By Kenton Brooks

Phoenix Sports Writer



TULSA — Even though Muskogee had the game well in hand early, Roughers football fans held their collective breath for a while Friday night.

Starting quarterback Archie Bradley bruised his right (throwing) shoulder on his second touchdown run — a nine-yard scamper — in the first quarter. He had his arm strapped down and was wearing a sling after the game.

Backup quarterback Mitch Stevenson came in and tossed a second-half touchdown pass as the Roughers dumped the Tulsa Memorial Chargers 47-8 in the District 6A-3 regular season finale at LaFortune Stadium.

Finishing as the 6A-3 runner-up with a 6-1 record, Muskogee (7-3) heads to the playoffs next Friday against Stillwater at Indian Bowl at 7:30 p.m. Owasso defeated Stillwater 34-20 Friday night.

Bradley, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound sophomore, said he bruised the muscle that leads from his shoulder to his neck.

“Being me, I think I’m bigger than I am,” Bradley said. “I hit the dude while I was trying to get into the end zone. He popped me pretty good. Mitch is a great backup. He can get the job done, too.

“We had the game in hand. I just have to keep (the shoulder) immobilized through the weekend and I’ll be good for Stillwater.”

Stevenson tossed an eight-yard touchdown pass to Angelo Shipp with 5:28 left in the third quarter to close out the Roughers’ scoring.

Stevenson, a 5-11, 180-pound junior, completed 6 of 10 passes for 82 yards.

“I think I did all right,” he said. “I’ve got to be prepared. Anything can happen at anytime. I get a lot of reps in practice. No, I wasn’t nervous at all.”

The Roughers dominated, gaining 377 yards in total offense to Memorial’s 156. Memorial didn’t get its first down until 10:45 remained in the first half and that came on a Muskogee penalty.

As far as MHS’s ground game, Allen Starks had a game-high 96 yards on 13 carries. Vernon Scott had 50 yards on seven totes. Kiki Smith came off the bench to run for 51 yards on 11 carries.

The Roughers rolled to a 40-0 halftime lead, getting 26 of that in the first period.

Bradley got things going with a 53-yard touchdown run just 16 seconds into the game. He scored again on a nine-yard run with 6:48 left in the first period.

Bradley came out after the first quarter with his shoulder injury and had 62 yards rushing on two carries and completed 5 of 8 passes for 44 yards.