CLEVELAND — Rivalries are funny things. They can survive graduating classes, coaching changes, classification shifts, crappy old stadium lights and enough bad blood to fill a cow pond.
Cleveland and Hominy have been doing this for 104 years. And in the latest chapter, Hominy got the better of it.
The Bucks beat Cleveland 32-8 Thursday, Aug. 27 in a game that was much tighter than the final score wants you to believe. The Tigers trailed just 14-0 at halftime and cut it to 14-8 early in the third quarter when sophomore quarterback Bryson Sullivan scored on a 4-yard run, then hit Colter McArthur for the two-point conversion.
For a moment, Cleveland had itself in the middle of that 104-year argument.
Then the turnovers popped up. Again and again.
Cleveland gave the ball away eight times — seven interceptions and a fumble — Hominy turned those mistakes into distance.
By the time the smoke cleared, the Bucks had stretched a six-point game into a 32-8 win.
That was the ugly part. The encouraging part?
Not that game. But the next one — against Sequoyah, because eight days later, the Tigers went back to work against Sequoyah and came out on the right side of a 4241 shootout.
That is quite a momentum shift.
From scoring eight points and handing the ball away like candy at the Christmas Parade to putting 42 on the board and closing out a onepoint thriller.
Young teams will do that to you. They’ll make you question everything one week and then make you wonder why you ever worried the next.
Sullivan remains at the center of it. He is only a sophomore, but this is not his first rodeo. He started at quarterback as a freshman, and Cleveland is clearly asking him to carry a lot of responsibility in a hurry. Against Hominy, he showed both sides of that learning curve.
He made the play that got Cleveland back within one score.
Then the game got away. Against Sequoyah, the Tigers showed something else entirely: They can answer. They can block. They can run. They can pass.
Cleveland is back in Class 4A this season, with a young core around veterans such as Carson Taylor, Jayden Wynn, Dawson Kelcey and Oakden Ellis. There are going to be nights when the growing pains are obvious.
Hominy was a big one. But there are also going to be nights when the talent shows through.
Sequoyah was one of those.
The Tigers are 1-1 now, and if the first two games have established anything, it is that boring probably will not be part of the package.
Cleveland took a hard lesson in a 104-year rivalry.
Then it came back a week later and won a 42-41 fistfight.
This is not a finished football team. But it is one worth watching.