Bartlesville football shows signs of a culture shift in Matt Hennesy's winning debut
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
Aug. 30, 2026
The ball boys were ready this time.
A week earlier, during Bartlesville's preseason scrimmage against Bishop Kelley, they had drawn the attention of new head coach Matt Hennesy for the wrong reasons.
They weren't always where they needed to be, and Hennesy made it clear that standing on a football sideline came with responsibilities.
Michael Kent quarterbacks the Bartlesville Bruins against Skiatook on Aug. 28 at Custer Stadium, where he threw for 332 yards and helped lead BHS to a 45-14 victory.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
The ball boys met the next week. By Friday night against Skiatook, the difference was obvious.
They were on it.
It was a tiny piece of a much bigger night at Custer Stadium, where Bartlesville dismantled Skiatook 45-14 in Hennesy's first official game as head coach. But if you're trying to understand what Hennesy is building, don't just watch the scoreboard.
Watch the sideline.
Hennesy has talked about creating something bigger than a successful football team. He wants Bartlesville to become a football community — one that pulls together the players, coaches, band, cheerleaders, volunteers, fans and everything else the city already has at its disposal.
Friday night offered the first real glimpse of what that might look like.
The home stands looked fuller than they had during the last few seasons. The crowd had energy.
And the Bruins gave them plenty to cheer about, racing to a 36-7 halftime lead and putting a running clock into effect in the fourth quarter.
For a program that has spent the last several seasons searching for traction, something simply felt different.
And Hennesy wasn't about to let a 31-point victory change the standard.
Perfection means more than the scoreboard
The day before games, Bartlesville holds what Hennesy calls a "perfect practice."
The name says plenty about the expectation.
Friday, the Bruins were nowhere near literally perfect. Skiatook returned a kickoff for a touchdown after Bartlesville went ahead 14-0, then recovered an onside kick. There were mistakes to correct.
But Bartlesville overwhelmed the Bulldogs anyway, and by the beginning of the fourth quarter, Hennesy had pulled most of his offensive starters.
Gavin Thomas blocks a Skiatook punt deep in Bulldog territory on Aug. 28 at Custer Stadium, with the play resulting in a safety during Bartlesville's 45-14 victory.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley post
Some apparently took that as permission to start celebrating.
Hennesy did not approve.
When a group of players began posing for pictures on the sideline while their teammates were still playing, the head coach unloaded.
His message was straightforward: The players on the field had spent three quarters supporting the starters. Now it was their turn to play, and they deserved the same attention.
In Hennesy's program, being finished playing doesn't mean you're finished doing your job.
That standard appears to apply to everybody.
At one point Friday, Hennesy even got after a coach who had forgotten his pen.
Apparently, there's no place to hide from accountability on this sideline.
Knowing when to teach
What may be more telling, however, is that Hennesy doesn't correct everybody the same way.
Late in the game, Bartlesville's second-team offense faced fourth down when a high snap sailed past sophomore quarterback Ethan Espe.
Espe chased it and recovered the football near his own 1-yard line, setting Skiatook up with first-and-goal and a touchdown.
It would have been an easy moment for a coach demanding perfection to explode.
Head coach Matt Hennesy speaks with backup quarterback Ethan Espe after a fourth-quarter mistake against Skiatook on Aug. 28 at Custer Stadium, where Bartlesville won 45-14.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
Hennesy didn't.
He walked over, put a hand on the young quarterback and explained what he should have done differently.
Then he sent him right back onto the field for the next possession.
His standards don't change. His response does.
A sophomore learning through live varsity snaps gets instruction.
Someone Hennesy believes should already know better?
You might want to have that pen handy.
Bruins pile up the highlights
There was plenty worth celebrating once the game actually ended.
Michael Kent and Price Lusk spent three quarters shredding the Skiatook secondary. Lusk finished with 210 receiving yards and three touchdowns and added an interception while playing defensive back.
Boden Roberts created problems of his own on defense, recording three sacks and five total tackles.
Gavin Thomas produced one of the night's biggest special-teams moments when he broke through to block a Skiatook punt deep in Bulldog territory, with the play resulting in a safety.
Drake Ford was credited with eight assisted tackles before leaving the game with an apparent injury.
Then there was Maci Alleman.
One week after missing her only field-goal opportunity during the scrimmage, the junior kicker responded by going 3-for-3 against Skiatook, connecting from 27, 16 and 18 yards.
Maci Alleman kicks off against Skiatook on Aug. 28 at Custer Stadium, where the Bartlesville junior went 3-for-3 on field goals from 27, 16 and 18 yards in the Bruins' 45-14 victory.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
Bartlesville's defense forced three takeaways, and the Bruins scored on seven of their first nine offensive possessions.
Bartlesville hadn't opened a season 1-0 since 2022, and the Bruins now head to Claremore on Friday with a chance to build some early momentum.
But the more interesting story may be happening around the football.
Hennesy isn't behaving like a coach who believes fixing Bartlesville football begins and ends with finding better plays to call.
He is trying to establish expectations for everybody who touches the program.
Players play.
Backups support starters, then starters support backups.
Coaches come prepared.
Ball boys know where to stand and what to do.
Boden Roberts celebrates his third sack of the game against Skiatook on Aug. 28 at Custer Stadium, where he finished with three sacks and five total tackles in Bartlesville's 45-14 victory.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
The band, cheerleaders, volunteers and fans work together.
And winning becomes something the community participates in, not something it watches from the stands.
One victory over Skiatook doesn't mean Bartlesville has arrived. The Bruins will face much tougher tests, and a 45-14 opener won't erase the struggles of previous seasons.
But culture changes can be difficult to measure until suddenly they aren't.
Under Matt Hennesy, everybody has a role in building Bartlesville football.
And he expects them to play it.
