Rangers to face Spiro, host Hartshorne in 3-way scrimmage

Roland Rangers football coach Austin Cantrell is wanting to see his players live up to their potential when the Rangers have their only preseason scrimmage tonight at Hartshorne along with Spiro. The junior varsity portion of the scrimmage will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity squads shortly after that.

“I would love to see us just go out and just know we’re a better team than last year, and play like it — and play up to our potential,” Cantrell said. “We have confidence in them. We know what their potential is, and we want to see them live up to it. They can do it. I think they’re a better football team — a playoff football team. If they will do it (play up to their potential), it will happen.”

The Rangers open the season at 7 p.m. Thursday against the archrival Muldrow Bulldogs at Ranger Stadium. Cantrell wishes he had one more preseason scrimmage to tweak things even more before welcoming the ‘Dogs to town.

“That’s the bad part about zero week,” he said.

Cantrell said there are certain things he wants to see from his Rangers in their lone preseason tune-up.

“What we need is we need to come outing start the scrimmage strong and fast, and finish strong,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to stop the run. Last year, I can’t remember how many teams rushed for 200plus rushing yards on us. We made a big emphasis on (stopping the run). Offensively, we’ve got to move our feet up front and get blocks. We’ve got to move our feet up front and get blocks. We have to be able to run the ball to set up our play-action (passing) for our screens and our passing game off that.”

To Get There — Take Interstate 40 west to Warner. Take Oklahoma State Highway 2 south to Wilburton. Take U.S. 270 west to Hartshorne.