Local 8-man football teams enjoying bye weeks this week

Both the Gans Grizzlies and the Webbers Falls Warriors are enjoying bye weeks this week before their respective district portion of their seasons comes a week from tonight. Both teams are using the bye week to get their players healed up from injuries.

“Our boys are a little banged up,” Gans coach Brian Morton said. “We’ve been having some starters out. We just need some injury time to recuperate those guys. (The bye week) is allowing us some time to take care of ourselves a little bit, plus we’re getting some guys that were on the six-week ineligibility list. This (bye) week will give them an extra week to get ready to go. Those will be some key kids for us. The bye (week) really is a benefit to us. It gives us an extra week to prepare before our real season (District B-6) starts.”

“There’s two trains of thought,” Webbers Falls coach Trent Holt said. “You’re playing pretty well, then you have to sit off a week and then you come back a little bit rusty. We have some kids who need to heal up. Practices just aren’t the same when you don’t have a game to get ready for. The kids don’t seem to be as focused — it’s like, ‘Why are we even out here?’ — but we know we have to continue on.”

The Grizzlies are going to use the bye week to the best of their advantage.

“Offensively, we’re working on a lot more timing right now,” Morton said. “We’re able to focus instead of going straight out and just trying to get ready for a game. Since there’s no game prep coming, we’re able to go work on some things that we had been forced to rush through at the beginning. We’re doing a lot of conditioning right now. That extra conditioning is going to pay off come district time.”

Of course, there’s times when teams wish they didn’t have a bye week — or, more importantly, it came at a different time.

The Warriors had three key players ejected in last Friday night’s win home over Cave Springs. Thus, those players will have to sit out the next game — which just so happens is the District B-5 opener against district-favorite Dewar.

“They (bye weeks) are good when they come at the right time,” Holt said. “We had three kids get ejected the other night (against Cave Springs). They’re not going to be able to play (in the District B-5 opener Oct. 6 at Dewar). We’re going to be down our quarterback, our starting right guard and our starting linebacker/tailback. We’re going to be facing the best team in the district. That puts us big time behind the 8-ball. (The bye week) will make a difference. We’re going to have to change what we do. We’re going to have to figure out how we’re going to attack them because I don’t know that we’ll be able to do some of the same stuff. Our run game isn’t going to be as good. We’re probably going to try to throw it a little bit more than we normally do. We’ve got two weeks for that.”

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Week 4 Individual Highlights

100-Yard Rushers

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 290 yards

Dalton Crossno, Roland — 156 yards

Draighton Fletcher, Vian — 146 yards

Masyn Wright, Vian — 126 yards

Tate Brooksher, Gore — 125 yards

Cole Stephens, Sallisaw — 118 yards

100-Yard Passers

Joseph Lee, Central — 129 yards

Tate Brooksher, Gore —110 yards

Masyn Wright, Vian — 106 yards

Scoring-12 Points/More

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — 22 points

Ashton Peters, Roland — 18 points

Easton Girty, Central — 18 points

Draighton Fletcher, Vian — 18 points

Bladin McCartney, Gore — 14 points

Masyn Wright, Vian — 12 points

Hunter McGee, Gore — 12 points

Dakota Moore, Webbers Falls — 12 points

Defensive Honor Roll

Dayton Smith, Gore — 13 tackles, eight solo

Jagger Moore, Gore — 12 tackles, one solo

Cole Mayfield, Sallisaw — Eight tackles, two solo and a 58-yard fumble recovery return

Caden Pollard, Sallisaw — Eight tackles

Austin Foster, Muldrow — Eight tackles, seven solo

Dakota Moore, Webbers Falls — Eight tackles, five solo, a tackle for loss and a quarterback sack Tristan Wiley, Vian — Seven tackles

Keaton Rowe, Gore — Seven tackles, six solo, and a tackle for loss

Braydan Robinson, Webbers Falls — Seven tackles, four solo, a tackle for loss and onehalf of a QB sack

Landyn Morgan, Muldrow — Six tackles, four solo, and a tackle for loss

Bo Locust, Central — Six tackles

Easton Gerty, Central — Six tackles and a fumble recovery

Josh Marino, Central — Six tackles and a blocked punt

Ayden Cox, Gore — Six tackles, four solo, an interception return for a touchdown

Riley Ellis, Vian — Six tackles

Brutus Robinson, Webbers Falls — Six tackles, four solo

Dylan Young, Webbers Falls — Six tackles, four solo, a tackle for loss and two INTs

Cooper Cox, Sallisaw — Five tackles, two solo, a fumble recovery and an INT

Noah Flores, Sallisaw — Five tackles, one solo

Caden Cowan, Gore — Five tackles, three solo, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery

Bladin McCartney — Five tackles, one solo, two tackles for loss and two pass break-ups

Duane Hunt, Gore — Five tackles, four solo, and a tackle for loss

Aiden Turley, Webbers Falls — Five tackles, one solo, and one-half of a QB sack

Jace Holman, Sallisaw — Four tackles, two solo

Jacob Gregory, Muldrow — Four tackles, three solo

Journey Shells, Gore — Four tackles, one solo, and a pass break-up

Maddux Shelby, Webbers Falls — Four tackles, three solo, a tackle for loss

Kolton Riggs, Sallisaw — Three tackles

Mikey Maust, Sallisaw — Three tackles

Cooper Carter, Sallisaw — Three tackles

Jermauree Palmer, Muldrow — Three tackles, one solo, and a fumble recovery

Ashton Foster, Muldrow — Three solo tackles

Hunter McGee, Gore — Three tackles, two solo, two INTs and a pass break-up

Bryon McDuffie, Gore — Three tackles, two solo, a pass break-up and an INT

Dawson Littlefield, Webbers Falls — Two solo tackles, a tackle for loss and a QB sack

Tristan Walter, Muldrow — One-half of a QB sack

Cooper Cox, Sallisaw — An INT

Aiden Sainer, Central — An INT

Joseph Lee, Central — An INT

Cole Mayfield, Sallisaw — A fumble recovery

Chester Abercrombie, Gore — A fumble recovery

Cash Keepes, Sallisaw — A caused fumble

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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 sports editor for Your TIMES. He can be reached by telephone at (918) 775-4433, Ext. 139 or by email at davids@cookson.news.