Wolverines go down fighting against No. 1 Bulldogs

JIM CAMERON SPORTS WRITER

If you plan to be the best, then you need to play the best, which is what Vian‚s squad faced Friday night in its lopsided non-district loss to No. 1-ranked Lincoln Christain.

Vian went down fighting on both sides of the ball, but just couldn‚t manage to get on the board against the talented team from Tulsa.

“Kind of a buzz-saw type of deal,” Vian head coach Gary Willis said of his Wolverines‚ experience at Charlie St. John Stadium. “They‚re a really good team. It will take a good team to beat them in 3A. I was really impressed with them, and we‚re just outmatched right now with the young guys we‚re starting and that kind of thing.”

The Wolverines (1-2) managed to move the football, but the Bulldogs‚ defense tightened up in the red zone, not giving up a touchdown, which resulted in Vian‚s 42-0 loss.

“Decently proud of our boys in the first half. In the second half, they got their heads down a little bit, and I wished we would have fought through that a little more, but we did some good things at times and showed some good things. If you play that team a hundred times, it would be hard to win one, they‚re just that much better than us. But we‚ve got to string together some good plays, and there are still times we‚re hurting ourselves.”

The top-ranked Bulldogs (3-0), used three quarterbacks to spread the receptions across 11 receivers, completing 27 of 35 pass attempts for 347 yards and three touchdowns. On the ground, nine rushers carried the ball 22 times for 129 yards and three touchdowns. All PAT attempts split the goalposts. The Wolverines‚ silver lining was having their defense s e n d t h e h i g h powered Bulldogs home with their lowest score of the season so far.

“But other than that, I‚m proud of the effort. It‚s been a tough, tough three weeks,” Willis said. “We‚ve got some guys a little beat up, nothing serious, but we‚re ready for this week off and get in the district. One of the positives to come out of it is, nobody is hurt bad, Unless we play Washington again in the playoffs, we‚ve seen as tough as we‚re going to see in 2A football.

“We were hoping we could poke two or three [touchdowns] in and make it somewhat  respectable, and those are the drives I‚m talking about,” Willis said. “Yeah, they‚re better than us, but we‚ve got to finish drives and that kind of thing to take care of ourselves. We learned from it, and the little things we picked up all three weeks playing all three of them, we‚re better than we were when we played Washington.”

Vian quarterback Diego Ramos completed 12 of 27 passes for 116 yards, with DeSean Mayes, Jacob Brannick and Masyn Wright getting three receptions apiece for 55, 12 and 38 yards, respectively. Gage Carlton and Nathan Creasey each had one reception for nine and four yards.

Wright had the bulk of the yards on the ground with 21 carries for 87 yards, whileMayes had 14 carries for 39 yards, Carlton recorded 19 yards on five carries and Ramos ending up with negative 11 yards on his four carries.

Friday is Vian‚s bye week, which will give the team a much-deserved week off before the Wolverines‚ District 2A-5 opener Sept. 23 at Warner.

A would-be fourth-quarter touchdown pass intended for Vian wide receiver Desean Mays was uncatchable because of Bulldog strong safety Josiah Loftis, who was flagged for a pass interference foul on the play.

JIM CAMERON •TIMES

Wolverines freshman and leading rusher with 87 yards Masyn Wright successfully avoids a tackle by the Bulldogs‚ John Washington during the fourth quarter Friday night.

JIM CAMERON •TIMES