Michael Kent earns Wiley Post Player of the Week after five TD night
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
Oct 5, 2026
Apparently, nobody told Michael Kent how this was supposed to go.
Bartlesville was a heavy underdog. Yukon was unbeaten, ranked top 5 in Oklahoma and loaded with talent.
Kent didn't seem to care.
He threw for 289 yards. He ran for 118 more. He accounted for five touchdowns and spent Friday night turning collapsing pockets and broken plays into reasons for Custer Stadium to keep believing.
Bartlesville lost 76-42.
But Kent played with abandon.
Bartlesville quarterback Michael Kent celebrates after scoring a rushing touchdown against Yukon at Custer Stadium.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
That's why he's this week's Wiley Post Player of the Week.
A tale of two quarterbacks
There were two very good quarterbacks at Custer Stadium on Friday night, and in some ways they represented two different sides of modern high school football.
On the Yukon sideline was Zealand Danielson. Danielson is 6-foot-3, a Class of 2028 quarterback and a legitimate Division I prospect. His recruiting profile already includes offers from Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Kansas State, Iowa State, Arizona and several others.
His football journey has already taken him well beyond the boundaries of one hometown. His résumé includes time in Hawaii, Arizona, Alabama, and California before he arrives at Yukon.
And Friday night, it was easy to understand all the attention.
Danielson completed 17 of 26 passes for 338 yards and five touchdowns. That's nearly 20 yards per completed pass. He looked like a quarterback with a future in the sport because, well, he probably has one.
Then there was Kent.
His story is different.
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Kent is a junior who has grown into the Bartlesville quarterback job and is now in his third season after taking over as starter his Freshman year.
And when Bartlesville fell behind Yukon 28-0 early in the second quarter Friday, Kent didn't have the luxury of playing conservatively and protecting a stat line.
He had to make something happen.
So he did.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Just keep playing
Bartlesville scored touchdowns on five of six possessions during one stretch, turning what looked like an early runaway into a game Yukon had to keep scoring because their defense struggled to get stops.
Kent was in the middle of almost all of it.
And here's why those 42 points are impressive.
Yukon had been allowing just 16 points per game. No. 6 Mustang, one of the best teams in Oklahoma, only managed 35 against the Millers.
Bartlesville scored 42, with Kent accounting for five of six touchdowns.
That's what can happen when an underdog refuses to play like one.
There were throws. There were designed runs. There were scrambles when the original plan disappeared and Kent decided to invent another one.
He has a backyard-football quality, except the kid playing quarterback in the backyard isn't supposed to put 407 yards on No. 4 team in the state — Bartlesville is considered around 85th in statewide rankings.
Bartlesville quarterback Michael Kent takes a hit while releasing a pass against Yukon at Custer Stadium.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
But as I said, Kent didn't seem to get the memo.
He just kept playing.
That's nothing new, either. He has rushed for at least one touchdown every time he has taken the field this season.
A week earlier against Enid, Kent threw four touchdown passes and ran for two more.
That's 11 in two games.
There is still room for this kind of football
High school football has changed.
Recruiting begins younger. Highlight videos go online almost immediately. Offers are announced on social media. Rankings are updated. Camps, combines and private training have become part of the landscape for elite prospects.
There is nothing inherently wrong with any of that. Danielson has earned the attention he is getting, and Friday night offered 338 yards and five more reasons why college coaches are watching him.
But Kent reminds us there is still room in this game for something that feels a little more old-school.
Friday night can still just be Friday night.
You can play for your school, in front of your town, on homecoming weekend.
You can get knocked down, fall four touchdowns behind and decide you're going to make the other team earn every bit of it.
You can run around until a busted play becomes a touchdown.
And when it's over, even after a 76-42 loss, you can still hug people and smile and get ready for the dance the next night.
Because you're a high school kid, grateful to play in a town you call home.
It's still nice to see football being a sport of passion and community, and not weekly tryouts for another team.
The final score mattered. Of course it did. Bartlesville lost, and nobody needs to pretend otherwise.
But losing a football game doesn't mean there wasn't something worth celebrating inside it.
Kent produced major yardage on offense and five touchdowns against an unbeaten team ranked among Oklahoma's best. He helped turn a 28-0 hole into a game that, for a stretch, had Custer Stadium believing in miracles.
Bartlesville quarterback Michael Kent makes a Yukon defender miss on his way to a rushing touchdown at Custer Stadium.
Andy Dossett | The Wiley Post
More than that, he played like someone who loves the game.
Maybe that's the best thing about Michael Kent.
He doesn't look like he's trying to build a self-centered brand.
He plays like he wants to make his parents, team and town proud.
And if a play falls apart?
Well, give him a few seconds.
He might come up with a better one.
That's a pretty good reason to keep watching.
And it's more than enough to make Michael Kent the Wiley Post Player of the Week.
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