Part 2
-As explained in Part 1 of this series, the fall of 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Beggs High School’s 1975 football team winning the Class A state championship. It was Beggs’ first sports state championship and remains the only football state championship to date. In 1975, Beggs ended its regular season with 7 wins and 3 losses. It was ranked #9 in the AP Top Ten for Class A and ranked #8 by other polls.
Thirty-two teams in Class A were set to vie for the title of state champion. Three of the top ten teams were undefeated – Oklahoma City Millwood, Fox and Roland. Blanchard led the field in scoring with a total of 457 points in ten games. Just as impressively, Blanchard had allowed only 44 points.
But, Blanchard did not lead the field in holding its opposition to low point totals. Undefeated Roland had allowed just 30 points in 10 games while undefeated Fox had allowed only 19. By comparison, Beggs had scored 342 points in 10 games (the second largest total in the top ten) but had given up 124.
Despite Blanchard outscoring its opponents by over 400 points in 10 games, it did have one loss on its record. So, it was not the top-ranked team in Class A. Rather, Oklahoma City Millwood occupied the top spot.
In 1974, Millwood lost the state championship to Stroud. It had beaten Stroud in regular season games in both ‘74 and ‘75. The consensus was that Millwood was the team with something to prove but Stroud had the talent and experience.
Certainly, Beggs was on the radar and not to be overlooked. But, Beggs was not the team other teams were expecting to meet in the finals.
Beggs’ first playoff pairing was against Prague. A familiar opponent, Beggs had already easily beaten Prague in the regular season. Again, Beggs knocked off Prague with little challenge with a score of 42-8. Those 8 points, however, would prove quite interesting in the long run.
As lopsided as the score was, some of the statistics in the Prague game were not nearly as uneven. Prague barely trailed Beggs in rushing yardage and first downs. The glaring difference showed in the passing game. The numbers from various newspapers do conflict but the outcome is similar. Beggs passed with accuracy over 50% while Prague failed to connect on even 20% of its attempts. And Prague attempted almost twice as many passes as Beggs. Though the score did not reflect it, the game readied Beggs’ passing defense for the weeks ahead.
Undefeated Roland came to Beggs in the second round of playoffs. Roland’s offense centered on high-scoring Lester Knauls. Knauls and Beggs’ John Austin were in a tight battle for leading scorer in Class A.
But, Roland and Knauls would leave Beggs scoreless. With a final score of 28-0, Beggs came very close to scoring as many points in one game as Roland had allowed all season (30). Interestingly, Beggs was assessed more penalty yards in the game (75) than Roland had rushing (52) or passing (68). With a total of 257 yards, Beggs rushed for nearly 5 times as many yards as Roland. With 17 first downs, Beggs almost tripled Roland’s production of only 6.
The triumph set Beggs up to face defending state champion Stroud. As mentioned in the first part of this series, Stroud handed Beggs its worst loss of the ‘74 season and had pulled out a one-point victory late in the game at Beggs in the ‘75 regular season. The execution of Stroud’s victory in ‘74 wouldn’t fall into the category of sportsmanlike by most standards. It had left a sour taste in Beggs’ mouths. The one point loss in the ‘75 regular season only served to sicken the Demons even more.
Beggs led the regular season game well into the third quarter by a score of 14-0. A fumbled fourth down kick with 1:27 left in the third set up Stroud’s first score which included a 2 point conversion. With 6:21 left in the fourth, Stroud scored again and led by one.
In the final six minutes, Stroud fumbled and Beggs recovered at the 3 yard line. Despite penalty after penalty after penalty (yes, literally, three in a row), Beggs completed a pass that placed them at the 1 yard line with 2 downs left to convert. Reports vary as to whether the ball crossed the goal line either time or both times. But, all that mattered was what the referees called. Beggs lost.
Those two experiences of loss with Stroud played a critical role in determining Beggs’ mindset for their third playoff game. Beggs was simply not going to be denied. But, they did intend to deny Stroud and they certainly accomplished their goal.
Stroud had only 64 offensive yards in the game – all rushing. Stroud managed but one first down and it ended in a fumble which Beggs recovered. Stroud’s workhorse Barry Burget was stifled. Stroud’s defense was credited with setting up its only scoring opportunity when it blocked a punt and recovered the ball inside the 10. Beggs won the competition 27-8.
The field had now been narrowed to four teams – Pawnee, Beggs, Cordell and Oklahoma City Millwood.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this look to the past. If you’re interested in celebrating with the team and hearing these stories, you can catch up on all the details on the Facebook page, Beggs High School 50th Anniversary 1975 Football State Champs.
