Coach Scott Harmon and his Wildcat coaching staff were hoping that they would be able to give playing time in Thursday’s football game to a long list of players.

That hope became reality as the Wildcats totally dominated the Capitol Hill Redwolves in a 67-0 rout at Sullins Stadium.

The victory was Ponca City’s fourth win in a row. The Wildcats improved their overall record to 4-4 and their District 6All-2 record to 4-1.

It took less than a minute for the Wildcats to score points as on the second play from scrimmage quarterback Tay Moore ran through the Capital Hill defense on a 57-yard touchdown run.

Two minutes later the Wildcats scored again on a 3-yard carry by Grant Harmon. It was a rout from that point on as the Wildcats were able to control the game.

Harmon expressed his gratitude to his team for the way things transpired.

“It was a good job of our starters taking care of business early in the game so we could get some younger kids some varsity experience,” Harmon said. “We did what we were supposed to do and got out of there healthy. We will try to do the same this week as we enter Week 10 and the playoffs.”

The Wildcats will be participating in the postseason for the first time since 2005 (except in 2020 when the playoffs were opened to every team because of COVID) and will be hosting a first round game for the first time since 2005. The win Thursday put an exclamation mark on the Wildcats finishing at least in third place in the district as two games remain-- next week against Northwest Classen at Sullins and the final week at Choctaw. Should Ponca City defeat Northwest Classen, and it is highly favored to do so, the game with Choctaw would be significant in determining which team will be No. 1 or No. 2 in the final district standings. If the Wildcats would upset highly ranked Choctaw, it could be a threeway tie for first between Choctaw, Deer Creek and Ponca City.

After the early touchdowns by Moore and Grant Harmon, Moore scored his second touchdown of the game on an 18-yard run. The touchdown came with 7:05 left in the first quarter and had been set up by a blocked punt which gave Ponca City possession on the Capitol Hill 18. With the kick Ponca City led 21-0 and had only run five plays from scrimmage.

Capitol Hill earned its first first down in its next possession, but was forced to punt. The Wildcats took possession at the Redwolf 28 and on the first play Moore passed to Bo Kyler for a 28-yard touchdown. The kick was good making the score 28-0 with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

Capitol Hill was forced to punt after three plays on its next possession and Ace McCloud threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Johnson with 1:19 left in the first quarter. The kick made the score 35-0.

A pass to Gavin Cunningham with 11:37 left in the first half gave Ponca City its next score, covering 23 yards. The kick failed, leaving the score 41-0.

Ponca City then scored on a 15-yard run by Malachi Rogers. The score moved to 47-0 with 7:19 left in the half.

A Capitol Hill pass was intercepted by PJ Garcia and returned to the three. Brody Wicker then scored on a threeyard run. The kick failed and the Wildcats led 53-0 at the half.

The clock ran constantly beginning in the second quarter on an agreement by both teams. Ponca City scored two more times in the second half, on a three-yard run by Cayden Tramell and a 16-yard run by Hayden Leclair. The Wildcats ran only 21 plays in the game while amassing 67 points.

Capitol Hill is now 1-7 on the season and 0-5 in the district.