— Fort Gibson’s 4-0 start, particularly the non-district portion of its schedule, was meant to battle-test the Tigers for a tough 4A-4 road.

That intersection is here, and so is the turn.

Fort Gibson hosts Broken Bow on Friday. Four of the next six games will be hurdles.

“We kind of battled through those first three games and at the time I thought it was a pretty salty schedule,” Tigers coach James Singleton said. “Tahlequah opened district with a win, Catoosa has had a brutal first four games and Hilldale’s going to surprise everyone in (Class) 3A.

“In playing Rogers (last Friday’s 58-9 win to open 4A-4 play), we knew we were the better team. The most important thing for us was to go out and execute, do what we had to do and not get anyone injured. Now we get to the games that really begin to matter.”

The fact that they haven’t lost yet says as much about the team’s mental state as it does their skill sets, Singleton said.

“We really tried to preach when we took the program over that just wanting to win is not good enough,” he said. “You have to go expect to win.

“If you just want to win, the seed of doubt will be there when things go bad and you’ll think you’re in trouble. I think we’ve established the expectation judging from the way they carry themselves and the way they talk in the locker room.”

Under first-year head coach Scott Pratt, Broken Bow (3-1, 1-0) comes in off a 28-12 win over Muldrow. The Savages beat Idabel 42-12, Shiloh Christian out of Arkansas 35-24 and lost to Metro Christian 28-0 in non-district.

“They’re athletic, they run the ball well and they’re coached well,” Singleton said of this week’s foe. “They probably don’t have the size they’ve been used to having but they have two tailbacks that if you blink they’ll go to the house.”

Jaylan Watson (6-foot-1, 220 pounds) and Jerry Cruddup alternate at tailback in the Savages’ I-set.

Pratt was on the staff of Greg Werner, who left Broken Bow after eight seasons to take the job at Poteau, Fort Gibson’s next opponent. The Pirates lost their first game of the season Friday to Sallisaw 31-21.

“The general thought among the coaches was that we’d have five teams battling for playoff spots and they’re among those,” Singleton said. “(Werner) knows how to win and he’ll get those kids to respond. They battled last week.”

Cascia Hall and Sallisaw, Fort Gibson’s week 8 and week 10 opponents, also won their district openers.

But first things first. Singleton senses a team with purpose will arrive Friday, coming off last year’s 30-22 loss to Fort Gibson in the season finale. It was part of a four-game losing streak including a playoff loss to Catoosa that ended the Savages’ year.

“Any time a Broken Bow comes in to your house you better be focused and ready to go,” Singleton said. “They’ll be coming in here with pride and passion and probably thinking they owe us a payback.”

These days, he isn’t too worried about his team being in the proper frame of mind.

“After the game Friday among them I heard ‘we’ve got to get ready for Broken Bow,’” Singleton said. “They were already getting down to business.”