Pirates travel to Mounds for district opener tonight

It’s been two weeks since the Gore Pirates took to the football field, which was a road victory over the Chouteau-Mazie Wildcats on Sept. 13. For starters, the two weeks off has allowed the Pirates to heal from any injuries.

“Having that bye week is key,” Gore coach Brandon Ellis said. “That’s why I like that Zero (Week game) so we can have a bye going into our districts so we can be 100 percent healthy.”

The bye week also has helped the Pirates (2-1) get two weeks to prepare for tonight’s District AI-3 opener at 7 p.m. on the road against the Mounds Golden Eagles (2-1).

“We’ve really had two good weeks of practice,” Ellis said. “The guys are focused. We got some stuff in. We like some of the stuff we’ve put in offensively, defensively and special teams wise that I think will give us an advantage. We kind of went back to the basic stuff and made sure everybody was on the same page. Practicewise, there was a lot of conditioning and flying around. We got a little bit physical last week in practice, which helped out. This week, we’re back in game mode.”

Ellis stressed the importance of starting district play 1-0.

“It’s what we’ve worked for,” he said. “That’s our main focus. They count from here on out. You want to be 1-0 every week.”

The Golden Eagles suffered defeat for the first time this season last week, falling 41-8 to Okemah, after winning their first two games of 2024 — 32-6 over Okmulgee and 34-26 over Kellyville.

“They’ve got a new coach (Jonathan Stowe),” Ellis said. “From what we’ve seen of them, they’re a little bit different, but it seems like they’re well coached up. They seem to be more on the same page (than last season). They’re going to play physical. They don’t have a lot of numbers. They have around 18 to 19 guys.”

Two key things the Pirates need to do to have a better shot at winning their district opener tonight is being more physical than the Golden Eagles and sound play on both sides of the ball.

“We want to be physical,” Ellis said. “Anytime we get a chance to get into the game, we want to try to be more physical. Anytime you play on the road at a hostile environment, you have to make sure you take care of the ball. That’s one of our biggest tendencies right now. If you look at our last three ball games, the turnover ratio is not great. We’ve been working on ball security. If we minimize the penalties, just stick to assignment football and control the clock, good things should happen.”

• • • TO GET THERE — Take Oklahoma State Highway 10 west to U.S. 62 just west of Muskogee. Take U.S. 62 west to Muskogee Turnpike. Take Muskogee Turnpike west to Creek Turnpike. Take Creek Turnpike west to U.S. 75. Take U.S. 75 south to Mounds.