By Ron Holt
While working to correct mistakes and take positive strides forward in practice, Bixby’s Spartan players, coaches and support staff are at the same time enjoying their new, spacious locker room addition to the Home of the Spartans.
Work began on the $12 million upgrade the Monday following Bixby’s Class 6A-I state championship victory over Jenks. It’s been a consistent work in progress until last week when the Spartans began moving into the varsity locker room on the bottom floor of the new addition.
Work is being finalized on the upstairs locker room which will house Spartan junior high teams. All are benefiting from additional space and equipment. The old Spartan locker room didn’t offer enough locker room space while also only offering a shower facility which included one toilet, two urinals and limited shower space.
A recent tour of the facility left this reporter impressed and amazed. Obviously, there was much planning and study involved in making the facility not only first class but functional. It’s a source of pride for the school and the community.
Bixby’s defensive staff and offensive staff have respective work rooms with desks and the latest in technology. In between those two offices is head coach Loren Montgomery’s spacious office.
On the east end of the first floor is an equipment room featuring industrial washers and dryers. There’s also Storage Solutions equipment which is a rotating space saver for shoulder pads and other equipment.
A unique feature includes an area above each locker to place shoulder pads and helmet after practice on a metal frame which provides air through the shoulder pads and helmet to facilitate drying. That feature is on a timer which is turned on following practices and games.
“Downstairs we’ve got 18 showers, six toilets and six urinals along with 150 lockers,” Coach Montgomery said. “In the equipment room we have three industrial washers and three industrial dryers. In fact, it even seems there is more space … we don’t have all of our furniture in yet, but it does seem like more space. The kids love it.”
Seniors appreciate spending their final season in the program benefiting from the new locker room while younger players are also grateful for the new space. During construction, a makeshift locker room was provided in the Spartan weight room facility.
“It’s amazing, it’s really something compared to our last one. I thought the last locker room was pretty cool, but this is amazing,” said senior running back Bode Cairl. “I like how clean it is and how organized everything is … we have our jerseys washed every day and ready for us.
“I’m glad I get to be here for the year and it’s going to be really cool for the sophomores and younger players who will get to use it. Everyone’s trying to keep things clean,” he added.
Sophomore defensive lineman Kaden Penny agrees. “I love it. Everyone worked really hard for it. I like the seating and how it has ‘Bixby’ on the bottom … we have a lot more room,” he said.
“Usually after practice our pads would be wet so now, we have the helmet and pad rack and they’ll be dry and ready for the next day,” Penny added.
After opening the season with a 40-21 loss at Owasso followed by a 50-10 win over Sand Springs in the home opener, youthful Bixby had plenty to work on during the off week.
“I felt like Monday was a super sharp practice. It was weird because we had to flip the schedule because the JV had to leave early but the kids responded really well,” Coach Montgomery said after Wednesday’s practice.
“Today the focus waned a little, but we had a lot going on with the Steak Eater dinner and not having a game this week. But when it was time to go our kids got it on,” he added. “We had 61 of our players and 14 coaches qualify as Steak Eaters … that’s the most we’ve had yet.”
Traditionally, Spartans who attend every summer workout are treated to a steak dinner.
Starting Monday, the Spartans’ focus will be solely on the Choctaw Yellowjackets. Bixby visits Choctaw for the final non-district game of the season, starting at 7 p.m. Friday (Sept. 20) at Bill Jensen Field at Yellowjackets Stadium.
It will be the renewal of a competitive series between the two teams in recent seasons, including a 17-14 Bixby win over Choctaw in the 2020 Class 6A-II state championship game in Edmond.
Choctaw has faced one of the state’s most challenging non-district schedules this season as the Yellowjackets opened the season by defeating visiting Lubbock (Texas) Monterey 40-23 before losing 66-44 at Gardner-Edgerton (Kansas) last Thursday. Gardner-Edgerton was Kansas’ defending Class 6A state champions.
In the win over Monterey, Choctaw senior quarterback Cash Williams was reportedly 15-of-21 passing for 225 yards and four touchdowns. CHS ended with 490 yards of total offense.
In the loss at Gardner-Edgerton, Choctaw, led by eighth-year head coach Jake Corbin, kept pace offensively before eventually falling to the hosts’ 528 yards of total offense including 481 rushing yards. The Yellowjackets were also victimized by two lost fumbles and a 0-for-13 showing on third down conversions.
