Bulldogs look to rebound at Seminole Friday

Kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

After sustaining its first loss of the season last week Muldrow looks to bounce back Friday night when the Bulldogs travel to Seminole for a key District 3A-3 contest.

Kickoff inside Chieftain Stadium is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Muldrow‚s fourth-period rally fell short last week against Berryhill and the Bulldogs (5-1 overall and 1-1 in the district) lost 28-21 to the Chiefs (2-3 and 1-1).

Seminole (3-3 and 1-1) defeated Checotah 52-26 last week after starting district play with a 34-8 loss at No. 7 Stigler. The Chieftains lost 49-14 to Canadian, Texas, in its season opener before topping Class 5A Shawnee 16-0. Seminole also fell 34-8 to 4A Tecumseh and beat 4A Harrah 22-14 in its other non-district contests.

“It‚s a very big ball game,” Muldrow head coach Brandon Ellis said. “Seminole‚s traditionally rich. They‚re athletic. They‚re going to just come and hit you in the mouth also. They‚re not built like Berryhill. To me they‚re faster than Berryhill but they‚re not as big as Berryhill.

“It‚s going to be at their place so we‚re going into a hostile environment but it‚s a very, very important ball game to this point. It‚s a district game and each district game is a must-win.”

In their last meeting 21 years ago the Chieftains defeated the Bulldogs 28-13 at Seminole in a district game.

Some of Seminole‚s key players on offense are quarterback Vcake Wassana (6-foot, 170-pound senior), quarterback/receiver Deontrey Garfield (6-0, 160, soph.), running back Jason Batiste (6-0, 175, sr.) and Garret Chaffin (6-0, 190, sr.), receiver Braxton Street (5-10, 165, sr.) and lineman Jayden Stewart (6-0, 205, jr.).

“They‚re spread on offense, they‚ll spread it out,” Ellis said. “They like to hit the little passes, they like to run counter and they like to run a little zone. Their quarterback is pretty good and they‚ve got some good skilled kids.

“On defense we have to keep on doing what we‚re doing. We have to tackle well, win the turnover battle and create turnovers, and play fast, and play smart and play our assignments, and we‚ve been doing that. We‚ve just got to keep doing what we‚re doing.”

The Bulldogs‚ offense had no turnovers against Berryhill but Muldrow linebacker Jacob Gregory caused and recovered a fumble in the game.

A few of Seminole‚s key players on defense are defensive backs Vcake Wassana, Braxton Street and Deontrey Garfield, defensive linemen Isaiah Cochrane (6-2, 210, sr.) and Martez Johnson (6-2, 240, soph.) and linebackers Garret Chaffin and Miguel Conley (6-0, 220, sr.).

“They‚re in a 3-4 on defense,” said Ellis. “They‚re athletic and quick.

“On offense we have to win the line of scrimmage but the very first thing we‚ve got to do is play a great first half. We haven‚t had a good first half since Tahlequah Sequoyah. So we‚ve got to come out hot and we‚ve got to play four full quarters, that‚s the main key for our offense. We cannot come out slow. That just puts too much pressure on our defense. In the second half we‚ve been able to turn stuff around but like last week it was too late. The Checotah second half we turned it on and the defense bailed us out in the first half. We‚ve got to come out and start hot, and of course the second thing is win the line of scrimmage.”