Elgin, MacArthur picked in feature contests

With each week that passes, there will be more and more tough games for area football teams as district contests are almost at hand and that’s when the pressure begins to mount on teams that are focused on advancing to the playoffs.

One thing that jumped out when yours truly was preparing the Week 3 schedule was the fact that nine city-area teams are off this week after playing games on Week Zero, the largest grouping that we can remember since that started happening with the odd number of teams in certain districts.

That list includes city programs Eisenhower and Lawton High plus Altus, Anadarko, Comanche, Cyril, Grandfield, Marlow and Snyder. Expect to see coaches and players from those schools scattered across the state as they take advantage to go scout future opponents this week.

The two feature games that jump off the page are Newcastle which comes to Elgin for an interesting contest Friday, while MacArthur makes the long drive to face Ponca City which this writer saw last season against Lawton High School.

In the spring the Newcastle-Elgin game appeared to feature two Class 5A teams but that was before the OSSAA was threatened with court action over the bumping of private schools up a classification and the quick reversal shook things up.

Newcastle wound up as the second-smallest Class 5A program while Elgin dropped to Class 4A where the Owls are the largest school in that class. So, with those two not being in the same class and district, the coaches agreed to a home-and-home series with the first game to be played Friday at Elgin.

The Racers are ranked among the “others” in Class 5A while the Owls are ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. We’ve seen the Owls in person and we viewed some Newcastle video and while this contest should be competitive, the difference in our view is the Elgin defense.

Both offenses have some talented players but it’s hard to go against the Owls with an offensive line that is big, mobile and strong, plus a veteran quarterback in Tres Lorah who has a knack of checking plays at the line of scrimmage if needed.

This should be a hard-hitting contest that we see the Owls winning: ELGIN 27, Newcastle 7.

The more we see MacArthur, the more we are impressed. The Highlanders have a good offensive line, Marquis Harris is a talented back and quarterback Aivan Locklin is finding his groove both running and passing.

Defensively the Highlanders have a talented, experienced secondary, good linebackers and an underrated group along the line. All of those things point toward this score: MacArthur 32, PONCA CITY 7.

Here are the rest of this week’s games and remember, home teams are listed in all-capital letters:

Thursday’s games

Apache 28, MERRITT 13—Warriors lost to No. 6-ranked Minco last week and they will be eager to get back on the field and prove they deserve their No. 7 ranking in Class AII.

Tipton 38, COYLE 6—Tigers had to fight hard to hold off Hollis but expect them to be focused and ready this week.

Friday’s games

SULPHUR 28, Cache 14—Bulldogs are still without starting quarterback Canden Hance and Sulphur is one of Class 3A’s best teams.

SHAWNEE 20, Duncan 19—Not sure about this one but if the Wolves don’t wrap up Demons’ quarterback Sawyer Rice he could turn this game around in a flash.

HOBART 32, Carnegie 6—Bearcats just have more offensive firepower.

Empire 38, WETUMKA 12—Empire off to a 3-0 start and should pass this test with ease.

VERNON, TEXAS 36, Frederick 13—Bombers still working to find consistency on both sides of the ball and when you face three straight Texas teams that can spell trouble.

Hollis 28, MT. VIEW-GOTEBO 16—Hollis was impressing in pushing Tipton until the final buzzer.

Walters 22, WILSON 20—This could be the tightest contest of the week but Blue Devils have BJ Palmer and he can turn a game in an instant.

RYAN 32, Central High 18—Cowboys have good group of upperclassmen who should make the difference in this eight-man battle.

Last week: 6-5, 54.5 percent. Season: 22-13, 62.9 percent.