Homecoming festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.
Class 2A No. 5 Vian takes on Roland in a District 2A-5 contest Friday night after holding homecoming festivities inside St. John Stadium.
Homecoming festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. and the kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Vian improved to 2-2 for the season last week with its 44-14 win at Warner in its district opener.
Roland (1-3) defeated Keys at home in its first 2A-5 contest Friday. The Rangers lost 34-6 at Class 3A Muldrow in its season opener before falling 20-7 to 4A Stilwell and 30-21 at Class A Central.
“They started off kind of slow in the year but they‚re kind of getting it going,” Vian head coach Gary Willis said. “I know coach (Austin) Cantrell over there was a great player and all and he‚ll get those guys going. They look real sound in what they‚re doing but they‚re young and a little bit inexperienced. They graduated a lot I think.”
In 2021 the Wolverines topped the Rangers 55-21.
A few of Roland‚s key players on offense are quarterback/running back Michael Taylor (5-foot-11, 180-pound sophomore), quarterback Logen Thomas (6-1, 200, jr.), running backs Kejuan Youngblood (5-10, 155, jr.) and Ashton Peters (6-0, 220, jr.), tight end Desean Cruse (6-3, 210, sr.), wide receivers Logan Lorenz, Kyeree Hall and Dakota Price (6-2, 140, jr.), linemen Mason Schalski (6-2, 265, sr.) and Jacob Resendez (6-2, 250, jr.) and kick returner Lateevis Jones.
“They‚re pretty balanced in their offense,” Willis said. “Pretty much a spread offense. They‚ll go some two-back spread also.
“Just controlling the line of scrimmage is a key for our offense. One thing we‚re looking for is just play better technique on the defensive line. Warner gave us some trouble on the first and second drives the other night for whatever reason. We really want to see good technique out of our defensive linemen. We misaligned two or three times so that is going to be key, just getting lined up right and focus on us and playing good technique but we want to control the line of scrimmage, hopefully. That would be the main goal.”
Some of the Rangers‚ key players on defense are linebackers Ashton Peters, Michael Taylor and Armando Martinez, defensive linemen Mason Schalski, Joseph Stone (6-0, 215, soph.) and Alex Bower (6-0, 180, jr.) and defensive back Kejuan Youngblood.
“They run a 4-4 defense and running the ball against that eight-man front is a key for our offense,” said Willis. “They‚ll have eight down there all the time. We plan on running the ball as usual but they will get another guy down there which will open up the pass. We want to come out and work our run against that and just solidify some things up front on offense as well, some things we‚re not doing as good as we need to on the line, and little spots where the backs are hitting the hole wide and that kind of thing but we want to come out and establish the run and we‚ll take our shots in the passing game as they come.”
