Idabel has yet to win a game in 2009, but Roland head coach Jeff Streun has plenty of respect for the Warriors ahead of Friday night’s District 3A-4 opener at Ranger Stadium.

Idabel enters the game at 0-3 after facing three quality opponents in non-district play. The Warriors are coming off a 54-14 loss to DeQueen, Ark., and were defeated by Broken Bow and Poteau in the opening two weeks of the season.

“Those guys have played three really good teams. DeQueen is No. 3 in Arkansas and Poteau and Broken Bow are good 4A programs. They’ve come up quite a bit short in those games, but they can play,” said Streun. “They have a lot of size of speed and they are a very formidable opponent. If we don’t come to play, they’ll get after us. They are as good an 0-3 team as I’ve seen.”

Senior T.J. Broades is an offensive threat at several positions for Idabel and senior DeAntrae Johnson is a quality running back

“Number 14 (Broades) is a big-time play-maker. They line him up everywhere from quarterback and running back to any of the four receiver spots. He’s a very talented kid,” commented Streun. “Number 24 (Johnson) is very speedy and quick. He’s kind of a scat-back, and very elusive.”

The Roland coach has been pleased with his team’s defense, although there is room for improvement.

“Our defense played really strong against the run all season,” said Streun. “We have to play better pass defense and we are doing that, but we’ve been giving up one or two big pass plays every game and we need to cut that out.”

Offensively, the Rangers are coming off their highest scoring game of the year after putting 24 points on the board against Spiro. Idabel has allowed 115 points in three games, but Streun is impressed with the Warriors’ ability on defense.

He said senior defensive end Kendrick Willis and junior inside linebacker Daylan Cherry are two of the defensive ringleaders for Idabel.

“I hate to just single out those two, because they have a lot of talent on that side of the ball,” said Streun.

Roland has several injury concerns this week and could be without as many as four starters or as few as one. Senior quarterback Blake Brunk suffered a concussion in the season-opener and was sidelined the past two games. Streun said Brunk was going to practice this week and could be back on Friday.

“We want to see how he does in practice. It was a Grade 2 concussion and those things are scary. We don’t want to risk anything,” said Streun, who praised the play of backup quarterback Brooks Robertson in Brunk’s absence.

“Brooks stepped in and did a great job for a freshman playing in his first varsity games,” said Streun. “He’s a talented kid and we’re going to let him compete a little. If Blake comes back this week, we may play both of them at quarterback and let them hash it out.”

Other Roland players battling injuries are Trenton Castleberry, Jeremy Morris, who separated his shoulder last week, and Kyle Ulmer, who also has a shoulder injury.