Gore Pirates welcome Central Tigers on Senior Night in crucial district game with playoff ramifications

The Gore Pirates will celebrate Senior Night when they entertain the Central Tigers at 7 tonight at K.G. Horn Stadium.

Gore coach Brandon Ellis said there would be nothing better than to send his senior players off the field victorious in their last regular-season home game.

“That’s the game plan,” Ellis said. “These kids have worked their butts off for four years. We don’t want this to be the last time they play on the field. These kids deserve a good night. They’re looking forward to it. They’re excited about it.”

As for the game itself, the Tigers (4-4 overall, 1-4 in District AII-3 play) and the Pirates (3-5, 2-3) are both on the outside of the Class A, Division II playoffs if they were to start tonight.

The Pirates are tied with Tulsa Regent Prep (2-3 in district play), a game behind both Wewoka (3-2) and Liberty (3-2) — who are tied for third place. If the Pirates win out, and get some help along the way, they could grab one of the district’s four playoff berths.

“There’s a lot at stake,” Ellis said. As for the Tigers, they will need to win out and get some help to get a playoff berth.

“I know there’s still a lot of things in place for us,” Central coach Jeremy Thompson said. “We’re excited about this week’s game. It’s a big one. It’s a very big one, and next week’s one also (at Liberty) for us. There’s a lot to play for as far as playoffs, for both teams. We’re still in control of us. We definitely have to go out and play better this week. The kids know how big this game is.”

Not only is there a playoff berth at state for the winner, the game itself, being a countywide matchup, makes it that much more special.

“It’s a big game every year, no matter what,” Thompson said. “The kids are excited. Us, Gore and Talihina, those have been big district games for the last 20 years. This is another one (tonight). We’re looking forward to going there and playing. We’ve had great practices. The kids are excited for it. It will be a big night.”

“He (Thompson) has always got a crew that’s going to come to play, no matter whether they have a down year or an up year,” Ellis said. “I feel like we’re in the same way. It’s a hard-fought and hard-nosed game.”

Thompson believes his Tigers will face a Gore Pirates offense that will try to line up and run right at you..

“They run the ball very well, Thompson said. “They’re physical and big up front. Coach Ellis does a great job in his offensive schemes every year. They have some very good backs that they can give (the ball) to, and they run hard. Anybody coming out of the backfield runs hard. Gore runs a different offense, but a very similar style to what we saw the week before (against Mounds). I think that will be in our favor. I’m looking forward to Friday night.”

Ellis knows the Tigers will play his Pirates hard for a complete four quarters.

“They play hard,” Ellis said. “(Thompson) does a good job with what he does on offense and defense. He has his players flying around (to the ball). They believe in what he does. He’s always got them playing to the toughest for four quarters. He’ll have them coached up. They’re young, but yet at the end of the season we don’t really consider them young any more. The sophomores are basically juniors now. They’ve now gotten playing time. Like us, we start some young guys. Technically, they’ve been going since Week Zero. We treat them basically as being a year older.”

Both coaches believe their respective team will need to be sound in all facets to not only end the night with the win but keep their playoff hopes alive.

“It’s just going to come down to turnovers, field position and doing the fundamental things right,” Ellis said. “I think it’s going to take all three phases of the game — special teams, offense and defense. If we can flip the field on them, maybe we get points out of it. Defensively, we need to keep them to three and outs. On offense, we need to hold on to the football and take time off the clock. We need to make the correct blocks and reads.”

“We’re going to have to tackle well this week,” Thompson said. “We have to play fast and physical on the defensive side. Offensively, it’s always don’t turn the football over, finish drives and convert on third down. We’ve gotten better offensively all year. I think it’s going to be dry (tonight), so that’s a plus. Those things will come in big for us.”

A lot of those things did not happen for the Tigers in last week’s Senior Night loss to Allen.

“We struggled offensively early in the game,” Thompson said. “They were physical, and they ran the ball at us very well. Field position wise, we dug ourselves a hole early in the game and never came out of it. We had a few turnovers. It kind of went downhill for us from there. It was a strong uphill climb in the second half. You have to learn from your losses to not do the same things over again (that cost you). You make your own breaks. We have to go do that. That will be big for us to do this week coming off last week’s loss.”

Both teams are healthy going into tonight’s game.