Pirates look to rebound from loss with road win over Panama
Friday night’s District A-8 road loss to the Central Tigers was painful, but the loss showed the Gore Pirates how important it is to be hitting on all cylinders when they return to action with another road game against the Panama Razorbacks at 7 p.m. Thursday at Panama’s George Ollie Stadium.
Friday night’s District A-8 road loss to the Central Tigers was painful, but the loss showed the Gore Pirates how important it is to be hitting on all cylinders when they return to action with another road game against the Panama Razorbacks at 7 p.m. Thursday at Panama’s George Ollie Stadium.
“We’re going to have to be ready to play, and we’ll go from there,” said Gore coach Brandon Ellis, whose team is 6-1 overall and 3-1 in district play. “It’s that simple. We just have to go play ball. We have a football game to play, and we know that — whether they know the importance of it or not. We have to go compete and go get a win.” The Razorbacks (31, 4-3) also entered last week’s action as one of three unbeaten district teams with the Pirates and the Tigers, but that ended abruptly last Friday night when the Hogs lost 50-6 to their archrivals, the Pocola Indians. After both Gore and Panama lost their first district games of the season Friday night, they are now tied for second place at 3-1 — one game behind Central, which is 4-0.
Ellis said the Razorbacks are big ol’ hogs.
“They’re big, physical guys,” he said. “They’re well coached. They’re a mature football team.”
Ellis said the Pirates will need to play better offensively than in Friday night’s road game against Central.
“We have to sustain drives,” he said. “Our offense has to bail our defense out. Our defense played a heck of a game (against Central). If we keep those guys (the Razorbacks) off the field, and at the same time finish our (offensive) drives and cut out penalties, we’ll be OK. We have to play well as a team.”
Thursday night’s game will be a homecoming of sorts for Ellis, who spent four years coaching the Razorbacks.
“Panama has always been a football town,” he said. “They’re a footballhungry school. I was down there for four years, and they take football very serious — and we do here in Gore, also. Hopefully, it will be a good game. I still keep in touch with those guys. I still have quite a few friends down there. Panama was great to me when I was down there. There’s good people down there.”
• • • To Get There — Take Oklahoma State Highway 10 south to Interstate 40. Take I-40 east to Sallisaw. Take U.S. 59 south to Panama.
