ENID — This and that while counting down the days to the Class 2A and 3A state tournaments.

Forgan’s boys have an argument for being one of the best small-town teams to ever come out of Oklahoma.

Lomega’s 56-28 loss to the Bulldogs isn’t so bad considering Forgan’s six wins in the last six state tournaments have been by an average of 31.3 points.

The closest two games the Bulldogs had were against Lomega and Lookeba-Sickles 73-45 in last year’s first-round game.

Forgan was the lone team picked No. 1 in the preseason by Oklahoma Tipoff Magazine to win the championship.

Lomega, the Class B girls winner, was picked No. 3. They beat preseason No. 1 Hammon in the championship game.

Frontier, the Class A state girls champion, was picked No. 2. Chattanooga, the preseason No. 1, fell in the semifinals to Okarche.

Cheyenne, the boys Class A state champion, was picked No. 7 in the preseason. Fort Cobb-Broxton, the preseason No. 1, didn’t reach the state tournament.

Speaking of Lomega’s girls, it just seems like yesterday Kevin Lewallen was running the Raiders boys’ offense for his dad Charles.

Now, he has three state championships to his credit and continues a strong tradition built by Karen Edgar (now Knight) and Bruce Hobgood.

Winning the Cherokee Strip Conference looks pretty good considering DCLA and Cherokee reached the state tournament and Burlington made the area losers bracket finals.

The state tournament reminds us how many good coaches have come through the News & Eagle readership area.

Brad Thrash, who took Dover’s girls to four state crowns, led Cheyenne-Reydon’s boys to the Class A state crown, making him one of the rare coaches to have both a girls and boys state trophy to his credit.

Former Laverne coach Russ Rundle showed he still has it by taking Merritt to the finals

Clay Stephens, an Ames native, took Frontier’s girls to yet another state crown Saturday. He formerly coached at Hennessey.

John Lazenby, who was an upcoming young coach at Drummond 17 years ago, took Glencoe to the state tournament with his three sons.

Former Chisholm coach Jay Depanion is back at the Class 3A girls state tournament with Prague. Depanion made five straight trips to state (2001-05) with the Lady Longhorns. Chisholm reached the semifinals in 2004 and 2005. Prague reached the semifinals last season.

Of course, at Okarche’s, there’s Cherie Myers, who helped continue the Kingfisher dynasty before taking the Lady Warriors reins 11 years ago. Still can remember doing a story on her when she was beginning her career as an assistant at Dover.

A laurel to Chisholm’s Terry Middleton for leading his 11-17 Lady Longhorns to the area losers bracket semifinals. A tough schedule might have led the Lady Longhorns to a losing season, but it prepared them for the playoffs.

CHS played its best basketball at the end of the season, which is a tribute to Middleton, whose team could have given up when it was in a nine-game losing streak.

Another laurel to Hennessey’s Brady Page for leading the Eagles to their first state tournament berth in 23 years.

 Hennessey has the chance now of being a rare school to win both football and basketball state championships. The Three Rivers Conference had the distinction of having three teams in state — Okarche, Watonga and Hennessey.



Campbell is a News & Eagle sports writer.