Published: November 04, 2009 03:57 pm      

Stratford eyeing home playoff game

Allen just looking to extend season

STRATFORD — The Stratford Bulldogs missed one opportunity after another in last week’s 13-6 loss at Wynnewood, but they will have a last chance to earn a home playoff game when they host Konawa Friday night at Blackburn Stadium in the regular-season finale for both teams.

If Stratford (5-4, 5-2) can beat the Tigers (4-5, 3-4) by at least three points, Wayne beats Dewar and Wynnewood gets past Wewoka this week, the Bulldogs will finish the season in a three-way tie With Wayne and Wynnewood for the runner-up spot behind unbeaten Stroud in the District A-5 standings but will enter the postseason as the No. 2 seed by virtue of points scored against league opponents.

A Stratford victory and a Wayne loss will give Wynnewood the runner-up spot in the district on the strength of last week’s win, and Wayne can finish second if Stratford loses Friday and third if both the Wynnewood and Stratford win their games.

The Stratford-Konawa contest is one of three with playoff implications for area teams this week. In other key games, Ada (7-2, 4-2) will travel to McAlester with the runner-up spot in District 5A-4 on the line, and Allen (6-3, 4-3) can claim the fourth and final playoff berth out of District B-2 with a victory at Fox. Elsewhere, Sulphur (5-4, 4-2) has already wrapped up the third spot while Coalage (4-5, 3-4) has been eliminated from the playoff race in District 2A-4, and the Bulldogs will visit Kingston while the Wildcats entertain Tishomingo to close out the regular season.

KONAWA AT STRATFORD

Stratford had dominated five straight A-5 opponents and took a 6-0 lead just 1:18 into last week’s game, but the Bulldogs couldn’t score again — despite running 37 of their final 63 plays in Wynnewood territory — and saw two short passes by Savage quarterback Blake Perry turned into long scoring plays — the first for 73 yards and the second for 53 — en route to a disappointing loss that denied them a chance to clinch the runner-up spot out of A-5.

Veteran Stratford coach Michael Blackburn said he and his staff will try to put the Wynnewood loss on the back burner as they prepare their squad for another important district game this week.

“We looked back when we watched film on Saturday, then we just said ‘it’s done, it’s over’,” Blackburn said. “Now we have to prepare for a Konawa team that looks good on film. They’ve won two of their last three, and they played Stroud (ranked No. 4 in Class A) as tough as anybody (in a 34-0 loss in Week 8).”

Stratford senior tailback Tyler Mills had another big game statistically against Wynnewood (29 carries for 137 yards and a touchdown) to run his total to 630 yared in his last four outings, but he got almost half of his yardage on two plays — a 30-yarder on the first snap of the night and a 35-yarder in the fourth quarter — and was held to three yards or less on 18 of his other 27 carries in the game.

And, although junior quarterback Chase Chamberlain threw for 154 yards, he was intercepted twice in the final period — the second coming from the Wynnewood 6 with six seconds left on the Bulldogs’ final play of the night.

“You have to give Wynnewood credit — they played better defense than the teams we had been beating,” said Blackburn, whose club had outscored its previous five district opponents by a combined 213-34. “But some of it was just execution on our part. Wynnewood probably has more team speed, but Konawa gets to the ball well also, and they may be more physical than Wynnewood was.”

Chamberlain, who has played through a nagging injury the past few weeks, threw a career-high 26 passes last week, and Blackburn said he might have to open things up again this week against a Konawa defense that has been among the stingiest in Class A this fall.

“Chase has been throwing the ball well most of the year,” Blackburn said. “(The Savages) did a good job against the run, and we had to open up a little bit. We will try to be balanced this week and see what’s working.”

Konawa, which was eliminated from playoff contention last week, has been competitive week in and week out despite a roster loaded with underclassmen. The Tigers have a freshman quarterback (Josh Kirkwood), two freshman tailbacks (Alex Yellowfish and Brandon Ackerman) — one of whom (Akerman) is the team’s leading tackler from his linebacker spot — and a defense that has given up more than 16 points only three times through nine games.

“They’ve got two good defensive tackles and their linebackers fill the holes,” Blackburn said of the Tigers. “Our kids realize we have to bounce back. They realize what’s at stake this week.”

ALLEN AT FOX

Allen’s six victories this season have been by comfortable margins, but the Mustangs lost close games to the top three teams in their district — No. 4 Ryan (32-26 in Week 8), No. 9 Alex (38-36 in Week 5) and No. 17 Caddo (36-34 in Week 6) — to put themselves in a must-win situation Friday against a Fox squad that will enter the game 7-2 overall and 5-2 in league play.

“From what I’ve seen on film, they’re a good football team,” Allen coach Kenny Deaton said of the Foxes, whose only two losses this fall were to Ryan (24-0) and Alex (34-28). “They have a good quarterback and two good running backs. They like to spread you out and run, and their quarterback can make things happen in space.

“Defensively, they have a really good nose guard, Seth Beard,” he added. “He’s got to be accounted for only every play. In my mind, I think they’re probably the second best team we’ve faced this year behind Ryan, but I think we’ll have some success throwing the football. If we can do that, we can kind of dictate what we want to do.”

Allen has some impressive weapons of its own on both sides of the ball. The Mustang offense — led by quarterback Brady Caldwell, tailback Levi Howard and wideouts Scott Manuel and Brett Edens — has scored the fifth most points (396) in Class B this fall, and middle linebacker Reece Lewis has been huge on defense — totalling an incredible 52 tackles the past two weeks — and, with Howard out with the flu last week, showed his versatility by rushing for 121 yards and three touchdowns on just five carries in a 46-0 mercy rule victory over Macomb.

Edens also missed the Macomb game with a concussion, but, like Howard, he will be back Friday. Deaton said his club is looking forward to the first meaningful game in years for an Allen program that has made the playoffs just once (in 2006) in almost a decade.

“The kids have been really up and eager, and they’re worked really hard so far this week,” he noted. “It’s been awhile since we played for anything in Week 10, so I didn’t know how they would react, but it’s been positive so far.

“We’ve lost three games, but we’re 10 points away from being undefeated,” Deaton said. “We have to learn how to handle these type ballgames. If we learn how to finish these games instead of giving them away (Allen trailed Alex 24-0 in the first quarter and blew late leads against Caddo and Ryan), we’re at the top of our district. We’re certainly due some luck coming our way, but sometimes you have to make your own luck. If we eliminate mistakes, I think we’ll win.”

Although a victory Friday will probably earn Allen the dubious reward of traveling to Garber for a first-round playoff game with Class B’s No. 1 team, Deaton said any playoff game will be a big step forward for his program.

“We’re just looking for it to become a habit for us to go to the playoffs,” he explained. “We just a want a spot, we don’t care where it is.”