Muldrow hosts Roland in Battle of 64 grid game Thursday

Bulldogs look to end 3-game losing streak

LEA LESSLEY SPORTS WRITER

Bragging rights for the eastern end of the county will be on the line Thursday night when Muldrow‚s high school football team hosts rival Roland inside Aubrey J. Henshaw Bulldog Stadium.

Kickoff for the season opener at Marty Rogers Field is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Roland defeated the Bulldogs 20-7 last season inside Ranger Stadium and the Rangers won the previous two contests 6-0 and 14-12.

Second-year Muldrow head coach Brandon Ellis knows Thursday‚s contest is important for his team.

“It‚s going to set the tone for the rest of the year,” Ellis said. “One of the first games in the state on a Thursday night, huge rivalry, lot of people and it‚s a big game for both schools.”

MULDROW OFFENSE Muldrow‚s base offense is multiple and some of its key players on offense are linemen Eli Crumrine, Mason Osborne, Hayden Boyette, Bryson Limore and D e s t i n P a r t a i n , quarterback Camden Matthews, wide receivers Trenden Collins, Bobby Plank and Jacob Gregory, running back Cody Gibbs and kicker David Frias. Matthews is the Bulldogs‚ punter.

“We have to be in shape,” Ellis said about one of the offensive keys for his Bulldogs. “We have to do the little things. We have to sustain blocks. We‚ve got to establish the line of scrimmage and we can‚t have any turnovers.”

Roland‚s base defense is the 4-4 and some of its defensive standouts are defensive linemen Mason Schalski and Joseph Stone, defensive end Desean Cruse, inside linebackers Ashton Peters and Alex Bower, outside linebacker Michael Taylor and defensive backs Dakota Price, Kejuan Youngblood and Logan Lorenz.

MULDROW DEFENSE The Bulldogs‚ base defense is the 3-4 and a few of their key players on that side of the ball are defensive linemen Eli Crumrine, Levi Bishop and Devlin Mosby, inside linebackers Jacob Gregory, Cody Gibbs and Will Stratmann, outside linebackers Logan Landers and Bryson Limore and defensive backs Trenden Collins, Bobby Plank, David Frias and Camden Matthews.

“Offensively they‚re kind of doing the exact same thing as what they did last year,” said Ellis. “A big part of their offense is their fullback (Ashton Peters). They‚ll throw it around a little bit but I think they want to run it more than anything else.

“Defensive keys for us are make the right calls for whatever formation they give us, and again one of the keys is our guys have to be in shape. They‚re going to have to play four quarters. We‚ve also got to create turnovers on defense.”

The Rangers‚ base offense is multiple and some of their key offensive players are linemen Mason Schalski, Joseph Stone, Jacob Resendez and Ethan Dominic, quarterback Logen Thomas, running backs Kejuan Youngblood and Michael Taylor, fullback Ashton Peters, tight end Desean Cruse and wide receivers Dakota Price and Logan Lorenz, who is also Roland‚s kicker.

Muldrow hosted Panama in its preseason scrimmage last Friday.

“The main thing is we came out of it healthy,” said Ellis. “We were aggressive, which is good. Had guys flying around to the ball. Saw some good things and then saw things of course that we need to work on. Everything that we saw is all fixable, we just have a short window to do it in.”