Rangers travel tonight to meet Stilwell Indians

The Roland Rangers opened their season the best way they knew how on Aug. 24 — not only winning their season opener, but defeating their archrivals from five miles west, the Muldrow Bulldogs.

However, while the Rangers are riding high in the saddle right now with the win over the rival Bulldogs, second-year coach Austin Cantrell knows his team cannot be satisfied.

“That was the first thing I told my boys on Sunday was we closed out Muldrow,” he said. “One of my fears was that with a team that didn’t experience a whole lot of success last year, especially that early (the season opener), we would not get complacent after getting that one win.”

So, the Rangers got ready this week to get ready to face the Stilwell Indians for a road game at 7 tonight in Stilwell.

“We have to turn the page and move on to Stilwell,” Cantrell said. “Having our first day of practice (on Monday), I think the boys did a good job. It let go of some of that fear of us being complacent. I don’t think we were (on Monday). If we can continue that (attitude) the rest of this week, I think we’ll do a good job, and go out there and compete very well.”

This will be the season opener for the Indians, who won last year’s match-up 20-7 at Ranger Stadium.

“They have a quarterback who can throw,” Cantrell said. “They are pretty big up front offensively and defensively. I don’t know how much experience they have this year. I don’t remember how many returning starters they have, but they have a good-sized team. I think they can run the ball as well as pass it.”

The Rangers will need to have as solid a game on both sides of the ball as in last week’s rivalry win over Muldrow.

“For us, we’re going to play some good defense,” Cantrell said. Hopefully, we can expand on our game plan from our offense last week, and go put some points on the board.”

• • • To Get There — Take Interstate 40 west to Exit 311 (U.S. 64). Take U.S. 64 west to U.S. 59. Take U.S. 59 north to Stilwell. Once in Stilwell, continue north to Locust Street (Oklahoma State Highway 100). Turn left to Stilwell High School.