— Gore’s grind

In the playoffs at this point, the Pirates (7-2, 4-1 District A-6) can still finish anywhere from first to fourth. And all four go at it this week to settle that.

Gore plays Talihina and Sallisaw Central plays Savanna. A Gore win will earn first place if Savanna beats Central. Should Central win, Gore is second on a head-to-head tiebreaker. A Gore loss and it’s third with a Central win, fourth with a Central loss.

Bottom line: No one wants to travel for their first playoff game and for a good reason; the team that finishes in third and fourth place in District A-6 could find itself matched against the No. 1 and No. 2 Class A teams, Wynnewood and Wayne — although Wewoka by beating Wynnewood this week could take it to a three-way tiebreaker.

Still, first task for Gore is to simply win Friday.

“This is a playoff game as far as we are concerned,” Gore coach Lee Blankenship said. “We have to beat Talihina this week.  

Blankenship said he wasn’t surprised that Savanna beat Talihina — Gore beat Savanna by a mere two points (14-12). It was the 33-6 outcome that surprised him.

“We are going to go out and try and stop their quarterback and their option play. It will be their senior night and we know they will be hungry and ready to play but so will we,” Blankenship said.



Haskell’s tastebuds

The Haymakers (6-3, 2-3  2A-5) can taste their first postseason berth since 2004 with a win against Mounds (3-6, 1-4) on Friday or a loss of less than 11 points.

Ahead of that might be a bittersweet sensation as the first-round opponent will be the No. 1-ranked Wolverines of Vian.

That’s not something that Haymaker coach Greg Wilson says he’s focused on.

“Obviously it’s exciting going to the playoffs,” he said. “But Mounds is a team we have to prepare for. They will throw a bunch of different looks at us and have made us work hard this week.  I talked to my players today and they already knew that these are the weeks you yearn for as a player, you win and you’re in.”

He did, however, have a word or two for the team that may be on their menu next week.

“(Vian coach Brandon)  Tyler does a tremendous job, I truly see them as being the best team in the state. They have really built a football community over there,” he said.

“Even though the playoffs do bring a new element to the game and anything can happen, we are just happy taking a step in the right direction and making the postseason.”



Vian’s perfection

The Wolverines (9-0, 5-0 2A-6)  are coming off arguably their toughest game of the season. The 56-7 win over previously 2A-6 unbeaten Hartshorne was the closest game by two points Vian has played this season, beating the 55-6 season-opening win against Spiro.

And still, with just Panama (3-5, 3-2) left in the regular season on Friday, the Wolverines have yet to play a full four-quarter game with its starters.

“We aren’t really worried about going in (to the postseason) without playing a full game,” he said. “It is what it is and there is nothing we can do about it.”

Vian has been using this week to shore up some defensive holes. Otherwise, Tyler hasn’t changed practice much.

 “We can’t do anything but go to work everyday,” he said. “Go out there and try to get better like we have all season.”



Warner’s crown

The Eagles (9-0, 5-0 A-8) look to put a stamp on their first district championship since 1998 and finish with the third perfect season in the school’s history by beating Liberty and the first in Coach Chris McMullen’s career. They must first take care of Liberty (4-5, 3-2) this Friday at home for senior night.

McMullen couldn’t be happier with the outcome of this season and is optimistic that this group of seniors have paved the way for more winning seasons to come.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” he said. “They (the players) played well in all the games, they are at practice everyday, they are real high character guys, the kind of guys that you want on your team. They will leave behind a legacy of pride and winning here at Warner. We are losing 10 seniors, but hopefully we got the program on a solid enough foundation that we will have kids just step up to keep this thing going.”

McMullen said that while the district championship was one of the goals coming into the season, the unscathed record is a goal that has recently came into play.

“We’re not going to count our chickens before they hatch, (but) the team is focused on it, that’s what their intent is this week and we will see how it pans out,” he said.

—Compiled by Kalib Webb

SCORING

    TD     FG    P1    P2     TOT

Evitt, Wag    27    0    0    0    162

Gandara, FTG    23    0    0    0    138

Wheeland, Hask    14    0    5    8    94

B. Smith, Gore    13    0    0    8    94

Helsley, Sequoyah    15    0    0    0    90

Thomas, Wag    13    0    0    3    84

Sandlin, Stig    14    0    0    0    84

Presley, Hask    13    0    0    2    82

Cullom, Hill.    13    0    0    0    78

Hammer, Seq.    13    0    0    0    78

Shearwood, Stig    13    0    0    0    78



RUSHING

    No.    Yds.     Avg.     TD

Evitt, Wag.    168    2,146    12.8    25

Gandara, FG    146    1,378    9.4    20

Shearwood, Stig.    178    1,331    7.5    13

Wheeland, Hask.    142    1,085    7.6    14

McMillan, Tahl.    122    832    6.8    6

Smith, Gore    118    816    6.9    11

Sandlin, Stigl    82    777    9.5    13

Cullom, Hill.    99    787    7.9    11

Presley, Hask.     133    756    5.7    13

Singleton, FTG    75    674    9.0    9

Row. Simon, Vian    52    674    12.9    11

 

 

PASSING

    CAI    Yds.    TD

Addy, Che.    125-203-8    2,007    18

R. Clark, Gore    102-183-7    1,535    13

Scott, Seq.    103-174-7    1,511    28

Shearwood, Stig.    84-156-10    1,352    13

D. Clark, Wag.    68-110-3    1,144    15

Singleton, FTG    27-58-5    898    7

Puckett, Hill.    54-120-5    833    11

Singleton, FG    30-64-5    790    7



RECEIVING

    No.    Yds.     Avg.    TD

Owens, Chec    52    967    18.6    12

Helsley, Seq.    29    616    21.2    14

Shearwood, Stig    34    589    17.3    3

Smith, Gore    38    582    15.3    2

Thomas, Wag.    31    527    17.0    7

Hammer, Seq.    32    425    13.3    8

Berry, Chec.    25    510    16.4    1

King, Musk.    38    385    10.1    0



TACKLES

    No.

Echelle, Stig.    129

Williams, Hask.    116

Giem, Hill.    112

Donathan, Che    97

Ry. Simon, Vian    92

Cullom, Hill.    87

Adams, Hill.    85

Knight, Chec.    77

Cervaney, FG    76

Coplen, Stig.    73

 

Sacks

    No.

Berry, Chec.    10

Henderson, Wag.    9

Elrod, Seq.    7.0

Terronez, FG    6.5

Kelley, Hask.    6.0

Harlin, Wag.    5.0

Atwell, Hask.    5.0

Patterson, Chec.    5.0

 

Interceptions

    No.

Cullom, Hill.     6

Peterson, FG    5

Helsley, Seq    4

B. Campbell, Hil    4

Gandara, FG    3