By Kenton Brooks

Phoenix Sports Writer



Marcus Bruner said he’s been losing sleep this week.

But for a good reason.

He’s spent all of his waking — and possibly non-waking — hours thinking about tonight’s showdown between the Porter Pirates and the Copan Hornets for the District B-4 championship.

“I’m pumped up,” the 6-foot, 205-pound sophomore linebacker said. “I’ve been thinking this game 24/7. When I go to sleep, I’m thinking about it. When I come to school and during the day, I’m thinking about it.”

Bruner, who has a team-leading 101 tackles so far, and the rest of the Pirates put their thoughts into action as they seek their first district championship in school history. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Porter.

Both teams come in with identical 7-0 records for the season and 5-0 in district.

Obviously, this is all new to Porter.

Even with their success last year, the Pirates haven’t had this much hoopla surrounding them. A Tulsa-based radio station did a live interview with head coach Ron Coppedge this past week and multiple newspapers are calling to do stories.

“It’s good to see us having success,” Coppedge said. “The players have put in the hard work and we deserve to be right where we’re at. This is a big game for us.”

Steve Stanley, the first-year Copan coach, also recognizes the tremendous impact of tonight’s game.

“Porter’s very talented, well-coach and well-disciplined,” he said. “They’re a good football team.”

Tonight’s game could come down to the clash of irresistible force (Porter’s offense) against the immovable object (Copan’s defense).

The Hornets are giving up 5.1 points per game — the best in Class B this season. Meanwhile, the Pirates’ 44 points per game ranks second in the class.

Personnel-wise, running back Cody Taber leads the Pirates with 952 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns. Quarterback Cody McBride has completed 19 of 45 passes for 504 yards and carried the ball 63 times for 705 yards.

Tyler Shull, a 6-foot, 180-pound senior, leads Copan with his 1,001 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns. He also has 55 tackles and leads the Greater Tulsa Area in sacks with 16.5.

But to hear the Porter players talking about the game, the statistics and hype don’t matter. They’re not nervous about the showdown.

“It’s great. I love it,” junior linebacker-tight end Devin Johnson said. “All of us are focused. We don’t want to get the big head. We want to make sure we’re level-headed going into the game.”