Indians begin playoffs on road at Bethel

The brackets have been drawn and the Comanche Indians now have an opponent for the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs.

Comanche (3-6), the No. 5 seed from 2A District 4, will be traveling to Bethel (5-3), near Shawnee, to take on the Wildcats, the No. 4 seed from 2A District 3.

The game is set to kickoff at 7 p.m., Friday.

Comanche is coming off a 34-20 loss at Lindsay. Bethel had the week off as Purcell had to cancel their game because of COVID-19 quarantines.

The Wildcats and the Indians have had similar paths in recent history. Both teams made significant improvements in 2019 after multiple years of sub .500 seasons. Comanche went 6-5 and advanced to the playoffs. Bethel, a Class 3A team in 2019, went 5-5 and did not make the playoffs.

This week’s game against Comanche is the first-ever home playoff game for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats are led by quarterback Jesse Tucker, who can hurt opponents with his arm and legs.

Tucker is 130-of-224 passing for 1,693 yards with 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He is also the third-leading rusher on the team with 326 yards on 55 carries with two touchdowns.

He leads the way for the Wildcats’ spread offense. Defensively, Comanche coach Casy Rowell said they use a 4-3-4 package similar to what Lone Grove runs.

Corey Metscher is the leading rusher for Bethel with 585 yards on 70 carries with seven touchdowns. Dezman Loving is second with 356 yards on 46 carries with four touchdowns.

John Gordon is Tucker’s favorite target through the air. Gordon leads the team in receptions (33), yards (751) and touchdowns (9). Drae Wood, who came into the season just shy of 2,000 yards receiving in his career, is second on the team with 26 receptions for 371 yards and seven touchdowns.

Bethel averages 32.8 points a game, while opponents average 19.5. Comanche is averaging 21.9 points a game, while opponents average 31 points.

“(Bethel) is a quality team,” said Casy Rowell, Comanche head coach. “They compete hard.”

Still, Rowell thinks the Indians match up well against the Wildcats.

“They are pretty similar to us,” Rowell said. “But, I do think we have an advantage.”

The coach thinks Bethel has some solid players in the secondary and at linebacker.

The Wildcats are led by senior linebacker L.W. Moore, who has 121 tackles on the season with one sack. He led the team with 156 tackles in 2019.

Rowell said it is a good thing for the program to make a couple of straight trips to the playoffs even though this year was a little different and all the teams qualified.

“We may not have made it under the system that we had been using (the top four from each district), but if we win this one, it will be just like the regular playoffs from that point on.”

The winner gets to play Marlow in the second round. The Outlaws have a bye in the first round.