By Mike Kays

Phoenix Sports Editor



The intensity of the first four weeks of the season hasn’t been matched the past four weeks but Muskogee has reached its point of desired destiny as the season’s ninth week beckons.

It’s Jenks Week and at stake is a District 6A-3 championship Friday night at Indian Bowl between the Roughers (6-2, 4-0) and Trojans (7-1, 4-0) in a 7:30 Halloween kickoff.

Muskogee coach Matt Hennesy told his team in the wake of last Friday’s 35-0 win over Sapulpa — a game that saw five turnovers and 120 yards in Roughers penalties — that he was glad they had finally reached the point that they were facing a team he believed they’d treat as serious as he’d hoped for all season.

“We’re just so young, we’re not a team that can come out flat and unfocused,” Hennesy said after Friday’s win.

He added, “This is one of those games you obviously don’t have to worry about not getting ready for. Why you play this game is for these kind of games. Playing Jenks for a district championship at Indian Bowl— it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Said inside linebacker Erik Howell, while acknowledging the bad habits of the past four weeks: “I don’t think we’ll have any problem preparing for what’s ahead and I think we’ll be ready Friday night.”

Howell’s readiness arrives this week with some questions due to a pulled groin. He still led the team in tackles Friday with 13 but was spelled some in the second half, forcing Muskogee into some basic sets. He said afterward he was “OK” but his status will be something to watch this week.

Defensive coordinator David Heath said he expected Howell would play.

“We’ll get by. He’ll go and probably have to deal with it a bit,” he said. “One way or the other we’ve got to go to work and get ready.”

Indeed, the approach will have as much to do as anything if Muskogee is going to have a shot at winning in this series for the first time since 1992.

“We can’t do some of the things we’ve been doing or we’ll beat ourselves. We have to be flawless. I mean, it’s Jenks,” running back Vernon Scott said on the heels of a 124-yard rushing night against the winless Chieftains. “We have to match their intensity and be disciplined.”