By JIM OTTS

Register Correspondent

THACKERVILLE, Okla. — The Thackerville Wildcats overcame a shaky start to claim history Saturday, defeating the Covington-Douglas Wildcats 56-28 to become the first Thackerville team to reach the Oklahoma Class C Final Four Tournament.

The host Wildcats had four fumbled snaps and 60 yards in penalties in the opening quarter and trailed the visitors twice before getting settled.

“We had some problems early with fumbles and penalties but the guys got settled and started playing the way the can,” Coach Cody McCage said.

Once settled, the Thackerville Cats scored three unanswered touchdowns at the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third.

The Blue-and-Gold relied on the team leaders, getting 151 rushing yards from junior Aaron Vondrak and 141 passing yards from the Hunter McCage to Tague Hinkley combination.

Vondrak scored four touchdowns and ran the ball into the end zone on two PAT attempts while Hinkley caught three touchdown passes, ran a kickoff back 80 yards for another TD and caught a pass good for two points on a PAT play.

Thackerville scored on its opening drive despite two fumbles for losses and a penalty for a false start. Hinkley ran 15 yards into the end zone then turned outside and McCage delivered a perfect strike over his outside shoulder. Vondrak ran the ball in for the two-point conversion.

Covington-Douglas answered with a four-play, 56-yard drive aided by a 15-yard penalty against Thackerville for a personal foul. Quarterback Joseph Morrison threw a 38-yard pass to wide receiver A.J. Phillips for the TD. A Morrison pass intended for Kyle Rogers misconnected on the PAT attempt.

The host Wildcats suffered another personal foul setback, fumbled another snap, lost yardage when McCage was sacked and threw an incompletion, forcing the only punt Hinkley was called upon to make all night.

Dylan Sterling returned the punt to the Thackerville 30 and was hit late by a Blue-and-Gold defender, giving the Covington-Douglas Cats only 15 yards to go for the lead. Kode Metcalfe bulled his way to the two, Thackerville jumped offside to give the guests another yard and Morrison snuck it in from there.

It was the first time this season the Blue-and-Gold trailed in a home game.

Morrison’s run on the PAT play made it 14-8 for Covington-Douglas.

Thackerville responded with a 10-play drive covering 69 yards with Vondrak doing the scoring honors from the CV-D four. Colten Hackler got open for a PAT pass, but McCage threw behind him and the ball bounced away, leaving the bout tied 14-14.

Covington-Douglas started another drive as the second quarter began and reached the Thackerville 20, but Vondrak blitzed from his lineback spot to drop Morrison for a 10-yard loss on a fourth-and-eight play.

A 22-yard run by Vondrak and a pass interference call against CV-D got the T-Cats to the visitor’s one and Vondrak scored to reclaim the lead for Thackerville with 8:43 remaining in the second quarter.

Runs by Metcalfe, Luke Postier and Sterling got the guests to the Blue-and-Gold 12 and Sterling went off tackle to score from there. Postier added the two-point conversion to put the Thackerville club behind at home for the second time, 20-22.

Hinkley returned the swagger to the Blue-Cats with an 80-yard kickoff return that started with a bobble at the goal line. That was followed by a weave to the right and a cut back across the field where teammate T.J. Ritchey threw a clearing block that put CV-D’s Brett Stopp three yards off the field.

Hinkley ended CV-D’s next possession with an interception near midfield that he returned to the Covington-Douglas 21.

McCage rolled to his left on a fourth-and-eight play then threw to Hinkley on a crossing route for the TD then McCage and Hinkley connected again on the PAT play to give the hosts a 34-22 halftime edge.

Vondrak scored from the one on Thackerville’s first drive of the second half to make it 40-22 and Morrison answered with a 34-yard quarterback keeper to cut it to 40-28 before the Thackerville defense took over.

Covington-Douglas went three-and-out on its last three possessions while Thackerville ate up the remaining third-quarter clock and much of the fourth with three long drives that produced two more touchdowns.

McCage scrambled to the right sideline, drew defenders that way and threw across the field to Hinkley for a walk-in 20-yard TD reception. Vondrak’s run upped the lead to 48-28.

Vondrak scored the final touchdown after catching a middle screen pass from McCage and running 29 yards to paydirt. McCage passed to Hinkley for the extra two.

Thackerville joins Shattuck, Timberlake and Temple in the Class C Final Four and will face Temple in the semifinals. Shattuck, ranked number one in Oklahoma Class C football, will meet Timberlake, the number two ranked team, in the other semifinal.

Thackerville defeated Temple 48-0 in an earlier meeting this season, but Cody McCage isn’t one to count his money early.

“That was then and the playoffs are always different,” the coach said.

One game will be an afternoon affair and the other an evening match on Saturday. The location and exact times will be determined early this week.