Published: September 03, 2008 11:51 am         

Coalgate, Stratford renew series

Stratford — The last two times Coalgate and Stratford faced each other in a football game, playoff position in District A-8 was on the line, and Stratford won each time — the first to claim the district title in 2004 and the second to wrap up the runner-up spot in the league behind Wynnewood in 2005.

When the Wildcats and Bulldogs renew their rivalry Friday at Stratford’s Blackburn Stadium on the opening night for high school football in Oklahoma, there won’t be quite as much at stake. But new Coalgate coach Frank Howard and veteran Stratford head man Michael Blackburn both expect the game to have old-time intensity.

“It’s good to get them back on the schedule,” Blackburn said of the Wildcats, who started the 2007 season 0-6 but won three of their final four games to earn the fourth playoff spot out of District 2A-4 despite a 3-7 overall record. “It won’t be quite the same since it’s not a district game any more, but we always had some good games and some exciting games. Hopefully, this will be the same.”

“I think it’s a good game for both of us,” said Howard, Coalgate’s third different head coach since the Wildcats and Bulldogs last faced each other. “We’re young and they’re young, and it will be an opportunity for both of us to give our young kids a Friday night.”

The Stratford-Coalgate contest will be one of five games involving area teams Friday night. Elsewhere, Ada, coming off its first non-playoff season in almost a quarter-century, will open the Matt Weber era against former coach Larry McBroom and old rival Ardmore on the road; Allen will play its first game under new coach Kenny Deaton when the Mustangs (like Ada coming off a 5-5 campaign) host Grandfield; Konawa, 2-8 in Chuck Terry’s first season as head coach last fall, will host Savanna; and Sulphur, which returned to the playoffs with a 7-3 record last fall and drops from Class 3A to 2A this season, will host Oklahoma Christian.

At Stratford, each team could open Friday’s game with a different quarterback than the one who ended the 2007 campaign. Sophomore Dale Powell, who opened the season as Coalgate’s signal-caller a year ago but finished the year in a back-up role, won the starting job from freshman Nolan Fanning in preseason; at Stratford, another sophomore, Chase Chamberlain, rushed for over 1,000 yards and threw for over 600 as a freshman last fall but is questionable for the opener after offseason surgery on his throwing shoulder.

“We won’t know about Chase until later in the week,” said Blackburn, whose team is part of revamped District A-4 this fall.

If Chamberlain can’t go, senior T. J. Bratcher — the team’s tight end a year ago — will start under center. The Bulldogs will also have a new starter at tailback in sophomore Regand Ardery, who will stand in for senior Austin Black. Like Chamberlain, Black rushed for over 1,000 yards last season, but he is recovering from a knee injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for the first few games of the season.

“Regand does a good job,” Blackburn said of Ardery, who saw a lot of action at wide receiver as a freshmen. “He’s not real big and he’s not super fast, but he’s got good feet. He’s shifty and he plays hard. He’ll stick his nose in there.”

While Stratford’s backfield situation is unsettled and the Bulldogs have injury issues in a couple of other spots, Howard came out of preseason pleased with the progress of Powell and his tailback tandem of senior Austin Delozier and sophomore Shay Loudermilk and said his team was “100 percent healthy” for Friday’s game.

“Dale improved quite a bit from the first scrimmage to the second,” Howard said of Powell, who will also start in Coalgate’s defensive backfield while Fanning will man a linebacker spot. “He was really carrying out his fakes and doing the things we need him to do. He’s got some experience, and we thought he was the guy to start at quarterback right now.

“Austin and Shay will probably both get a lot of snaps — they’ll probably rotate in and out and bring in the plays,” he added. “We had some success moving the ball (in a three-way scrimmage with Quinton and host Wilburton) last week and keeping the ball out of the end zone. We felt like we made some gains on both sides of the ball.”

Blackburn, meanwhile, was anything but pleased with his team’s final scrimmage, which saw the Bulldogs dominated by 2A rival Lexington.

“Our scrimmages haven’t gone too well ... we haven’t played very well,” he said. “We have to block better and we have to tackle better. We didn’t do either very well against Lexington. Part of that was our opponent and part of it was that we didn’t play very well. We’re going to work hard, and we plan to be better this week.”

Blackburn said the Wildcats have the talent to give his club problems on both sides of the ball.

“They look aggressive on film,” he noted. “They have a couple of quarterbacks who look good, some running backs who run hard and a defense that flies around. It should be a challenge for us.

“Every first game is nerve-wracking,” Blackburn said. “We have to get that first game under our belt and start improving and getting ready for district.”

     

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