By Kenton Brooks
As Gore coach Brandon Ellis looks at the District A-5 standings, he sees two clearly contrasting roads for his team beyond tonight’s regular season finale.
Beat Savanna in tonight’s 7:30 contest at Gore and the Pirates finish third in District A-6 and would face a likely matchup against Stafford, currently the second-place team from A-5. A loss would drop them to fourth place and a meeting with the A-5 champion, No. 4 and unbeaten Stroud.
“Our game has huge implications,” Ellis said. “There’s a big drop off between first and second place teams in that other district.”
So despite tucking away a postseason berth, there’s no time to relax for either Gore or Savanna, 7-2 overall and 6-2 in A-6 going into the game.
“When you relax, you get beat,” said Ethan James, the Pirates’ 6-foot-5, 275-pound tackle. “We want to finish out the regular season at 8-2 and we want to keep going (in the playoffs).”
The Pirates are going into tonight’s game and the postseason nursing injuries. For example, A.J. McFarland continues to recover from a cracked rib and Colton Clay has been sidelined for the season with a broken collarbone.
Gore is coming off a crucial 7-0 win against Haileyville last week.
Quarterback Logan Andrews is ready as ever for tonight’s showdown like he has been for any other game this season. He wants his teammates to be the same way.
“We’ve got to come out fired up,” he said. “This is a big game for us. Hopefully, we’ll end up on top.”
Ellis couldn’t agree more about the game’s implications but adds, it goes beyond the playoff positioning.
“There was a lot of doubt about us being as good as last year,” he said. “We now have a chance to be better than last year with a win. All of the weight’s on our shoulders. If we take care of business, we’ll get Stratford.”
Meanwhile, in the only other game involving an area team tonight, Hulbert (1-8, 1-7 A-8) closes out its season at Commerce (7-2, 6-2). The Riders are coming off their first win this season, beating Okay 52-6 last Friday. Commerce is trying to clinch a playoff spot.
Capsules
A-6
Savanna at Gore
Radio: KTFX 101.7FM
Records: Gore 7-2, 6-2; Savanna 7-2, 6-2.
Last week: Gore 7, Haileyville 0; Savanna 10, Quinton 6.
Last meeting: Gore 37, Savanna 13 (2008).
Series record: Gore leads, 3-0.
Notes: Gore has clinched its fourth straight playoff berth.
A-8
Hulbert at Commerce
Records: Commerce 7-2, 6-2; Hulbert 1-8, 1-7.
Last week: Commerce 34, Quapaw 6; Hulbert 52, Okay 6.
Last meeting: Commerce 35, Hulbert 0 (2008).
Series record: Commerce leads, 3-1.
Notes: Last week’s 46-point win was the biggest for a Rider team since a 51-0 win over Picher in 1992.
—Compiled by Tommy Cobb
