The Roland Rangers are still in the hunt for a home field playoff game, but they’ll need to win their final three games in order to wrap up second place in District 3A-4.

A crucial three-game stretch starts on Friday night when the Rangers host No. 12-ranked Checotah at 7:30 p.m.

A win over the Wildcats would go a long way to getting the Rangers into the playoffs, and they could surge all the way up to second place with additional victories against Okmulgee and Bristow in weeks 9 and 10.

Roland appears to be gaining momentum as the season progresses. The Rangers are now 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the league and head coach Jeff Streun hopes his team is finally hitting its stride.

“We’re pretty healed up. Early in the season, we were having people go down with injuries. We’ve been more healthy and that’s allowed us to be more consistent,” said Streun.

“We have three critical weeks coming up and we, by far, have not reached our peak. If we can play consistently, stay healthy and keep from beating ourselves, then we can peak at the right time of the season.”

The Rangers will need to be at their best on Friday night against a Checotah squad that is 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the district.

“Checotah is a good football team.,” said Streun. “They have pretty much all their skill kids back from last year. The quarterback played wide receiver last year, but he‘s doing a really nice job in their offense. The offensive line is all new, but they’re good-sized and they get after you. Checotah is athletic, good sized and they have a lot of speed.”

The Wildcats’ quarterback is Mike Easley, who has completed 105 of 177 passes for 1,386 yards and 16 touchdowns. Dexter Reeves has caught 24 passes for 443 yards, Austin Baker 23 for 260, Chris Carr 24 for 136 and Keifer Williams 10 for 229.

Carr is also Checotah’s leading rusher with 590 yards and seven TDs on 121 carries this season and the speedy senior will be the focal point of the Roland defense.

“The Carr kid is the one we have to stop—you have to stop the run.,” said Streun. “They run a spread offense, but they run the ball and it opens up a lot in the passing game. (Baker) and (Reeves) and the quarterback can all make plays as well. You have to pick your poison, but we have to start by stopping Carr.”

The Wildcats opened the season with six consectuve wins, but lost a 28-26 decision to undefeated Metro Christian last Thursday.

Roland has won two of its last three games with the lone setback being a 41-39 loss at Metro Christian. Streun said extending the Patriots gives his team confidence going into the Checotah game.

“Sure it does,” he said. “We played a good half against Metro and it will take four good quarters this week. The kids have seen film of Checotah‘s game against Metro Christian and they know what we’re capable of. We just have to play 48 minutes and if we do that, who’s to say we can’t beat Checotah.”

The Wildcats are averaging 34.9 points per game and Streun believes Roland must hang on to the football in order to keep the Checotah offense in check.

“Ball security and time of possession will be a key. They have so much speed, we have to play keep away and keep their offense off the field as much as possible,” said Streun.

The Rangers are coming off a 35-0 win at Kellyville. The Rangers earned the shutout after stuffing Kellyville for a minus 21 yards rushing on 32 attempts. Michael Kightlinger and Alan Cabrera both intercepted passes and Blake Brunk and Kye Woffard recovered fumbles.

Offensively, Teven Thompson ran 12 times for 160 yards and scored on runs of 53, 3 and 10 yards. Jeremy Morris ran for another 80 yards, Brunk returned a fumble 23 yards for a touchdown and Brooks Robertson tossed a 19-yard TD pass to Gunner Lynch.

“We played pretty well, but still didn’t put together a complete game,” said Streun. “Part of the first quarter we didn’t execute well, but we took charge in the second half and came about as close as we have all year to playing a complete game. We played four good quarters defensively, but the offense kind of came in spurts in the first half.”

Thompson’s effort at Kellyville makes him the county’s leading rusher. The senior tailback now has 806 yards on 139 carries.

Streun said the Rangers are healthier than they have been for a while, but will still be without defensive back/wide receiver Dallas Williams, who is out with a fractured thumb.