“They’ve played a tough schedule, Monterey is pretty good and the Gardner-Edgerton team they played in Kansas is really good,” coach Montgomery said of the Yellowjackets. “They are similar to what we’ve seen in the past, they have good skill set and are super aggressive. They are unorthodox on offense.
“They’ve got some defensive linemen and linebackers who can run around, and their offensive line is really aggressive … it’ll be a good test,” he added.
Choctaw was 8-2 last season, losing to Stillwater 33-29 in the Class 6A-II state semifinals. In 2022, the Yellowjackets finished 11-2, losing to Stillwater 26-21 in the 6A-II state championship game.
In 2021, Bixby routed Choctaw 70-7 in a regular season game at Choctaw. In 2022, The Yellowjackets led early at Bixby before falling 24-13 to the Spartans in a regular season game before Bixby captured the three-point state title game win that season.
Choctaw had been on a roller coaster ride as far as wins and losses prior to coach Corbin’s arrival to take over the Yellowjacket program in 2017. During his tenure, Choctaw has posted a winning record each season while reaching the Class 6A-II state title game twice. He has a 44-17 record at Choctaw.
Besides Williams, Choctaw’s offense features 5-10, 170-pound wide receiver-defensive back DeShawn “Juju” Smith, who scored 19 touchdowns last season. Junior running back Mayor Morgan, who rushed for 136 yards while adding 82 receiving yards against Monterey, scored nine TDs a year ago.
NOTEBOOK – Bixby’s game at Choctaw will be broadcast over The Sports Animal, FM-97.1 starting with the pre-game show at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Shawn Tiemann handles play-by-play description while Mark Wozniak provides color commentary. … In the 50-10 home win over Sand Springs, Bixby junior quarterback Carson Kirby set personal career marks by throwing for 422 yards. The 32 pass completions and 44 pass attempts were also career bests for Kirby. His previous best was 12-for-15 for 299 yards and six TDs in a win at Broken Arrow last season. … Also establishing career high numbers was senior wide receiver Blake Hogshooter. Against the Sandites, Hogshooter caught seven passes for 128 yards – both personal bests. … There is a familiar face wearing Choctaw colors. Brad Clark, who was defensive line coach for the Spartans, is the Yellowjackets’ defensive coordinator. After leaving Bixby, Clark spent four seasons in Texas at Bonham and Rock Creek of Prosper before accepting the Choctaw position in 2022. … Choctaw quarterback Cash Williams has committed to play baseball at the University of Tennessee. He’s a catcher-outfielder.
BHS OPPONENTS – Besides the Bixby at Choctaw game, other Spartan opponents schedule this week include Sand Springs (0-2) at Bishop Kelley, Moore (2-0) visits Norman North, Mustang (2-0) hosts Westmoore and Norman (2-0) visits Piedmont. Owasso (3-0), Deer Creek-Edmond (3-0), Jenks (1-2), Edmond North (2-1) and Enid (2-1) have bye weeks.
SPORTS MEDICINE – Working tirelessly behind the scenes is Bixby’s Sports Medicine team, led by 13TH-year head athletic trainer Stephen Moss, fifth-year assistant Christa Montgomery and second-year assistant Savannah Kautz. Also assisting is intern Kyleigh Rose, a first year Master of Athletic Training Student at the University of Tulsa. She is from Graham, Texas.
Student Sports Medicine aides include Laila Venema, Autumn Beams, Riley Brown, Angelina Kelley, Ella McLemore, Milani Jackson, Kaitlyn Lewallen, Katie McBride, Izzy Tobin, Kayde Kaiser, Taylin Hausler, Ashlynn Shook-West, Rose Lawrence, Kylie Godsey, Jaslynn Varner and KayLynn Arsee.
“We have 24 girls ninth through 12th grade,” Moss said. “Our sports medicine student aides help us with hydration, wound care and their most valuable asset is being eyes and ears on the sideline to look for concussions or any major injuries we may not have witnessed.
“Wel had three seniors, five juniors, eight sophomores and seven freshmen … we’re kind of building on the back side but we have three strong seniors who have put in a lot of years in the program.
“Two have expressed interest in doing athletic training in the future and one is interested in nursing,” Moss said.