No. 4 Vian hosts undefeated No. 5 Prague

Senior Night festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.

The District 2A-5 championship will be on the line Friday night inside Charlie St. John Stadium when No. 4 Vian takes on undefeated and fifth-ranked Prague. Senior Night festivities will get underway at 6:30 p.m. and the kickoff will follow at 7 p.m.

Last week the Wolverines (5-0 in the district and 6-2 overall) won 51-12 at Keys (0-5, 0-8) and Prague (5-0, 8-0) shut out Warner (3-2, 6-2) on the road.

In Prague‚s other district wins the Red Devils defeated Henryetta (56-12), Keys (596), Roland (55-6) and Sequoyah-Tahlequah (60-6). Prague‚s non-district victories came against Luther (21-14), Meeker (34-12) and North Rock Creek (62-12).

“Prague is 8-0 obviously,” Vian head coach Gary Willis said. “We went and watched them Friday night at Warner and they‚re big and strong and very well coached-up. Rafe Watkins has coached for a lot of years and his defensive coordinator has coached for 30 years and they‚re a very coached-up, very sound in their technique and scheme and it‚s going to be a good test for us.”

In their last meeting in 2014 the Wolverines defeated the Red Devils 28-6 in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs at Vian.

Some of Prague‚s key players on offense are quarterbacks Aiden Auld (5-foot-10, 165-pound junior) and Rex Gieser (6-0, 185, jr.), running back Trevor McGinnis (6-1, 225, sr.) and offensive linemen Dex McKee (6-1, 260, sr.), Taylor Ringle (6-3, 270, jr.) and Dillon Cooper (6-6, 285, jr.).

“They‚re going to run the ball out of different formations,” Willis said. “They‚re spread formations but they‚re going to run the ball, 70-30 probably compared to pass. They‚ve got a big, strong running back and two quarterbacks. One throws a little more than the other. The other one‚s a better runner so we‚ve got to prepare for all that but you begin by trying to stop their run-game.

“Just playing assignment and begin by preparing to stop the run and obviously the quarterback will counter off the big running back run-game and that‚s something we‚ve got to really focus on.”

A few of the Red Devils‚ standouts on defense are defensive end Grant McGinnis (6-0, 205, sr.), defensive tackle Karson Holsapple (6-0, 260, sr.), linebackers Ryan While we are still in the midst of muzzleloader season in our state, the upcoming rifle season is less than a month away and it always brings back fond memories from when my uncle, Gene Duncan, took the time to introduce me to hunting great deer camps in the Kiamichi Mountains. At this time, the Kiamichi Mountains was a true wilderness area.

While my memory is no longer the best in the world, I can still vividly recall being allowed to miss school, spending sleep-deprived nights leading up to the hunt and dreaming of an exciting deer camp. Hunting in the Honobia area as a youngster, if you saw a deer track, it was an event. Seeing a deer on the hoof was monumental.

In just a few weeks, an estimated 160,000 deer hunters dressed in blaze orange will take to the field in search of the Sooner State‚s most popular big game animal, the whitetail deer. Firearm season runs for 16 days. It begins Nov. 19th and ends on Dec. 4th bringing an ever-increasing economic impact to our state. Please check the ODWC regulations for the particular area you are hunting.

Our state‚s deer herd has come a long way since I began hunting in the late 1960‚s. Yes, we have come a long way indeed. With our state‚s deer population estimated at between 600,000 and 700,000, the herd now is better in many ways than the “good ol‚ days.”

Dedge (6-0, 205, jr.) and Trevor McGinnis and defensive backs Peyton Ezell (5-10, 160, sr.) and Braden Pickard (5-8, 140, jr.).

“Their base defense is a 4-3,” said Willis. “Running the ball is a key for our offense but they‚re going to be sound in the rungame so we‚re going to be prepared to take what they give us in the passing game and take those shots when we see them. They‚re playing a lot of man in the secondary and we‚ve got to try to get Desean (Mays) and Jacob Brannick some good matchups and get them going.”

Several years ago, Jim Shaw, professor of natural resource ecology and management at Oklahoma State University said, “Back when we didn‚t have hunting seasons, we lost our game species. White-tailed deer in Oklahoma were virtually extinct in 1914.” Great strides have been taken since the mid-1950s to restore the population.

Now, with a booming population, deer hunting season is vital to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation‚s mission to manage the number of deer. Not only can too many deer cause damage to agricultural plots, such as orchards, but also motor vehicle accidents increase along with the deer population. Even with the extended rifle season in Oklahoma, the deer population has continued to rise.

Oklahoma has seen a giant increase in deer population since the late 1970s. In 1979, the legal harvest barely exceeded 14,000. The ODWC says that healthy herds and good conditions led to 117,629 deer being taken in 2021, making it the thirdhighest harvest total on record.

If you didn‚t get an opportunity to take a youngster hunting during the early Youth Season, please take the time to have an impact on their life as they will remember it always. Above all, be safe and take the time to make memories with family and friends. As the ODWC reminds us, hunters in the know—let the young bucks grow.

Reach John Kilgore at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo.com