Stillwater opens season with game of 'unknowns' against Arkansas powerhouse Fayetteville

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Stillwater has visited 7-on-7 camps in northwest Arkansas over the past decade, and it played a series against Greenwood (Ark.) High School in 2022 and 2023.

Now, the Pioneers are reaching across state lines again and opening the season against another Arkansas powerhouse at 7 p.m. Friday when Fayetteville visits Pioneer Stadium to kick off Week Zero.

“It’s something completely new. We haven’t played Fayetteville, and when it comes to games like that, there’s so many unknowns, and that’s also fun at the same time,” Stillwater coach Chad Cawood said. “They’re very good. We feel like we’re pretty good. Let’s go play and see what happens.”

Cawood and Stillwater had no connections to Fayetteville, other than the two schools needed an early game. It was scheduled around Christmas between Cawood and former Fayetteville coach Casey Dick, who left a month later for the head coaching job at Rockwall-Heath High in Texas.

Now the Purple Bulldogs come to Stillwater with new coach Anthony Lucas, a former Arkansas Razorback wide receiver.

“About the only connection we have over there is (defensive line) coach (Derrick) Anderson played with some of those guys at Arkansas (as a defensive lineman from 2000-01),” Cawood said. “But that was 20-25 years ago, so they’re all old now. Nobody remembers them. But we know they’ve had a lot of success.”

Fayetteville has won six Class 7A state titles since 2007, with the most recent coming in 2023. There was turnover from a year ago, including at quarterback, but the Purple Bulldogs still have the pedigree.

Lucas played at Arkansas from 1995-99 and is second in Razorbacks history in career receiving yards, third in receiving touchdowns, and he has the most 100-yard receiving games in program history. He likes to throw the ball around.

Lucas was an assistant at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, where he was part of multiple state championship teams. He then took over as head coach in 2021 and won back-to-back state title his first two seasons, and his teams routinely throw for well over 4,000 yards.

But the Pioneers take pride in their defense, and they return nine starters on that side of the ball, plus senior Dian Fix, who started a few games in the secondary last year. It’s a veteran, stingy group that only allowed about 12 points a game in 2025.

“We have a ton of experience back there in the secondary. And with the amount of pressure that we apply up front, our front six, hopefully we can hit home, apply some pressure on the quarterback and cause some problems in the back end with him with what he sees,” Cawood said.

Stillwater doesn’t have much film to go off of, having only seen Fayetteville’s spring game and one half of a scrimmage against Greenwood.

“But that’s all they’ve got on us, as well,” Cawood said. “We’ve got a quarter against Edmond North, a quarter against Yukon and some rapid fire. So, there’s a lot of unknowns on the field.”

The one place there’s not an unknown on the field is the Pioneer offense. In addition to the likes of returning junior quarterback Satank Taptto, junior running back Jaedan Adams, junior tight end Chandler Johnson and others, Cawood also likes his offensive line going into the matchup.

Outside of senior Paxton Pitchford, it’s a new group. Senior Carter Levings is a program player who has waited for his shot, and then there’s juniors Xuanxavier Alanis, Daniel Hornbeck and Roddy Spatz, along with sophomore Josh Diaz. Some of those are rolling out for varsity for the first time, but Cawood is excited in what he saw this fall and during scrimmages last week.

“Up front, I feel like we are way better than I could have ever imagined in just how they approach practice, how they approach the game, how they approach every drill of getting better,” Cawood said. “Excited to see those guys. You’re gonna see a lot of new faces up there, but they’ve put the work in, they’ve put the time in.”

The Pioneers want to be tested come playoff time, and their first challenge should do just that.

“Kinda like the whole Greenwood thing. There’s a good chance that Fayetteville is gonna be there in the end in Arkansas in 7A,” Cawood said. “Greenwood was always in their class at the end, and we’ll be competing for a championship hopefully at the end of ours as well.

“… This is one of those ones that I do call ‘the fun ones.’ Anybody can win.”

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