Bulldogs look for first district win, end losing streak tonight against Berryhill

The Muldrow Bulldogs will look to accomplish two things tonight when they hit the road to meet the Berryhill Chieftains in a District 3A-3 match-up at 7 p.m. in Tulsa — end a threegame losing streak and get their first district win.

Last week, the Bulldogs (1-4 overall, 0-1 in district play) lost a heartbreaking 7-6 district opener to the Checotah Wildcats.

“At the end of the day, we challenged the kids this past week to really focus on three things,” Muldrow coach Logan Coatney said. “We wanted to focus on the attitude we brought every day, being disciplined in our assignments and having maximum effort. We’re trying to get the kids going in the right direction. We’ve battled some injuries and some losses. I felt like our kids did an outstanding job of having a great attitude, giving maximum effort and being extremely disciplined in what we do. It was a great game to be a part of. It was one of the best (games) our kids have played this year. It was tough to lose it. You hate to lose any game, but we found out a lot about ourselves and how well we can go compete. Looking at this week and coming off a district loss, our kids are hungry. We had a great practice (on Monday). We installed a few things. I look for this week to be just as solid as (Monday) was.”

The Chieftains (1-3, 0-1) lost their district opener 49-13 to Lincoln Christian last Friday night. In fact, they have lost their last two games — losing 42-21 to Cushing the week before their district opener. Their lone win came Sept. 8 with a 28-21 road win over Tulsa Cascia Hall after losing the season opener 22-19 to Fort Gibson.

“They’re quite a bit different than what we’ve seen to this point,” Coatney said. “Offensively, they do double tight-end sets. They’re going to want to run the ball right at us. We’ve seen that, just not in this scheme. They’re a big football team. They’re traditionally very good. They’re in the same boat we are. They lost their district opener last week, so they’re eager and hungry to get back on the same page. It’s going to be a very physical football game. The team that has the most energy and is the most disciplined in what they’re doing, that team is probably the one that will come out on top.”

The main thing the ’Dogs will need to do is to be more productive on offense as well as stop having penalties.

“It comes down to scoring the ball,” Coatney said. “We had a couple of opportunities last Friday night to punch one in, but mistakes beat us. It seems like when we have these opportunities, that’s when the mistakes happen. So, we’ve got to continue to clean up some of the little things we’re messing up on and not having success with. We’ve got to punch the ball into the end zone, and we have to play good defense. Berryhill can light up the scoreboard in a short matter of time, so we’re going to have to come out and be very disciplined at what we do defensively. We’re going to have to be gap sound. We’ve got to help ourselves out. It seems like every week, we’ve got silly penalties that can be prevented. The pre-snap and post-snap penalties are our biggest ones. I’m OK with a holding call or whatever, but the pre-snap false starts and the offsides penalties have been killers. We’re getting better, but we’ve got to continue to get better.”

For the last couple of weeks, the Bulldogs have had to deal with injuries. This week is no different.

“We’re looking at some injuries to some key players that have sidelined them,” Coatney said. “One of our key players had knee surgery last week, and it’s a six- to eightweek recovery for him. We’ve got a couple of concussions that have taken place. We’re taking the correct protocol to get those guys back. We’re as fullstrength as we can be. Our kids know what to expect. They’ve been stepping into some key roles for us. At the end of the day, my kids’ safety is No. 1. I know they want to play ball, but I want them to be as safe and healthy as they can be before we bring them back in.”

• • •

District 3A-3 Standings

Team District Overall Points

LINCOLN CHR. 1-0 5-0 15

CHECOTAH 1-0 4-1 1

SEMINOLE 1-1 2-3 -13

LOCUST GR. 0-0 1-3 0

MULDROW 0-1 1-4 -1

STIGLER 0-1 3-1 -2

BERRYHILL 0-1 1-3 -15

• • • To Get There — Take Interstate 40 west to Muskogee Turnpike. Take Muskogee Turnpike to Creek Turnpike. Take Creek Turnpike west to U.S. 75. Take U.S. 75 north to I-44. Take I-44 west to Gilcrease Expressway. Take Gilcrease Expressway to West 41st Street. Take West 41st Street west to South 65th West Avenue. Take South 65th West Avenue north to Berryhill High School.