Kickoff at Tiger Field is slated for 7:30 p.m.
The Tigers are 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the league after defeating Porum 38-6 last week, and Central head coach Wade Couch is expecting a stiffer test this week.
“This will be a totally different game this week,” said Couch. “They’re scary.”
Central scrimmaged Haileyville in a team camp at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah this summer, and Couch was impressed with running backs Josh Copeland and Dominic Herring.
“They have two good running backs,” Couch said. “Josh Copeland is 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, and when he’s motivated he’s really good. We have our work cut out for us. We saw them at team camp at NSU, and after looking at him on film he looks even stronger.
“Dominic Herring is their other running back, and he’s their spark plug. He’s 5-6 and 170.”
Copeland, who is a senior, is the Warriors’ middle linebacker and Herring, a junior, is a safety.
Other key offensive players are quarterback Cody Irish (6-3, 200, senior), wide receiver Jordan Caldwell (6-2, 170, junior), guard Alec Suter (6-0, 200, junior) and tackles Matt Ross (5-8, 210, sophomore) and Gabe Loman (6-3, 220, sophomore).
“On offense they run the Maryland “I” with three running backs in a one, two, three stack in the backfield,” remarked Couch. “Twenty-five (Copeland) and 5 (Herring) are the main threats. When both of them are out there, we have to stop 25 up the middle in the A and B gaps and we have to stop 5 out wide on the toss plays. Their offense is very vanilla, but they can chew up a lot of yards and use up a lot of time.
“This summer they had some success running the ball against us. They are very physical, but our four defensive linemen are not intimidated and are looking forward to that challenge.
“A key for our defense is tackling. We missed some tackles last week, and our tackling has to be better this week.”
In addition to Copeland and Herring, other key defensive players for Haileyville are Caldwell at defensive back, Wayne Emerson (6-3, 210, sophomore) and Jody Walters (6-3, 160, sophomore) at the defensive end positions and Loman and Ross at nose guard.
“On defense it looks like they’re in a 4-3 with a defensive back on the line, and they get after it,” Couch said. “We have to account for Copeland at middle linebacker because athletically he’s one of the best linebackers in the district, and Herring will blitz some. They have two defensive linemen (Loman and Ross) of note, and they’ll rotate them at nose guard. They have quite a few kids over 200 pounds, and they are one of the most athletic defenses we’ve faced. I would compare them with Savanna.
“Shade (Kutil) will be back this week at quarterback. He has two pins in his middle finger on his left hand, so how he takes the snaps from center and runs and throws will be question marks.”
Kutil injured his non-throwing hand in Week 2 at Savanna and did not play last week.
“We can’t turn the ball over this week, and we want to go on long drives,” said Couch.
Haileyville is 1-1 for the season and in the district. The Warriors defeated Keota 16-0 in their opener and last week they lost 27-0 at preseason league favorite Talihina.
