By Byron Beers
EDMOND – Connor Kirby combined for 292 yards and six touchdowns to power Bixby to its fifth consecutive state championship as the Spartans defeated Owasso, 69-6, Friday at Chad Richison Stadium.
The Spartans’ senior quarterback threw for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns and completed 16-of-25 passes. He added 86 yards on the ground and found the end zone four times.
It’s Bixby’s eighth title in nine years and its first in Class 6A-1 under head coach Loren Montgomery. The Spartans finished their season at 12-1.
“It feels awesome,” Kirby said. “Our guys knew what the goal was and we just really went out and executed and played our hardest.
“Everyone was pretty dialed up. Everyone watched film every week, knew what they were best at, knew their players…we just played really well.”
The Spartans closed with 552 total yards of offense and limited the Rams to 175 total yards.
Kirby’s second TD pass was a 9-yard strike to Luke Hasz that gave Bixby a 21-6 lead at the 3:40 mark of the first quarter.
“It feels great,” Hasz said. “This year was definitely different than all of the other years. The outcome was the same, but just the worth ethic we had during the offseason, it felt different.
“We wanted to impose our will. Connor had a heck of a game, our o-line played great. Everything was just working.”
The Rams, who closed their season at 9-5 under head coach Bill Blakenship, got their lone score on a 54-yard touchdown run by quarterback Mason Willingham in the first quarter.
Owasso, who started its season at 1-4 and included a 49-14 setback to the Spartans in week one, won eight consecutive games to advance to the championship game. The Rams knocked out top-ranked Union, 50-47, in six overtimes in the semifinal round.