Second-ranked Pirates host Central Thursday

Class A No. 2 Gore begins a two-game home stand Thursday night when the unbeaten Pirates host rival Central in a District A-8 contest.

Kickoff inside K.G. Horn Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Pirates (6-0 overall and 2-0 in the district) topped Pocola (4-3 and 2-1) 61-12 last week and Central (4-2 and 2-1) defeated Porter Consolidated (2-4 and 0-3) 42-14.

“Jeremy‚s doing a great job with them as usual,” Gore head coach Brandon Tyler said. “They‚re going to be wellcoached and well-disciplined in everything that they do. He‚s 4-2 and still fighting for a playoff berth. An upset on us puts them right back in the district championship race. I know he‚ll have his kids ready to go and it‚s always a good game between Gore and Central. We‚re Sequoyah County rivals and our kids know their kids so you can kind of throw the records out the door and get ready to go play Thursday night.”

Jeremy Thompson is Central‚s head coach.

Last season the Pirates defeated the Tigers 61-6.

A few of Central‚s key players on offense are quarterback Joseph Lee (6-1, 180-pound junior), running backs Coy Blackburn (5-8, 160, jr.) and Hunter Pack (5-10, 185, jr.), wide receiver Cade Tucker (5-7, 150, jr.), tight end Isaac Rogers (6-1, 190, jr.) and linemen Tyler Busch (5-11, 195, jr.), Josh Marino (6-0, 205, jr.), Gibby Mitchell (5-10, 160, jr.) and Derek Young (6-3, 180, jr.).

“On offense they‚re going to be in two-back shotgun,” Tyler said. “They‚ll be in 20 personnel and play with a tight end some. Isaac Rogers will be their tight end and Isaac does a great job of catching the football for them. Joseph Lee at quarterback does a good job and his two running backs, Blackburn and Pack will hit it in their real good. Up front the Busch kids and Marino have been playing really well for them. They do a good job.

“Jeremy‚s always pretty balanced between run and pass on the offensive side. He may be running the quarterback a little bit more than what he has in the past with Joseph but that‚s understandable being such a great athlete and a big ole kid. We got to go see them play Haskell the week we were off and he (Lee) just kind of took them under his wing and willed them to win. He‚s just a great leader for them and does a great job of leading their offense.

“On defense we have to tackle, just continue tackling and flying to the football and don‚t give up the big play and force them into third-and-long and get off the field on third down.

“Just keep doing what we‚re doing and just keep winning the battle up front and I think good things will happen.”

Some of the Tigers‚ key players on defense are defensive ends Tyler Busch and Josh Marino, defensive tackle Clayton Haning (5-11, 210, sr.), linebacker Hunter Pack and defensive backs Aiden Sainer (5-8, 140, soph.) and Connor Green (5-7, 145, soph.).

“Defensively they‚re going to be in a 4-2-5, very similar to us,” said Tyler. “When you use a tight end they‚ll be in a 5-2 look. They just do a lot of the same similar things that we do defensively so it‚s nothing we haven‚t seen all year long.

“We‚ve just got to go execute offensively. Our offensive line has got to continue to get push and Noah‚s doing a great job of throwing the ball, kind of what we want, throw it about 14, 16 times a game and try to get 10 completions out of those and keep throwing for about 150 a game. I think we rushed for 302 Friday night. That‚s kind of us, 450 yards of total offense against Pocola. Just try to keep everybody balanced and keep them from stacking the box on us. I think we‚ve got some capable receivers that are doing a good job catching the football as well.”