Muldrow, Gore scrimmaging tonight at Hartshorne Miners
The Muldrow Bulldogs and the Gore Pirates will get their first taste of a game-like situation when they both travel to meet the Hartshorne Miners in a three-way scrimmage beginning at 6:30 tonight.
Both local coaches are anxious about finally getting to do more than the daily practices and meeting someone else.
“We’re excited about the opportunity,” Muldrow coach Logan Coatney said. “The kids have been working extremely hard. There’s nothing comparable to a game-like situation in trying to get your team prepared for Week 1. All the kids are biting at the bit to go out and get after it, and hit somebody who isn’t wearing the same color as they are.”
For Gore coach Brandon Ellis, tonight’s three-way scrimmage will be the only one his Pirates will have as they will begin the 2025 season with a Zero Week game at 7 p.m. next Friday against the Wilburton Diggers at K.G. Horn Stadium.
“It’s going to let us kind of see where we’re at with what we’ve put in this spring and summer, and what we’ve been practicing on these last 10 days,” Ellis said.
Both coaches also are anxious to see what their players can do in a game-like situation before their respective regularseason openers arrive.
“We’re going to come out there and do what we do,” said Coatney, whose season opener will be the annual “Battle of 64” against the archrival Roland Rangers at 7 p.m. Sept. 5 at Ranger Stadium. “We’re going to come out and execute our base formations and running pass schemes. We don’t need to do anything else. We need to get good at what we do and continue to get better at that. We’re excited to go out there and execute that.”
“We are vanilla technically,” Ellis said. “We’re going to run our stuff. We’re not going to try to hide anything. Everybody is going to get it. We’re just going to run our stuff, and try to get good at those things that we’re going to take into Game 1 against Wilburton.”
Both Coatney and Ellis have things they want to see their respective team accomplish by the end of tonight’s three-way scrimmage.
“I want to see my young kids go out there and execute our offensive and defensive schemes,” Coatney said. “That’s probably the big deal for me. I’m excited about the group that we have. I want to see my older guys go out there with the reps they’re going to get provided and execute at a high level. The big thing is getting my young kids a lot of reps, and try to find out who my second-stringers are and just figuring out our depth. That’s what I’m hoping to accomplish.”
“The No. 1 thing is to come out healthy,” Ellis said. “If guys are doing their assignments, like getting to the ball and showing tons of hustle, that’s what I’m looking for. I want to make sure we’re correct on our assignments.”
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TO GET THERE — Take Interstate 40 west to Warner. Take Oklahoma State Highway 2 south to Wilburton. Take U.S. 270 west to Hartshorne.
