Pirates look to remain undefeated tonight, visit Canadian Cougars
The Gore Pirates will look to stay both undefeated overall and stay atop the District A-8 standings when they visit the Canadian Cougars tonight for a 7 p.m. district contest.
The Gore Pirates will look to stay both undefeated overall and stay atop the District A-8 standings when they visit the Canadian Cougars tonight for a 7 p.m. district contest.
The Pirates (4-0 overall, 1-0 in district play) won their district opener 51-12 over Talihina last Friday night at K.G. Horn Stadium. However, after the Golden Tigers shocked the Pirates with the game’s first touchdown coming off a fumble, the Pirates made them walk the plank as they scored the game’s next 44 points.
“Anytime you get punched in the nose, it was good for us to see how we were going to respond,” Gore coach Brandon Ellis said. “I thought the kids responded well. We settled down, and we started to play our game. It worked out for the best.”
The Cougars (1-2-1, 0-1) have just one win, a 36-6 win over Wewoka in the final non-district game on Sept. 15. After losing 54-0 to Ketchum in their zero week opener, the Cougars ended in a 6-all tie with Savanna in a game that was called due to storms. Canadian lost its district opener 64-0 to Pocola. For the next two years, the Cougars will return to 8-man football.
“I looked on their roster,” Ellis said. “They have 27 kids, which is about average (for a Class A football team). They’re going to drop back down to 8-man (at least for the next two years). I think they’re going to come out with a good game plan and battle us tough.”
Ellis just wants to make sure the Pirates do what they need to do for the best chance at a road win.
“We have to take care of ourselves,” he said. “We have to control the line of scrimmage. We have to limit penalties. We have to limit turnovers. Those are the keys that carry on each week — especially this week.”
• • • To Get There — Take Oklahoma State Highway 100 to Interstate 40. Take I-40 to Checotah. Take U.S. 69 south to Oklahoma State Highway 113. Take Highway 113 to Canadian.
• • •
District A-8 Standings
Team District Overall Points
CENTRAL 1-0 4-0 15
GORE 1-0 4-0 15
POCOLA 1-0 3-1 15
PANAMA 1-0 2-2 15
CANADIAN 0-1 1-2 -15
HASKELL 0-1 1-3 -15
PORTER CONS. 0-1 1-3 -15
