Unbeaten Pirates play Keys in home opener
Unbeaten Pirates play Keys in home opener News Staff Thu, 09/01/2022 - 22:07
LEA LESSLEY SPORTS WRITER
Class A No. 3 Gore hosts 2A Keys in its home opener Friday night as the unbeaten Pirates try to register their second win of the season.
Gore, which won 60-0 at Wilburton on Friday, was scheduled to play Keys the past two seasons but COVID issues canceled both contests. The Cougars scrimmaged Spiro last week.
“They‚re a good football team,” Gore head coach Brandon Tyler said. “They‚ve got a good running back in the (Cooper) Hamilton kid. He runs the ball really hard for them.
“Defensively they‚re going to be in a 3-4, the same stuff that we‚ve seen the last couple of weeks so we‚ve just got to continue getting better blocking that defense and going against it.”
The Cougars defeated the Pirates 26-6 in their last meeting in 2007.
Some of the Cougars‚ key players on offense are running back Cooper Hamilton (6-foot, 160-pound senior), quarterback Colton Combs (6-3 sr.), receivers Bronc Queton (6-1 sr.) and Garret Glory (5-10 sr.) and offensive lineman Austin Davis (5-11 jr.).
“Offensively they‚re going to be in the spread and probably try to throw the ball a little bit more than what Wilburton did,” Tyler said. “The quarterback‚s got a pretty good arm and they‚ve got some pretty good receivers out there so it‚s going to take another total team effort to get another win.
“On defense we need to get a pass rush and the secondary‚s got to play good. They do throw the ball pretty good. We got to see them in 7-on-7 a little bit this summer.”
A few of the Cougars‚ defensive standouts are linebacker Austin Davis and defensive backs Cooper Hamilton, Colton Combs, Bronc Queton and Garret Glory.
“On offense we‚ve just got to continue to sustain drives and cut out a few of the penalties we‚ve had, holding penalties and things like that, but other than that just continue to take care of the football, move the chains, complete some passes and just keep rolling,” remarked Tyler.
Tyler expects a competitive game Friday night. “It‚s Gore and Keys and we‚re only about 20 miles apart so it should be a good ballgame,” said Tyler. “We‚re looking forward to it. They were a 2A playoff team last year and it‚s going to be a pretty good challenge for us.”
