— In Hilldale’s first three games this season, one thing is clear: The Hornets are strong defensively against the run.

That was very much in evidence this past Friday night in limiting Beggs to just two yards rushing in the 28-12 victory.

“That’s not bad, is it?” coach Chad Kirkhart said. “You don’t go into a game thinking you’re going to hold someone to two yards rushing. We played really well. I don’t know if that’s ever happened here. Our guys up front played well. When they do that, it allows our linebackers to run. All of that makes for a good night for us.”

The play of the Hornets’ defense was particularly impressive against Beggs running back Chris Baccus who only had four yards rushing. He ran for 2,109 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2011.

“He’s a talented running back who weighs 190 pounds. I’ve also seen him in track and he can really run,” Kirkhart said. “It was definitely a challenge to stop him.”

As far as Baccus is concerned, Hilldale met that challenge.

“They played really well,” he said after the game. “Hilldale hits and makes tackles like a good team should.”

Kirkhart has the team thinking run first when it’s on defense.

“In order to have a good defense, you’ve got to stop the run and make people throw it to beat you,” he said.

Teams have resorted to the pass against the Hornets this season with varying results. The Hornets’ pass defense intercepted quarterback Cade Shearwood four times in the 26-21 victory against Stigler.

But Fort Gibson completed a 56-yard touchdown pass to a wide open tight end Ned Adair and Beggs scored on a 40-yard touchdown halfback option. Kirkhart agrees that his team’s pass defense needs some work.

“The reason for those passes may be a lack of focus,” he said. “It’s not because they can’t play. They showed that they can in week one against Stigler. It’s our goal in the secondary not to give up big plays. If you do that, it means a touchdown. We want to eliminate the big plays. We’ve got to be more disciplined.”

The Hornets face another team Friday that likes to run with the ball when they start District 3A-7 play at Jay. While Hilldale is 2-1, the Bulldogs are 3-0 and led by quarterback Shai Jones, who has 506 yards rushing for the season including 311 against Grove in week two.

“They want him to carry the ball most of the time,” Kirkhart said. “He’s a talented, tough kid who runs hard. He makes their offense go.

“We’ve played a pretty tough non-district schedule that prepared us for district. We expect to play well this week.”