Pirates begin season tonight at Wilburton
The Gore Pirates will get their 2024 football season off and running with a Zero Week game tonight against the host Wilburton Diggers at 7 p.m.
“We’re ready to hit somebody else,” Gore coach Brandon Ellis said. “We are ready to see another colored jersey. Everybody is excited, and we want to see where we’re at.”
While the goal is a perfect season, this game also will provide Ellis and his coaching staff a chance to see if any re-evaluation will be needed before the Pirates’ home opener against Keys next Friday night at K.G. Horn Stadium.
“Our goal is to go 10-0, and it starts with this game,” Ellis said. “It sets the tone for the year. We’ll get a good idea if we have guys in the right spots or if we have to make adjustments. I feel we have guys in the right spot right now. When the whistle blows, you don’t know until those guys react. I’m not going to say it’s a work in progress, but it is a job opportunity for people. I’d like to think we’ll get it right on the first get-go, but you never know.”
The Diggers are on a 20-game losing streak. Their last win came in the regular-season finale on Nov. 5, 2021 — winning their Senior Night game 42-20 over Valliant. However, Ellis and the Pirates are not taking them lightly.
“I think they’re hungry for a win,” he said. “They haven’t won a ball game in a few years. Anything can happen. I don’t know if they have any move-ins, or if their kids got bigger and stronger over the summer in the weight room. Things are different, plus they’ve studied a little bit of our film from last year — and we’ve studied theirs — to try to get some tendencies. I think the more prepared team is going to be able to come out victorious.”
As long as the Pirates do their thing, Ellis will have a good feeling about starting 1-0 — and extending the Diggers’ losing streak to 21 games.
“We just need to do our job,” said Ellis, whose team will enter tonight’s game healthy. “We can’t have mental mistakes. We can’t overthink things. We just need to play football.”
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TO GET THERE — Take Oklahoma State Highway 100 south to Interstate 40. Take I-40 west to Warner. Take Oklahoma State Highway 2 south to Wilburton.
