In a small town, football is a tradition that the whole community is involved in. Seiling is no different, and everyone will be watching when the Wildcats play for the Class C State Championship this Saturday.
The game between Seiling and Timberlake is set for 1:30 p.m Saturday at Stillwater High School.
If you happen to be in Seiling this week you will most likely hear people sitting around rehashing past games, and talking about this one.
“Most of our kids are born and raised here,” said Seiling Superintendent Bob Bush. “Their parents went to school here. The same people are here that have been here forever. If their fathers didn’t play football here, it’s likely that an uncle or grandfather did.”
In fact, Bush said that running back Jordan Nelson’s father played quarterback on the team the last time Seiling won a championship in 1988.
“Everybody is excited about the game. It’s a really neat thing for a small school and small community. We have a tradition here- we’ve been several times but it has been a while,” Bush said.
Mickey Louthan has driven the activity bus for 31 years, and said this is his third time to drive the team to a championship game. He also serves as Mayor of Seiling and teaches auto service at the high school. Many of the players are in his class, and he said “they are a nice bunch of kids.”
Louthan said, “There is really a whole lot of pride in the community, and everyone is really pushing for them.”
However, the support of the community does come with added pressure.
“They guys are under some pressure, but they act like its just a regular day,” Louthan said. “Come Saturday, they will be ready to play and will go out there and give it their all.”
Bush said the school is also keeping things as ‘normal’ as possible.
“We will have a regular pep assembly and a send-off but we don’t want to over do it so the kids can stay focused on the game,” he said.
The Wildcats have a record of 12-1, with Timberlake being their only loss.
“We didn’t play that well and had our worst game, and they had their best,” Bush said. “Timberlake is a talented and physical team and they will be tough. But we feel like the game will be different this time. We are really prepared and we feel like our kids will be ready to play.”
Seiling isn't the only Northwest Oklahoma school to be vying for a state high school football championship.
Garber and Canton play Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Stillwater High School for the Class- B football championship. In both games the district champion is playing the district runner up.
Bush said having two teams from northwest Oklahoma competing for championship titles “speaks highly of 8-man football in the area.”
