Published September 20, 2024 by The Oklahoma
Written by Joe Mussatto
Capitol Hill High School football coach Clay Sizemore huddled with his players after practice Tuesday afternoon. Fall was only a few days away, but Speegle Stadium could’ve been confused for a convection oven.
It was about to get worse for the Red Wolves. Before sending his players off for post-practice conditioning, Sizemore turned up the temperature.
“We win one football game and we act like it’s mission accomplished,” Sizemore shouted. “Why are we acting like we’ve arrived?”
Two miles to the northeast, U.S. Grant was back at practice. It was U.S. Grant that Capitol Hill had just beaten in a battle of Oklahoma City Public Schools known as “Southside Bedlam.”
Next up for U.S. Grant was the “Southside Showdown” against Southeast High School — another OKCPS foe.
“Me as an adult, I probably shouldn’t hate them as much, but it’s still the burning alumni in me,” U.S. Grant coach Alex Levescy said. “I don’t like these guys.”
Sizemore and Levescy coach rival southside Oklahoma City schools, but they share plenty in common. They coach underdog programs where wins are few — except against each other — and obstacles abound.
From 2014 to 2020, Capitol Hill and U.S. Grant received approval from the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) to play as independents with the opportunity to create their own schedules. Initially a four-year plan that was subsequently extended, the break from OSSAA district play gave the two schools time to rebuild their football programs from the ground up.
Whether that reset worked hasn’t been reflected on the field.
From 2021 to 2023, with one season in Class 5A and two seasons in Class 6A, Capitol Hill is 0-21 in district play, outscored by an average of 55 points per game.
U.S. Grant, playing exclusively in Class 6A, is 1-20 in district play over that same stretch. Grant’s lone district win came over Northwest Classen, a fellow OKCPS school.
Sizemore and Levescy seem undeterred, though. Sure, they’re competitive and want to win football games. But they also know the scoreboard isn’t the only standard of success.
“It’s way more rewarding here,” Sizemore said, “because I can see the successes and you can see the impact. A lot of the kids other places I’ve been, their future is gonna be the same whether or not they met me. But here I get to build relationships … That’s a big deal for me.”
Alex Levescy leads alma mater, U.S. Grant
Levescy looks like a football coach. Floppy hat and sunglasses, barrel chest and bushy beard.
The 2011 U.S. Grant graduate, who played college ball at Central Oklahoma, is in his eighth season as head coach at his alma mater.
“I came from here,” Levescy said. “I walked these same hallways, I lived in the same locker room, I bled on this field, I sweat on this field.”
Levescy has brought stability to a U.S. Grant football program that lacked any semblance of it when Levescy was a student.
“I want better for these guys than what I had,” Levescy said. “I had three different head coaches, four different line coaches, three different defensive coordinators, four different offensive coordinators. I just want to be the consistency in these kids’ lives. That’s what keeps me motivated.”
OKCPS schools like Grant and Capitol Hill, with predominant Hispanic populations, have limited resources, especially compared to their fellow Class 6A schools.
Grant has seven coaches on staff. Some 6A schools might have as many as 15 to 20. Grant has about 50 players, which is a good number for it, but well below the roster sizes of most large-class schools.
“They have a full freshman team, a full JV team and a full varsity team where every year I’ve got freshman and sophomores who start for me and play varsity,” Levescy said.
In Levescy’s four years as a player at U.S. Grant, the Generals won two games.
U.S. Grant, which went 2-8 last season with wins against Capitol Hill and Northwest Classen, is 0-2 to start this season. The Generals dropped winnable games against Western Heights and Capitol Hill. After playing Southeast, the schedule toughens up with games against Southmoore, Stillwater and Piedmont.
What does winning look like at U.S. Grant?
“When at the end of the year we’re all sitting around beat up and struggling but we’re still here next to each other,” he said. “That bond, that brotherhood, that friendship that these kids get and that relationship they build with me and these coaches, I love that.
“I love wins, everybody loves wins, but I try to instill in them it’s not all about wins and losses.”
Why Clay Sizemore returned to Capitol Hill
Clay Sizemore is in his second stint as Capitol Hill’s head coach.
After coaching the Red Wolves in 2017 and 2018, he left for the offensive coordinator job at Edmond Memorial.
But it wasn’t long before Sizemore came back to Capitol Hill.
Now in the fourth season of his second stint, Sizemore just led the Red Wolves to their first win in the last two seasons. Capitol Hill beat U.S. Grant 19-12 in “Southside Bedlam.”
“It was great for the team,” Sizemore said. “Honestly, I didn’t think we played that well. At the end of the day, we needed a win.”
Sizemore pointed to one of his players who was helping clear the field after practice. The player was one of two seniors who were freshmen on Sizemore’s first team since returning to Capitol Hill.
“Awesome kid,” Sizemore said. “I think he’s missed maybe one workout the entire time he’s been here. He’s been busting his tail doing everything he can for the team, being a leader of the team since he was a freshman, and that was his second win … That’s a huge deal for me.”
From having 20-something guys come out for football when Sizemore started at Capitol Hill, the Red Wolves roster now reaches upwards of 70.
Like Levescy at U.S. Grant, Sizemore has cultivated a consistent environment at Capitol Hill.
“We’re getting better, improving all the time,” Sizemore said. “We need to start expecting more for ourselves. It’s the same stuff in the classroom. Don’t be content with those C’s, we need to be pushing ourselves to do better. They’re great kids, capable as anybody anywhere, but we just have to start pushing ourselves.”
Levescy, Sizemore making impact on Southside
Practice had ended, but Sizemore’s day wasn’t quite done. He drives three or four of his players home on a near daily basis — a duty not required of him when he coached in Edmond.
“Some of these kids will have to either miss practice or leave early because they’ve got to work,” Sizemore said. “I’ve got guys that help pay the bills. I got one kid that’s one of our best players, he pretty much pays all the bills. It’s a lot of those issues that pull us down, otherwise we’ve got awesome kids here that do more with less.
“I believe we’ll get there because we’ve got some of the toughest kids around.”
The kids at Grant are no different. And just as tough.
That’s what drew Levescy back to his alma mater. That’s what’s kept him there all these years later.
“Everybody tells me all the time, ‘Hey, you should be coaching college now, you should go do this or that.’ I don’t want to do that,” Levescy said. “I want to build this program, whether it takes 20, 50, whatever years.
“I want to be one of those old heads that gets to say, ‘Hey, I did it here.’”