Vian Wolverines, Gore Pirates dealing with bye weeks this week

The Vian Wolverines and the Gore Pirates are enjoying their bye weeks this week, and they neither one will be playing tonight.

For Gore coach Brandon Ellis, he believes the bye week for his Pirates is coming at the perfect time.

“It’s really good to have a bye week going into district play,” Ellis said. I”t’s going to be important for us to prepare for two weeks for Talihina. Our kids are ready to work every single day. Any bumps and bruises we have can get healed up.”

Ellis said the “week off” is welcomed, but you have to continue working to prep for the District A-8 opener next Friday night against Talihina, which will be playing varsity football for the first time since 2021 — as they did not have enough varsity players to have a team.

“It’s enjoyable,” he said. “It’s good to take a break before we do get into the grind of it because we are fixing to get ready to get into the grind of district play. Right now, we haven’t won a district game. Right now, we’re 0-0.

The Pirates are entering the bye week at 3-0, which is not where a lot of high school prognosticators believed they would be.

“I think the kids are hungry,” Ellis said. “They’ve proven people wrong so far. That’s motivation enough. It makes them want to work harder. We have great kids.

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What a week it was on Sept. 7 for Webbers Falls senior quarterback Maddux Shelby. He rushed for 345 yards and scored six touchdowns, while returning an interception for a seventh TD in the Warriors’ 60-14 rout of Arkoma. Some college and professional QBs don’t even come close to numbers like those.

• • •

What a big disappointment for the National Football League fans, especially those of the New York Jets and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

In Monday night’s season opener vs. the Buffalo Bills, it only happened just a few plays into the Jets’ opening drive, but Rodgers will not take another snap this 2023 season.

Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles and will have to wait until the 2024 season to play again, or do you think he’ll retire?

Time will tell.

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WEEK 2 INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS

100-YARD RUSHERS

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 345 yards.

Coy Blackburn, Central — 105 yards.

100-YARD PASSERS

Tate Brooksher, Gore — 206 yards.

100-YARD RECEIVERS

Hunter McGee, Gore — 134 yards.

SCORING-12 POINTS/MORE

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 44 points.

Hunter McGee, Gore — 22 points.

Cole Stephens, Sallisaw — 18 points.

Editor’s Note — Gans trio of Caiden Kennedy, Nakota White and Clay Martinez all had multiple touchdowns in the Grizzlies’ loss to Maud. However, the exact number of TDs each scored along with conversions was not made known by press time.

DEFENSIVE HONOR ROLL

Josh Marino, Central — 11 tackles.

Hunter Pack, Central — 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Coy Blackburn, Central — 9 tackles.

Riley Ellis, Vian — 10 tackles.

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 9 tackles, 7 solo, a tackle for loss, two interceptions with one returned for a TD.

Dakota Moore, Webbers Falls — 9 tackles, 7 solo, 2 tackles for loss, a quarterback sack.

Tristan Walker, Muldrow — 8 tackles, 6 solo, a QB sack.

Peyton Johnson, Vian — 8 tackles.

Austin Foster, Muldrow — 7 tackles, five solo.

Aiden Turley, Webbers Falls — 8 tackles, 5 solo, a tackle for loss.

Brutus Robinson, Webbers Falls — 7 tackles, six solo, a tackle for loss, a QB sack.

Jermauree Palmer, Muldrow — 6 tackles, 5 solo.

Teaguen Collins, Muldrow — 6 tackles, 6 solo.

Dylan Young, Webbers Falls — 6 tackles, 5 solo and an INT.

Cole Stephens, Sallisaw — 5 tackles, 3 solo and 2 interceptions, one returned 57 yards for a touchdown.

Aaron File, Sallisaw — 5 tackles, 2 solo, and 3 QB hurries.

Deshawn Willson, Muldrow — 5 tackles, 4 solo.

Colton Riggs, Sallisaw — 4 tackles, 2 solo, 2 QB hurries and one-half of a QB sack.

Mikey Maust, Salisaw — 4 tackles, 1 solo,

Will Stratmann, Muldrow — 4 tackles, 3 solo, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery.

Draighton Fletcher, Vian — 4 tackles.

Tristan Wiley, Vian — 4 tackles.

Cash Collins, Vian — 4 tackles.

Ben Ward, Webbers Falls — 4 tackles, 3 solo, a tackle for loss.

Cooper Cox, Sallisaw — A pass break-up and 2 tackles, one solo.

Jace Holman, Sallisaw — 3 QB hurries and 3 tackles, one solo.

Noah Flores, Sallisaw — 2 QB sacks, 2 QB hurries, a pass break-up and 2 tackles, one solo.

Braque Oft, Sallisaw — An interception and 2 tackles.

Matthew McGrew, Sallisaw — A QB hurry and 2 tackles, one solo.

Dakota Rushing, Muldrow — A caused fumble and 2 solo tackles.

E.J. Sanders, Muldrow — A pass break-up.

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Coaches, I need to make sure I get your offensive and defensive statistics either put on your MaxPreps website wall or emailed to me at davids@cookson.news by no later than 10 a.m. Thursdays to be able to give your player(s) some special recognition from the week before in each week’s Gridiron Notes Column.

David Seeley is the new sports editor of Your TIMES. He can be reached by telephone at (918) 775-4433, Ext. 139 or by email at davids@cookson.news.