Central looks for 2nd win against Roland tonight
Central looks for 2nd win against Roland tonight News Staff Thu, 09/15/2022 - 10:54
JIM CAMERON, LEA LESSLEY
SPORTS
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Central is looking forward to its first contest against Class 2A Roland at 7 p.m. today in a non-district game at Tiger Stadium.
Tigers head coach Jeremy Thompson knows tonight‚s game is special, as he welcomes the Rangers (0-2) to Central for the inaugural game between these Sequoyah County schools.
“I know their coaching staff. Coach Austin Cantrell, he’s doing a great job with them and is going to have them ready to play,” Thompson said. “So I know that we’ve got to do our job this week and have our guys ready.”
Central (1-1) is coming off a 28-7 loss to Warner, so Thompson‚s has focused his squad on stopping turnovers, containing big plays and cutting out penalties, all of which played a part in the Tigers‚ defeat last Friday.
“We went and watched them the other day, and I think they‚re a very well-coached team. They play together well, and they do some good stuff,” Cantrell said. “It didn‚t work out for them against Warner, but I think they‚re a good team and they‚re going to be a good matchup for us.”
Some of Central‚s key players on offense are quarterback Joseph Lee, running back Coy Blackburn, linemen Gibby Mitchell and Derek Young, wide receiver Cade Tucker and tight end Isaac Rogers.
“They‚re running a spread type of offense,” Cantrell noted. “I would say they run it more than they throw it.
“On defense, we just have to play our ball. We played well against Stilwell defensively, and if we can just play hard and play sound, assignment defense, we‚ll be fine and just fly to the ball. If we can keep them from getting to the edge and do our assignments, we‚ll be OK.”
Defensively, the Rangers will have to contend with key Tiger defensive players such as ends Tyler Busch and Josh Marino, tackle Clayton Haning, linebacker Hunter Pack and backs Aidan Sainer and Connor Green.
“Defensively, they‚ve shown a 4-3 and a 3-4,” Cantrell said. “It‚s hard to tell, but I think they honestly just run a 4-3.
Thompson is going to be ready to send Roland home with another loss regardless of whether he knows the Rangers‚ new head coach or not.
But Roland might have something to say about that since the Rangers come to Central off a 20-7 loss to Stilwell and no wins this season, so getting a W on the board is a huge goal.
“On offense, we‚ve got to get a push up front. We‚re going to challenge our linemen this week to be able to run the ball more consistently. We weren‚t able to do that in the Stilwell game. We‚d go get a first down, and then we‚d come back with a negative run play or another play that wasn‚t positive, followed by another one or an incompletion, and then we would just be behind the chains. So this week, our offense needs to establish a consistent running game and keep the chains moving and create those long drives that we want and basically chew up clock and then finish in the red zone.”
Central‚s defense will have its hands full trying to keep up with an experienced Roland offensive line that could make it hard to contain the run.
“The other quarterback throws a good ball. They’ve got some guys that can go get it at wide receiver. There are some good athletes out there. They‚ve got a couple of good backs,” Thompson said.
Roland‚s offensive line might be the Rangers‚ most experienced unit with seniors Mason Schalski and Desean Cruse and junior Jacob Resendez all coming back this year.
Central‚s offense will face a relatively inexperienced Roland defensive line that will typically line up in a 4-3 configuration, as well as a young Rangers secondary. The Tigers might find opportunities to move the ball in the air, depending on their speed.
“It’s going to be a big night, so we’ve just got to keep getting better,” Thompson said. “If we have limited penalties, don’t turn the football over and play sound on defense, then we’re going to be just fine.”
Class 2A Roland had an open date last week, and the Rangers suffered losses to 3A Muldrow (34-6) and 4A Stilwell.
Class A Central defeated 2A Heavener 35-33 at home in its season opener, before falling at 2A Warner.