By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
The turn of the season isn’t just summer changing to fall.
It’s also the change from meaningless to impactful in Oklahoma high school football. The time rivals become the next opponent on the schedule, when outcomes not only matter so do the scores, average totals and any statistic you can find to break a tie.
It’s district season.
Piedmont looks to defend home turf Friday night and start undefeated in Class 5A District 2 as the Guthrie Blue Jays leave their nest with minds set on remaining unbeaten overall.
“The challenge is great on both sides of the football,” Piedmont coach Trent Worley said.
“They are Guthrie and they’re used to being physical and playing hard-nosed. We know the challenge is great, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Worley said after studying film he expects Guthrie to stick with a 5-2 man scheme with seven guys in the box for the majority of the game.
“They all run well and put a lot of pressure on the offense. They’re not real big like Noble was, but they present problems for people just from the style they play. And they feel like they’re athletic enough to do those things, which they are.”
The Cats defense will have to match the Jays’ physicality as Guthrie’s offense relies on the same attributes as its counterpart.
“Their offense relies on being physical as well,” Worley said. “They run the ball really well and are timely with throwing it. They have some skill athletes that if we’re not ready for them, they could hurt us. But really we’ll have to match the physical nature they bring.”
Health has been an issue for Worley’s squad early in the season. After losing a handful of players in Game 1 at El Reno, the Cats dropped four more against Weatherford in Week 2.
But now the team is starting to mend.
“We’re slowly getting healthy,” Worley said. “We had nine guys out against Weatherford and Noble, which isn’t an excuse but we haven’t played with a full deck yet. But we’re getting people back so that’s encouraging. And the benefit of them being out was some different guys got to seem some playing time and get some experience.”
Guthrie sits at 3-0 with all three wins over Class 6A opponents – Enid, Shawnee and Ponca City. Piedmont enters 1-2 with a win over Weatherford and losses to El Reno and Noble.
“We have a game plan,” Worley said. “And we’re still in game mode, but we do take things day to day and one week at a time. After watching the film our message to the kids is do your job and focus on us. If we play with great effort and do those things you can’t ask for much more.”
Piedmont will be declaring Friday evening’s contest as ‘Veteran and Public Service Night’ and will be holding a special recognition ceremony prior to kickoff for veterans invited to the event.
“Since I’ve been here our kids walk out and run out with the American flag,” Worley said of the event, running for a third consecutive year.
“We are granted the freedoms we have and one of those is the opportunity to play a game on a Friday night and feel safe because of those protecting us.
“To me the event is a pillar of our program.”
The Cats and Jays kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday night.
