‘The Gold Standard’ | Kingfisher Times & Free Press

This was one for Jett Mueggenborg, but also Jarrod Mueggenborg.

It was for Easton Roby, but also Barry Schwarz.

It was for Wyatt Pinkerton, but also for Shane Coffey.

It was for Hunter Mueggenborg, but also for Tyler Karr.

It was for Caden Schieber, but also for Aaron West.

And for Ray West. And for Tom Arms. And Bob Carter.

“I said at the beginning of the year that we’ve got a great group,” Aaron West said of the Okarche Warrior basketball team.

“But nobody is going to back down and give you anything. You have to work for it, but also realize you’re playing for a bigger purpose.

“You’re playing for everyone who came before you here. Everyone who ever made any kind of sacrifi ce for this program. We represent all of that.”

••• As the final seconds ticked off the clock at State Fair Arena last Saturday night, those names and so many more rushed through Aaron West’s mind.

“But it’s also still a blur,” he said.

For good reason. West and his team had just paid tribute to those who came before them, those who filled the arena stands and so many more who were keeping track from somewhere else in the best way possible.

They won the 2024 Class A boys basketball state championship.

The Warriors capped a brilliant state tournament that night with a dominant second half to beat fifthranked and defending state champion Caddo 56-38.

In snapping a 17-game Caddo win streak, Okarche held the Bruins to seven second-half points.

The Warriors did it the way they’ve done all season: Their hard work, relentless style of play and determination wore down their opponent.

“We just go, go, go,” said sophomore Jett Mueggenborg, who was named the state tournament MVP.

Okarche did much the same all year long, pressing and pushing opponents into submission.

There were a few hiccups along the way.

The Warriors suffered their first loss to Leedey an eventual Class B state semifinal team – in the finals of the Leedey Tournament.

Then came the back-toback four-point losses to Calumet (which was undefeated until the Class B state championship team) and Hennessey (headed to the Class 2A state tournament).

“We will get it fixed,” said West after the loss to the Eagles.

They didn’t have much time, but Okarche throttled a pair of Three Rivers Conference foes to end the regular season, including a 30-point win over 2A No. 12 Fairview.

Then came the team’s playoff slate, which appeared uncharacteristically difficult on paper considering Okarche was the fourthranked team in Class A.

Up first was Ringwood in the district championship, a team on a six-game win streak and 18 total wins (it eventually was 20).

Then it was Hominy to open the regional. The Bucks owned 18 wins and an eight-game streak.

The regional championship was 11th-ranked Pond Creek-Hunter, a team with 21 wins.

Some were able to hang tough, but all eventually wilted.

The area title game saw Okarche take down No. 8 Seiling, a team that eventually knocked off No. 1 Okay and made its way into the state semifinal round.

That got Okarche into the state tournament, which isn’t uncommon.

Seventeen Warrior teams have made their way into the state tournament, including most of these same players last season.

But only one – the 1979 squad – had made its way to the mountaintop.

Some Okarche teams were perhaps good enough, but didn’t catch the right breaks. The Warriors were state runners-up in 1978, 1989, 1990, 1997 and 2010.

Others over-achieved and put themselves in position, but fell short.

And yet others didn’t quite find their way to the Big House.

West saw the faces of all those generations of players throughout Okarche’s season and playoff run.

And he knew they were ready to see their Warriors capture gold.

“You know you’re beyond blessed to have the community you do when you walk out there and there’s this huge roar,” West said. “So I made sure our guys knew we were playing for everyone. The former players. The former coaches. The managers. The fans. The community.

“We were representing them.”

But what a task it would be.

Second-ranked Rattan -the team that beat Okarche in the 2023 quarterfinals – awaited yet again in the first round.

After a sluggish start, Schieber played the game of his life to produce 14 points and 17 rebounds in a 63-54 Okarche victory.

“Caden getting all those rebounds is the reason we won that game,” said sophomore Easton Roby.

West agreed. “If he doesn’t perform like that, I don’t think we get to the next round, much less the state finals,” West said.

Schieber is West’s nephew and the grandson of the late Ray West.

He set a goal after Ray passed away in 2019 that he’d win a state championship.

“A lot of people can say that, but it’s tough to do,” West said.

Things got no…