No. 7 Bulldogs visit No. 5 Cascia Hall in playoff opener

Seventh-ranked Muldrow travels to Tulsa Friday night to take on fifthranked Cascia Hall in its Class 3A playoff opener as the Bulldogs look to upend the Commandos and register their ninth win of the season.

Kickoff at Ray Siegfried Stadium, which is located at 2520 S. Yorktown Ave. in Tulsa, is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Muldrow (4-2 in District 3A-3 and 8-2 overall) had an open date last week. The Bulldogs tied Stigler and Berryhill for second in the district standings but because of district (marginal) points Muldrow (31 district points) finished third behind Stigler (37) and ahead of Berryhill (30). During the regular season Muldrow defeated Stigler and lost to Berryhill and Stigler beat Berryhill.

Cascia Hall (6-1, 8-2), which topped Dewey 44-2 last week, was second behind fourth-ranked Verdigris (6-1, 9-1) in the 3A-4 standings. In district play the Commandos lost 17-0 at Verdigris while beating Holland Hall (21-14), Central-Tulsa (29-25), Jay (49-14), Bristow (56-22) and Inola (62-20). In non-district action Cascia Hall defeated Victory Christian (26-21) and Berryhill (28-21) and fell 4227 to Rejoice Christian.

“We’re very fortunate to get to play another week, so we’re blessed with that,” Muldrow head coach Brandon Ellis said. “They’re a good ball club. They’re 8-2 and their two losses were against some pretty good teams. They’re just solid like all those private schools are. They’re a good ball club. A lot of tradition there.”

In their last meeting in 2013 the Commandos downed the Bulldogs 28-14 in a 4A-4 contest at Muldrow.

Cascia Hall currently owns the state’s longest postseason streak (36 straight seasons).

A few of Cascia Hall’s key players on offense are quarterback Cooper Lai (6-foot-2, 185-pound senior), running backs Jayce Ward (6-1, 190, sr.) and Ethan Clark (6-0, 210, sr.), receiver/ running back Baxter Robertson (6-1, 195, sr.) and linemen Vincent Peters (61, 220, sr.), Owen Pazzo (6-1, 240, sr.) and Harrison Bollinger (6-1, 280, sr.).

The Commandos’ base offense is multiple.

“On offense they’ll spread it out,” Ellis said. “They’ll run some two-backs but they’ll spread it out also. They like to throw the ball a little bit too.

“On defense we’re going to have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year. Tackle well, know our assignments and don’t try to do somebody else’s job, just stick to their job. They’re the type of team that’s good at what they do so they don’t change. What they show you on film is what they’re going to run. They’re good everywhere. They’re good at what they do.”

Some of the Commandos’ standouts on defense are linebackers Jayce Ward, Baxter Robertson and Ethan Clark, defensive linemen Owen Pazzo, Alden Eagle (6-2, 230, sr.), Harrison Bollinger and Henry Simon (6-3, 240, jr.) and defensive backs Cooper Lai, Aiden Hicks (6-2, 175, sr.), Tommy Westbrock (6-1, 175, jr.) and Max Weller (5-10, 165, sr.).

“On defense they’re going to basically be in a five-front against us,” said Ellis. “Five to six and they’ll load up the box on us and play man on the outside. They’re just going to try to load the box on us.

“Everybody will be back healthy this week, which is a big plus for us. On defense we’ve got to win the line of scrimmage. If we can win the line of scrimmage we’ve got a shot to win. And again it comes down to turnovers. We’ve got to have ball security.”