Webbers Falls looks to clinch 3rd place in District BII-4 tonight vs. Gans
The Webbers Falls Warriors will look to make it a successful Senior Night as well as lock up third place in District BII4 when they entertain the Gans Grizzlies at 6 tonight at Smokey Cox Stadium.
“We want to win every ball game we play,” Webbers Falls coach Trent Holt said. “The more you win, the better you look. A win will put us third instead of fourth. You can look through the history. Fours (seed) don’t beat 1s very many times (in the playoffs). We would rather be third (than fourth), but we would have much rather been at home but we didn’t hold up our end of the bargain on that deal.”
Holt also said it would be nice to see his seniors win their final game at Smokey Cox Stadium, since a home playoff game this postseason is unlikely.
“They’ve worked hard,” he said. “They’ve been playing since seventh grade here. We’ve lost a couple here at home this year at home which you don’t like to do. We want to win on Senior Night in the last game of the year. It will give us a little bit of confidence. When you get a win, you get a little bit more confidence. You know how important confidence is.”
The Warriors (5-4 overall, 2-2 in district play) will need to win tonight, or see Wesleyan Christian lose to district champion Wilson (Henryetta), for the Warriors to snatch the third seed from the district for the upcoming playoffs.
However, if the Grizzlies (1-8, 0-4) upset the Warriors and the Mustangs due the same to the district-champion Tigers, then the Mustangs will be third and the Warriors fourth. Entering tonight’s action, Webbers Falls and Wesleyan Christian are tied for third, but the Warriors defeated the Mustangs 54-14 on Oct. 17 to give Webbers Falls the tiebreaker.
The Grizzlies are just playing out the string, but first-year coach Gary Hixon said ending the season with a win, which would end a five-game losing streak since they won their homecoming game over Midway on Sept. 20, would be a great way to cap the season.
“There’s not a lot of teams that get to win their last game of the season,” Hixon said. “Usually they’re in the playoffs. They either have to win that last game of the season (championship game) or they lose. For our seniors, this will be their last change to honestly go out there and have fun. I told them to go enjoy the game and the practice, and let the chips fall where they may. I’m trying to instill in them that we may not reach our goals as far as the extended season (playoffs), but we can play hard and set the tone. If we can win, that will set the tone for next year. We only loose two seniors, really. Our third senior was injured at Oaks. Our seniors have been awesome as far as that goes. I told them about laying a foundation all year. We’ve gotten better each week, in my opinion. We’re so young that we can’t translate what we do in practice to the game field yet. If we can ever do that, we’ll be OK, but it’s all about going out there having fun and letting the seniors play — and play with a reckless abandonment. Hopefully, we can come out victorious in this thing, but I just want them to have fun and play. I just want them to have fun and play the game.”
Both coaches have their concerns about tonight’s opponent.
“Webbers Falls is a very good team,” Hixon said. “They just disseminated Arkoma (last) Friday night. I don’t know if they’re getting healthy. I’ve seen them several times on film, and they’re looking better every week. They’re big. They have some speed. Coach Holt is a great coach. He’s got those kids playing at a very high level.”
“I know they’re struggling,” Holt said. “They have a new coaching staff. The quarterback (Jasper Green) is pretty decent. He can run it. They lost a lot of their players from last year. I expect them to put up a fight.”
Both coaches hope their respective team does not get complacent tonight if things start not going their way.
“My biggest concern is to make sure we don’t drop our heads and start shutting it down when we face the adversity we’re going to face,” Hixon said.
“We’ve been making too many penalties,” Holt said. “We’ve got to cut down on the penalties. We have to stay disciplined. We have to control both sides of the line of scrimmage — that’s where it all starts. We have to make sure we control the ball. Hopefully, we’ll play good, solid defense and offense. We can’t turn the ball over. We’ve held on to it pretty good (this season). If we do all that, I think we really have a good shot to win. It’s standard coach-speak. If you hold on to the ball, you don’t get penalties and control both sides of the line of scrimmage, you have a really good shot to win.”
Both coaches said their respective team will be fairly healthy for tonight’s game.
“We’re banged up, bumps and bruises wise,” Hixon said. “We don’t have any significant injuries. Everybody should be back. Last week, we had everybody back who was eligible to play, which is amazing. I didn’t sit out anybody for the first quarter because they missed a day of practice.”
“We’re about as healthy as we’ve been,” Holt said. “We’re still missing (senior running back) Zane (Nolan) and (junior lineman) Brock (Rhoden). The rest of them are back and hanging in there. (Senior running back Aiden) Turley hurt his shoulder, but he’s doing pretty good. One of my other lineman has a sore ankle, but I think he’ll be fine.”
