Norman North captains

Owen Eshelman (10), Harrison Utley (69), Elias Battle (3) and Isaac Morgan (99) prepare for the coin toss in the game against Jenks. 

 Sutton Spinner/OU Daily

Norman North (4-2) fell to Jenks (4-3) 42-14 at home on Thursday evening, dropping the Timberwolves to 1-2 in district play.

Norman North committed four turnovers against the Trojans, all of which came in the first half. Jenks running back Kaydin Jones was a thorn in the Timberwolves' side on both sides of the ball, scoring three touchdowns and recording an interception.

Junior quarterback Owen Eshelman finished with two passing touchdowns and two interceptions, with both of his touchdowns being the final scores of the game. They were caught by senior wide receiver Zain Prater and senior running back Duante Moses. 

Here are takeaways and details from Norman North's defeat:

Takeaways

Bad start dooms Timberwolves

Norman North received the opening kickoff and got things going with a 40-yard pass from Eshelman to junior running back Will Lundquist.

At the end of the play, however, Lundquist fumbled to Jenks, which responded with a 72-yard passing touchdown to the Trojans' Semaj Stanford with 9:37 left the first quarter.

After that, things spiraled for the Timberwolves. Their next five drives ended with three turnovers. Jenks scored 14 points off these mistakes, contributing to Norman North's 28-0 halftime deficit.

Timberwolves coach Justin Jones believes those turnovers were the main factor in his team's blowout defeat.

"You can't let that happen against a football team like Jenks," Justin Jones said. "We can't let things snowball like that. They're going to respond every time."

Eshelman agreed, putting the blame on himself.

"When you have four turnovers, there's not much you can do to come back from that," Eshelman said. "We have to fix that. We just can't operate how we want to with that."

Owen Eshelman

Owen Eshelman is hit by a defender as he throws in the game against Jenks.

Norman North unprepared out of halftime

Heading into the second half, Jones made a defensive adjustment by slightly widening his secondary and edge rushers to stop Jenks from making plays outside the tackles. 

However, it didn't work. After a 65-yard kick return to start the second half, Jenks opened the second half with Jones' third touchdown with an 11-yard rush. The Trojans would tack on another score with a 60-yard touchdown pass to give them a 42-0 lead.

Justin Jones blamed himself for the lack of preparation, feeling like he didn't do enough to fix Norman North's issues.

"Everything starts with me. I have to be the one to fix things," Justin Jones said. "It's not that I don't think we're a good football team; we're just a football team that played very average tonight. We had a lot of opportunities, but we made mistakes."

Eshelman believes Norman North's slow second half start was because of a despondent mood in the Timberwolves' locker room.

"We just weren't there," Eshelman said. "They weren't beating us. We were the ones beating ourselves. We had a shot to go put up some points in the second half, but we weren't feeling like we were going to take care of business."

Norman North ready to rebound again in district play

After its 60-2 loss to Bixby on Sept. 22, the Timberwolves responded with a 28-14 win over Broken Arrow on Sept. 29 to be 1-1 in district. With Southmoore on the horizon, Norman North will have to do it again.

While the Timberwolves are 4-2, their 1-2 district record places them fourth in the current District 6A-I 1 standings. With four games left, Eshelman wants to show more urgency to secure a playoff spot.

"We have a lot of talented players here," Eshelman said. "If we can do many more things right, we'll be in a good spot. We didn't do anything that gave (Jenks) an advantage. We just beat ourselves. If we don't do that, we'll be ok."

Norman North faces Southmoore (0-5) at home at 7 p.m. next Thursday. 

Garrison Utley

Jenks' Owen Jones runs away from a Norman North defender in the game on Oct. 5

Scoring plays

Jenks 42, Norman North 14 (4:29 4th)

Senior running back Duante Moses scores his second touchdown in two games with a six-yard catch thrown by Eshelman.

Jenks 42, Norman North 7 (11:51 4th)

Eshelman found Prater wide open for a 37-yard touchdown pass after a flea flicker for Norman North's first score. 

Jenks 42, Norman North 0 (5:25 3rd)

Senior wide receiver Ayden Christiansen catches a 60-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Owen Jones to continue the Trojans' rout.

Jenks 35, Norman North 0 (10:51 3rd)

Kaydin Jones scored his third touchdown of the game with an 11-yard rush just 69 seconds into the third quarter.

Jenks 28, Norman North 0 (7:31 2nd)

After a fumble from sophomore running back Latrell Williams, Jenks scores again on a one-yard rushing touchdown from Kaydin Jones. It's the sophomore running back's second touchdown of the game.

Jenks 21, Norman North 0 (9:24 2nd)

A reverse play gives the Trojans another score after Kaydin Jones reaches the end a 32-yard rushing touchdown.

Jenks 14, Norman North 0 (5:12 1st)

Senior quarterback Simian Gilkey rushes for a six-yard touchdown to extend the Trojans' lead.

Jenks 7, Norman North 0 (9:37 1st)

After a fumble from Lundquist, Jenks scores off a 72-yard passing touchdown caught by freshman running back Semaj Stanford.

Further Reading

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