From the opening kickoff, the Hornets turned it up a notch last Thursday, jumping out to a 21-0 lead on Tulsa Webster en route to the 51-29 victory.
Coach Don Hendrix said his team had a sense of urgency.
“We needed a victory to keep our playoff chances alive,” he said. “We’ve had our games where it took a while to get started, but we wanted to establish something early.”
The Hornets, now 5-4 overall and 3-3 in District 4A-4, scored on their first three possessions for the early lead. Hilldale had 197 yards in total offense after the first three touchdowns and finished with 468 yards for the game.
The win secures Hilldale a non-losing season.
“That was one of our goals going into this season after being 1-9 last year,” Hendrix said.
That game is the past as the Hornets now put all of their attention on the showdown at Wagoner this Friday.
Hilldale needs to win also hope Poteau loses to Muldrow. if Poteau loses, the marginal points difference between the Pirates’ loss and Hilldale’s win must favor Hilldale by eight or more points.
“Our thing is take care of business and do things right,” Hendrix said. “That’s going to be the big key.”
Muskogee seeks postseason
The Roughers’ playoff scenario is simple.
MHS has to win at home against Tulsa Memorial Friday and hope Sand Springs loses to Jenks. If Claremore loses to Sapulpa, the Roughers nail down fourth place by virtue of the head-to-head meeting with the Sandites. if it goes to a tiebreaker in marginal points, coach Matt Hennesy’s team needs to win by 11 or more points. That would keep Claremore from knocking MHS out of the picture as the Zebras trail Muskogee by six in marginal points.
“It’s all out there for us to do and we’ve got to do it,” Hennesy said.
If the Roughers advance to the postseason, they will play at Tulsa Union next Friday.
Hennesy is impressed with Memorial even though it is winless in district.
“They have good athletes,” he said. “We’ve got be ready and go play.”
MHS 2-6 overall and 2-4 in District 6A-3, comes off a 58-15 loss to Jenks last week.
“Their offense is as good as they’ve had in a long time,” Hennesy said. “Their offensive line is one of the best high school offensive lines. (Quarterback Sawyer) Kollomorgen threw it on the money.
“We decided to try to stop the run and they ate us up with the pass.”
Fort Gibson to focus on off-season
With no chance for the playoffs, coach D.J. Howell said once the Tigers wrap up the regular season at Broken Bow on Friday, they will be get ready for the off-season.
“Hopefully, we’ll get in 9 to 10 months of steady work,” he said. “We’re going to make sure of that.”
Howell wants the Tigers to be bigger and stronger.
“Our inside linebackers are 135-140 pounds and they’re going against guys who are 250-300 pounds,” he said. “We need to get in the weight room.”
The numbers appear to be better.
“We’ll lose 10 seniors but we’re going to have 25 freshman coming back and that’s a 10-player swing to our advantage,” the first-year coach said.
Before off-season begins, the Tigers have the one last game to play and it’s on the road.
Fort Gibson is 3-6 overall and 1-5 in 4A-4 after the 21-14 loss to Poteau. Broken Bow, going to the playoffs, is 6-3 and 5-1.
“They run the football well and have a big tailback,” Howell said. “They play solid defense and are good at it. Broken Bow has a lot of talent.”
