The Ringling Blue Devils closed out the 2019 football season like every team dreams – by winning a state championship last Saturday in the Class A finals.
Ringling built a 20-7 lead and then held off Cashion for the 20-14 victory over the Wildcats and earn a fifth state championship in football for the Blue Devils.
Cashion was the top-ranked Class A team at the end of the regular season and Ringling was the number two squad.
The contest, played at the University of Central Oklahoma campus in Edmond, was pretty even but ultimately the Blue Devil defense was able to hold off Cashion.
Ringling rallied from a season-opening 22-20 loss to Mangum by winning 13 straight games en route to the title.
In those 13 wins, opponents failed to score against the Blue Devil defense nine times.
Second-year coach Phil Koons guided the Blue Devils to their first state title since 2012.
DEVIL DABBLINGS: The Blue Devils made their 43rd appearance in post-season play and Ringling holds an 81-38 record in all playoff games… .The Blue Devils first made an appearance in the playoffs in 1961…Currently the Blue Devils have made the playoffs every year this century…Ringling has appeared in the playoffs for 21 straight seasons…..The Blue Devils’ march to the state title was an unusual one in that the Blue Devils had not met any of the opponents in previous playoff games until the game with Cashion….Ringling is now 2-2 in playoff games against Cashion…Ringling, which won two home playoff games this season, is now 49-15 in home games in the playoffs….Ringling holds a 19-15 mark in road wins in the playoffs including this season’s 28-12 victory at Pawhuska….Ringling is 13-8 in playoff games played at neutral sites….Ringling has played for the state championship 11 times and have won five gold balls….Ringling has shutout 23 opponents in post-season play and two of those shutouts came this year against Watonga and Frederick….Ryan head football coach and principal, Tony Tomberlin, is a Ringling graduate….The Blue Devils have had 13 seasons since 1960 in which they lost only one game or less in a season….Ringling is an astounding 11-2 in semifinal games in the playoffs….Ringling has failed to advance to the second round only 12 times in 43 post-season appearances….The other state championship Blue Devil squads came in 2003, 1992 and 1989.
