Four area schools played in the third round of the Class A football playoffs Friday night. Three won their games to advance to the quarterfinal round.

Pawnee topped Colcord 58-15, Woodland defeated Gore 38-18 and Morrison got past heavily favored Wewoka 32-24 to advance. Only Tonkawa went down to defeat losing to Thomas 44-8. Details of the Tonakwa game with Thomas appear elswhere in this edition.

All three winning teams are part of District A-6, which points out that some of the best high school football in the state is played in this area. Tonkawa was a member of A-6 a year ago as was Pawhuska, which also qualified for the quarterfinal round Friday. Five of the teams in A-6 a year ago were among the top 16 teams in this year’s playoffs.

In Class 6AII, Choctaw upset Stillwater 38-35 Saturday to advance to the State Championship game against Bixby. The Spartans qualified for the title game with a 49-20 win over Midwest City.

PAWNEE 58, COLCORD 15

The Pawnee Black Bears were the only area team to play a game at home Friday. After Colcord scored an early touchdown, Pawnee took charge of this game running its reltentless ground game over around and through Colcord.

The Black Bears lead 38-7 at the half after scoring on their first five possessions. The half ended with Pawnee on the way to a possible sixth touchdown. As affirmation of how dominating Pawnee’s rushing attack was, the Bears piled up 402 yards rushing in the first half alone. Quarterback Blake Skidgel led the was with 216 yards on 17 carries while running back Trevor Mitchell had 132 yards on 16 carries. Skidgel ended the game with 231 yards rushing and Mitchell had 212. Before the game was over Barrett Stevens joined the other two in the triple digit club with 118 yards.

The Bears will play Thomas-Fay-Custer in the quarterfinal round Friday. The Terriers will be the host team. The win boosts Pawnee’s record to 9-1. It is the second consecutive year Pawnee has had a team go this deep in the playoffs.

WOODLAND 38, GORE 18

Woodland’s Cougars won their 12th game of the season, topping previously unbeaten Gore on Gore’s home field.

The Cougars ammassed 336 yards total offense, much of which came on the ground. Quarterback Nate Lockert had yet another impressive game, gaining 208 yards and four touchdowns on 27 carries. Lockert completed two of five pass attempts for 68 yards and another touchdown. In addition, Lockert ran for a two-point conversion. He had 276 total years and accounted for five touchdowns.

Running back Jake Kennedy carried the ball 19 times for 62 yards and scored two two-point conversion. Wide receiver Mason Dysart had one reception for 46 yards and tight end Lucian McKinney had one reception for 17 yards and a touchdown.

On the defensive side, Lockert had nine tackles; Jackson Rhodes had seven tackles; Kennedy had 10 tackles, one for a loss; Trey Reese had three tackles; Jamie Jordan had three tackles and one interception; Ben Brock had four tackles; Mason Dysart had four tackles; Nathan Bouchard had four tackles and McKinney had three tackles.

The Cougars face a difficult assignment this week, traveling to No. 2 Cashion. The Wildcats are unbeaten on the season.

MORRISON 32, WEWOKA 24

Morrison, which has flown under the radar for much of the season, proved it belonged in the final eight teams by whipping previously unbeaten Wewoka Friday night.

Morrison took charge of the game early and led 24-8 at the half. But Wewoka returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown to make the score 24-16 and then scored on its next possession to tie the game at 24-24.

Early in the fourth quarter, Morrison score on a Tyler Voss run to go ahead 32-24. The Wildcats stopped Wewoka, holding on a fourthdown attempt and then was able to run the final seven plus minutes off the clock with a sustained drive.

Morrison Coach Cory Bales was quoted as saying that the difference in the game was his quarterback Jared Harmon. Harmon passed for more than 100 yards, which opened up the game somewhat. Wewoka was stuffing the box to stop Morrison’s vaunted running attack and Harmon’s passing helped thwart the Wewoka defensive strategy.

Morrison is now 9-2 for the season and will travel to Ringling Friday to play the No. 1 ranked, and defending state champions on their home turf.