Fifth-ranked Wolverines host Okemah in 2A-5 contest

The Class 2A No. 5 Wolverines look to register their third straight 2A-5 win Friday night when they take on Okemah at 7 p.m. inside Charlie St. John Stadium.

Vian (3-2 overall and 2-0 in the district) defeated Roland in its homecoming game last week and Okemah (2-3 and 1-1) lost 35-0 to Warner. In its district opener the Panthers beat Sequoyah-Tahlequah 42-26 and in its three non-district contests Okemah lost 14-12 to Pawnee, won by forfeit over Wewoka and dropped a 38-22 decision at Stroud.

“A wing-T team, a big team,” Vian head coach Gary Willis said. “ Coach (Joe) Turner‚s been there for years and he‚s one of those hall of fame guys. They do a good job running that wing-T system, which you don‚t see all the time.”

In their last meeting in 2017 the Wolverines defeated the Panthers 26-12 and the previous season Vian won 41-14 at Okemah.

A few of Okemah‚s key players on offense are quarterback Andrew Swayze (6-foot-1, 185-pound junior), running back Colton Parish (5-11, 180, sr.), tight end Davon Johnson (6-1, 210, sr.) and linemen Wyatt Cooper (6-1, 270, sr.), Cameron Hicks (5-10, 295, sr.) and Conner Stacy (511, 245, soph.).

“Defensively their offensive line keys will be huge for us,” Willis said. “Linebackers reading guards, they‚ll take you to the play 99 percent of the time, unless they run a naked boot. The guards are going to take us to the play, so it‚s important that we make the correct reads. We didn‚t do that well the other night and the quarterback was popping runs. We weren‚t reading guards and they were running counter and pulling and kicking and we were looking at the running back and the quarterback was hitting it backside and we got out of position a time or two. Against that wing-T team Friday night that will be huge for our defense. If we can do that I feel pretty good about it.”

Some of the Panthers‚ key players on defense are defensive linemen Chris Beasley (5-10, 245, sr.), Wyatt Cooper and Davon Johnson, linebacker Blake Gaxiola (5-9, 190, soph.) and defensive backs Andrew Swayze and Colton Parish.

“They‚re running a 4-3 on defense and it will look different at times,” said Willis. “They‚ll play with a strong safety and get him down in a 4-4 look or they‚ll walk a linebacker up and it will look like a 3-4 but the base is a 4-3 and they do a good job with it.

“On offense we‚d like to get the run-game going. They‚re big and we‚re going to have to block and stay on blocks. I think our speed is a big advantage for us. So outside run-game and just sustaining blocks and taking care of the ball are keys for our offense.”