Webbers Falls Warriors entertain Arkoma Mustangs on Senior Night
The Webbers Falls Warriors will look to do two things when they entertain the Arkoma Mustangs at 7 tonight at Smokey Cox Stadium in a crucial District BII-4 game.
The first is to send the seniors out winners in their last-ever regular-season home game.
“It would be big for them,” Webbers Falls coach Trent Holt said. “They’ve put in a lot of time and effort. They’ve had some success. It would be good for them to get that last home game win on Senior Night.”
The other thing the Warriors (4-4 overall, 1-2 in district play) will try to do is end a three-game losing streak, not counting the Oct. 16 forfeited district win over Wesleyan Christian — which dropped its football program earlier this season.
“We need a win in district,” Holt said. “We haven’t done that except the forfeit. We’re pretty disappointed with this three-game losing streak. We haven’t played that bad. We just did some things that hurt ourselves. We were in the game against Copan (on Oct. 23). If we don’t turn it over, we’re right there with them. With Wilson, we played with them. If we had made the plays, it was ‘could’ve, would’ve, should’ve.’ We could be sitting here with a couple of district wins.”
The Mustangs (4-5, 2-1) got their forfeited win over Wesleyan Christian last week, but they filled their void by facing the Foyil Panthers on Oct. 23 and lost 2016. They won their district opener 38-12 over Gans on Oct. 10 before losing 46-0 to Wilson (Henryetta) on Oct. 16.
“They can throw it pretty well,” Holt said about the Mustangs. “The quarterback (Alex Armstrong) runs the ball well and he throws it well. They got (wide receiver Scout Smith) who is a good player. He can go catch it, and he’s pretty speedy. Their receivers tend to get open. We’re going to have to play well. Defensively, they will fly around (to the football) a little bit. They play pretty decent defense.”
The Warriors will need to play sound football in all facets tonight to make it a successful Senior Night.
“Like any game, we have to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” Holt said. “We can’t turn (the ball) over for sure. Last week, we had some turnovers that we can’t have. We have to value the football. We have to make tackles. We have to stay sound in our coverages.”
Although he was injured in last week’s district loss to Copan, junior quarterback Brutus Robinson, who suffered a dislocated shoulder, elbow, wrist and right knee, is expected to play tonight.
“I think he’s OK,” Holt said. “He’s not 100 percent. He banged up his knee and shoulder. He was pretty banged up. He’s got some swelling in one of his legs. He seemed to be moving pretty good (on Monday) in practice. He’s so tough. I don’t know if there’s anyone tougher on our team. I would like to see anyone tougher than him physically. He’s a neversay die kid. If he can walk and move his arms around, he’s going to play.”
Last week, the Warriors got sophomore Thadan Yandell back after recovering from surgery to repair a broken ankle suffered earlier this season.
“Thadan (Yandell) came back last week,” Holt said. “He got (medically) cleared. We played him sparingly. Hopefully, with another week, he’ll be a little bit better. He makes a difference. He helps us. He’s a good football player. Other than that, it’s the typical Week 9 being sore from playing football since August.”
