Ike, Mac launch seasons this week

MacArthur and Eisenhower will be involved in a busy Week Zero schedule as there will be a total of 11 games played Thursday and Friday to officially launch the 2023 high school football season.

Give opening-night honors to MacArthur which will host John Marshall Thursday at 7 p.m., at Cameron Stadium. Friday Cameron Stadium will be the site of an interesting battle between Ardmore and Eisenhower, two programs with rich tradition that are trying to return to being consistent playoff participants.

Other games scheduled Friday include: Cache at Tuttle; Elk City at Altus; Lone Grove at Anadarko; Frederick at Wellington, Texas; Carnegie at Texhoma; Rush Springs at Empire; Walters at Konawa; Corn Bible Academy at Cyril and Central High at Grandfield.

Cache has made changes to its offensive attack, opting to adjust it’s “pop” offense into more of an RPO (run-pass option) attack which the Bulldogs are hoping will spread defenses out and give the Bulldogs more chances to get the running game going and also bolster its passing attack, an area which the Bulldogs have struggled to improve in recent seasons.

“We aren’t scrapping the pop offense but we are making adjustments to put in more RPO schemes and throw the ball with better efficiency,” Cache coach Faron Griffin said. “Both quarterbacks, Tyler Harbin and Camden Hance, have worked hard during the summer and our receivers were also showing up and working with the quarterbacks to get their timing down. The coaches couldn’t work with them but I’d turn on the lights at the stadium and then come back in a couple of hours and they’d still be working. They were running our routes and trying to make sure all those receivers knew what was expected of them.”

Altus and Carnegie are both under the leadership of new head coaches and when Grandfield hosts Central High Friday, both teams will have new head coaches calling the shots. Jeremy Reed is back at the helm for Altus and Skylar Watson is now coaching Carnegie. Dusty Ketner took the reins of Central High’s program just a month or so ago and is eager to get the Bronchos into the winning column as quick as possible. Grandfield is now coached by Leonel Murguia.

There is also a new coach at Temple as Glen Howard took the job and will lead the Tigers this season after the school had to cancel its football program last year due to low numbers. This year, however, 17 players showed up for practice and will try and get the program going in the right direction.

Week Zero was adopted several years ago to give teams a chance to schedule games earlier due to odd numbers of teams being placed into various districts across the state.

Pigskin picks due each Thursday

As is tradition with The Lawton Constitution, our weekly Prep Football Forecast will be included each week in our Thursday edition.

Our picks will look at every game involving area schools and offer our thoughts on how the games will turn out. This week’s predictions will include a couple of Lawton teams launching their seasons, both at Cameron Stadium. MacArthur will host John Marshall Thursday at 7 p.m. and Friday Ardmore will come to Cameron Stadium for a battle with Eisenhower.

Be sure and check out the Thursday Constitution to learn more about those two games including an important game for the Eagles who are determined to get an opening-night victory and set the stage for a strong playoff run. Coach Javon Harris is confident that this group of Eagles have made significant progress during spring drills and summer lifting that has given the team more strength and quickness, two things that will be tested with district opponents such as defending Class 5A state champion Carl Albert, Guthrie, McGuinness, Piedmont and Shawnee.