Gans plays Foyil for a playoff position

Gans hosts the struggling Foyil Panthers tonight in a critical district contest, the outcome of which will determine which team earns a playoff berth.

The Grizzlies are coming off a 52-6 loss to Arkoma last Friday, making Gans‚ only win a district game, giving them a District B-6 record of 1-2 and an overall record of 1-7.

The visiting Panthers come to Gans off a 48-6 loss to Welch in district play, giving Foyil a district record of 0-3 and a 1-7 overall record.

Gans head coach Brian Morton knows that this is a big game for his charges, and has taken advantage of the rainy weather to get them acclimated to throwing and catching in wet and muddy conditions.

“Whoever wins takes that fourth spot in the playoffs. Just making the playoffs – even the fourth-place slot – would be huge,” Morton said in previewing the critical matchup. “We spent a lot of time out in the rain, because there‚s a good chance that we‚re going to have a wet football game Friday night. A big part of our offense is trying to pass the ball a little bit, and that is going to be a challenge if it‚s slick and muddy.”

Along with throwing and catching the pigskin in the rain, the Grizzlies‚ defense practiced ways to stop the Panthers‚ run game by blocking and tackling correctly to force the run-heavy Foyil offense to pass in its attempts to move the ball.

Foyil has six experienced Panthers leading the way, including offensive linemen Mason Valliere, Reggie Weygandt and Josh Carlisle, who will be blocking for returning skill players Jaxon Ward at fullback and Dalton Ward as the slot receiver, who make up most of the offense. Alejandro Flores has been tapped to step up to take charge of the offense at quarterback this season.

The Panthers‚ defense is led by Valliere and Weygandt on the D-line, along with Jaxon Ward at the defensive end slot, where they will rely on Valliere to hurry the passer while cornerbacks Dalton Ward and Flores make passing a hazardous work environment.

“They‚re going to outsize us,” Morton admits. “They‚re going to probably keep the ball on the ground, and we‚re going to try to go with a little bit of a balanced attack with a lot of passing, and passing in the rain takes practice. Foyil has got some big kids that can run the ball.”

Gans has overcome many adversities this year. The Grizzlies have had to learn hard lessons, but Morton doesn‚t intend to dwell on the negatives. Instead, he is keeping his focus on the next game and on the goal of rebuilding the Gans program.

“For the people that just want to be negative, there‚s a lot of negative things that they can say. But we‚ve got to focus on what‚s ahead of us. We‚ve just got to continue to build, we‚ve got to continue to get better, and we‚ve got to stay focused. We‚re trying to establish some long-term goals here,” Morton said.