Mike Easley bided his time last season, listening and watching Kyle Coleman quarterback the Checotah Wildcats. Then, Coleman graduated and it was his turn.

“Kyle was a good leader,” Easley said. “I’ve tried to pick up where he left off.”

Easley, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound junior, has lifted the Wildcats to a different kind of heights with his passing. While Coleman was more of a runner, Easley fills the air, just like he did this past Friday night.

He completed all but three of his passes (17 of 20) for 270 yards and three touchdowns —all in the first half — in the 50-13 win at Hugo to help the Wildcats clinch third place out of District 3A-4

Easley receives the season’s final Player of the Week honor for his performance.

After Coleman led Checotah to its first district title in 50 years last year, coach Brandon Turley didn’t put any pressure on Easley coming into this season.

“The main thing is I didn’t want him to worry about being Kyle,” Turley said. “They’re a different type of quarterback. I knew going into this season that Mike was going to be the guy for us. Over the last three weeks, he’s done a good job at picking up his receivers and growing into his own at the position.”

Easley led the Wildcats to their first back-to-back playoff appearance since the 1994-95 seasons. Also, he has grown in maturity, gaining the experience with each game he plays.

“It’s been a great year and a lot of fun,” he said. “I knew it would be. I love to compete.”

Easley has completed 157 of 266 passes (59 percent) for 2,078 yards and 21 touchdowns this season. He has thrown only 11 interceptions.

In the win against Hugo, he didn’t throw any interceptions.

“(Some) of those incompletions were actually dropped balls or he would’ve been 19 of 20,” Turley said. “One of our assistant coaches said it best, that Mike was making all his reads. If he didn’t see the No. 1 receiver open, he went to No. 2 and so on. Mike knew what he wanted to before we as coaches knew what we wanted.”

Easley credits his receivers (Dexter Reeves, Austin Baker, Clint Newell, Ryan Goad and Keifer Williams) for his success this season.