulsa County school has won the state championship in that class each of the past 28 years, with no school outside of the county having won a title since Midwest City in 1995. No school from Norman has won a state championship since Norman High defeated Lawton Eisenhower in 1992.
Schools like Bixby, Jenks, Union, Broken Arrow and Owasso have all won titles during that time, with the former three reigning the most supreme. Since Norman High’s 1992 championship, Jenks and Union won 19 of 21 state titles before 6A split into two regions in 2014. There hasn’t been much parity since then either, with Bixby winning a state championship in either 6A-I or 6A-II in all but one season since the split.
That dominance is still prevalent, and something players of Norman High (4-6, 4-3 6A-I District 2) and Norman North (8-2, 5-2 6A-I District 1) are very aware of.
“A lot of people think the best schools are in Tulsa, and we hear that,” said Norman High senior safety/wide receiver Dax Noles. “Everyone says it, and everyone believes it.”
Norman High has played two games against Tulsa schools this season and lost both. The Tigers were flattened by Union 65-0 on Oct. 6 before losing to Owasso 49-18 on Nov. 3 after surrendering a 18-13 halftime lead. The Tigers will get another crack at a Tulsa school when they face Broken Arrow (3-7, 3-4 6A-I District 1) in the first round of the playoffs at home at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Norman High was knocked out of the playoffs by Broken Arrow in the same round last season, falling 47-20. This time around, Norman High believes it has the better team.
“I think we have a better chance,” said senior running back Devin Alexander. “This year, we have a better passing attack, a better rushing attack, so I think it’s a much different game than last year.”
Norman North’s playoff opener isn’t against a Tulsa school, as it faces Edmond North (3-7, 2-5 6A-I District 2) at home at 7 p.m. on Friday. However, the Timberwolves lost by a combined 86 points to Bixby and Jenks, two of Tulsa’s main powerhouses.
With the potential to make a deep playoff run, Norman North knows it needs to develop momentum and confidence before facing tougher teams.
“I think in those games, a lot of us went into them not thinking we could do it,” said senior wide receiver Zain Prater. “Whenever we had a bad drive or when the defense couldn’t get a stop, it just added fuel to the fire. We can’t lose momentum like that. Everyone’s gotta be in it.”
None of Norman High or Norman North’s players were alive to see an era without Tulsa County’s grip on 6A football, but both know they can end it. It’s become a motivating factor for players on both teams as they look to finally reach the pinnacle.
Not only do they want to win, they want to show the state what Norman schools can do.
“I think we have a team this year that can actually do it,” Prater said. “My mentality has just been to not let them doubt me, and to not let them doubt us. I need to make sure everyone knows who I am and who we are.”
Since arriving at Norman North in 2018, coach Justin Jones has gotten closer and closer to building a winning program.
After going 2-8 and 3-7 in his first two seasons, Jones has coached the Timberwolves to four straight playoff appearances, including this season. But in the last three playoffs, Norman North only won one game and were eliminated by Owasso 41-34 in last season’s state quarterfinals after receiving a first round bye.
With Norman North’s eight wins being the most in any regular season under Jones, he’s determined to make a playoff run. This season, Jones has tried creating a “business-like” atmosphere around practices to strengthen the Timberwolves’ culture. Jones wants to be intentional, have everything done with a purpose and stay on schedule to keep his players alert.
He tries to do it himself by showing up to Norman North’s facilities early in the morning and watching up to 40 hours of film per week. He’s willing to have fun by playing rap music during practices, but makes sure to be as serious as possible come gametime.
“The process has evolved over the years, but I believe in the day-to-day operations that we have,” Jones said. “Championships aren’t won in December… they're won in the preparations in August, and they're won in the preparations in the spring. This is just another step in the process.”
That mentality has rubbed off on Norman North’s players. Starters like junior quarterback Owen Eshelman and junior running back Will Lundquist have strived to be the first ones to show up to team meetings, while Prater and senior defensive back Camden Pratcher want to increase the intensity during the postseason.
“Going into practice during playoffs, we gotta come in with a sharper mentality,” Pratcher said. “Everyone’s gotta be more serious. There can’t be any messing around, because we all have to be locked in if we’re gonna win a state championship.”
All of Norman North’s preparation culminates in their hope to be “operational” during games. To Jones, that means executing throughout all four quarters, playing team football and showing up in critical moments late in games.
Jones has state championship experience, having coached in two at the 5A level with Bishop McGuinness. Now, he hopes the Timberwolves can experience the same feeling.
“I’m doing this because I owe it to those guys,” Jones said. “I love everything about this program. I love everything that we're doing, and as long as I have that… then I'm gonna continue to work my tail off for these guys.”
Like Jones, Norman High coach Rocky Martin has turned his program into a perennial playoff team. After going 1-9 in his first season with the Tigers in 2017, Martin has now coached his team to six consecutive playoff appearances after rallying from an 0-3 start this season.
However, Norman High is still searching for its first playoff win under Martin and its first playoff win since 2012. To end the drought, Martin has taken some unique steps during this week’s practices. The Tigers practiced on Sunday evening to gain an extra day of practice while emphasizing physicality ahead of their rematch with Broken Arrow.
Throughout the year, he’s also attempted to get the community more involved by building relationships with parents and teachers, and by hosting skill camps for elementary and middle school kids. It gives Martin a chance to see future players he may coach, but it also gives him a chance to rally people around Norman High.
“We just have to continue to build what we have here,” Martin said. “We want to get everyone involved all the way through Norman High and take things one step at a time.”
Being the son of Jade Noles, a quarterback on Norman High’s 1992 state championship winning team, Dax Noles knows how much the Tigers mean to his community. That’s why he’s strived to become one of Norman High’s main leaders and also be involved in community events like weekly FCA meetings.
In his mind, winning a state championship comes down to belief.
“Any team can win on any given day,” Noles said. “We have to believe in ourselves and believe we can outwork everyone around us. We can go take the state.”
For Alexander, he wants his teammates to embrace the challenge.
“We just can’t get scared,” Alexander said. “They’re going to be physical, but we can be physical too. We have to play with 100% effort.”
Martin’s ultimate goal is winning a state championship, but doesn’t want to focus on that yet. Instead, he’s preaching a “one game at a time” mindset to his team, believing it will be the key to mounting the four-game winning streak the Tigers need to win it all.
“We just have to take things week by week,” Martin said. “It doesn’t matter where everyone’s at, because now we throw the records out. You just gotta take it one day at a time. We have to be better every day in practice if we want to take care of business on Thursday. It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the years before.”
As both the Tigers and Timberwolves enter the playoffs, both are tasked with breaking the status quo. For Norman High, it’s about bringing a state championship back for the first time in over three decades. For Norman North, it’s about winning a title for the very first time.
And for both, it’s about putting the city of Norman back on top.
“A lot of people have gone to high school here over the years, and the community has shown nothing but great support for us,” Martin said. “Everyone’s been great, and we want to win it for them.”
