FROM TULSA WORLD 09/19/05

by BARRY LEWIS World Sports Writer
9/19/2005

Commerce has reached the state quarterfinals in six of the past seven seasons.

If the Tigers' first three games are any indication, this may be the year they can go deeper into the playoffs.

On Friday, Commerce defeated defending Class A champion Pawnee, 33-28 -- a turnaround of 40 points from last year's 53-18 loss in Week 3.

"We're still on Cloud Nine," Commerce coach Rick Trimble said. "It didn't take long for our field to get pretty full with our fans after the game ended."

Commerce, which was 11-2 last year, moves up a slot to No. 2 in the Tulsa World's Class A rankings. Tonkawa, which reached the final last year, rises to No. 1, while Pawnee falls to fifth.

"I really felt good about our chances going into the game," Trimble said. "We run the true triple option and we can be hard to prepare for. After watching Pawnee on film, we decided we were going to keep our offense vanilla."

Tigers senior quarterback Klint Reading usually piles up yardage passing, but he did it on the ground against Pawnee with 234 rushing yards and three TDs. Last year, Reading passed for 1,487 yards with 30 touchdowns and rushed for 586 with 10 TDs.

"We've had quarterbacks who have run well and those who have passed well, but few have been able to do both like Klint can," Trimble said.

"Klint has a lot of savvy and makes good decisions. He's like having a coach in the huddle. He is such a competitor and such a tough kid."

Reading scored the winning TD on a 50-yard run with about three minutes left. The Tigers could not relax, however, until knocking down a deep fourth-down pass at their 5-yard line with five seconds left.

"We've had a lot of big wins, but to beat a team the caliber of Pawnee -- this one is right up there with the best," Trimble said.

Commerce won despite playing most of the game without starting senior running back-linebacker Tim Osborn, who sustained a knee injury. His status is undetermined.