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Roland Football

The Roland High School football team will host Class 3A No. 10 Idabel in a District 3A-3 contest Friday on Senior Night as the Rangers wrap up their season.

Senior Night festivities will begin at 6 p.m. and the game will start at 7 p.m.

The Rangers’ playoff hopes ended last week with a 63-22 loss at Checotah. Roland is 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the district.

Idabel is 6-3 and 4-2 following Friday’s home loss to No. 7 Lincoln Christian. The Warriors opened their season with a 57-0 loss at archrival 4A No. 3 Broken Bow before reeling off wins over Hugo (60-7), Valliant (54-46), Okmulgee (30-12), Daniel Webster (70-12) and 3A No. 8 Seminole (24-14). Idabel lost 28-27 at home on Oct. 12 to Checotah before downing Stigler 37-22.

“They’re another big, physical football team,” said head coach Waymon Potts. “They’re pretty simple with what they do on offense but they have athletes all over the field and big linemen. They probably have about the best-looking kids in the district. They’re a good football team and up until this week they were winning the district, them and Lincoln Christian. They got beat by Lincoln but they’re another good football team and a playoff team. They come to our place and all we have to play for right now is our own pride so we’re going to see how much Ranger pride we have this week.”

Some of Idabel’s key players on offense are quarterbacks LaQuan Wells (5-foot-9, 150-pound senior) and Raydavis Golston (6-2, 175, jr.), linemen Trae Richards (6-2, 215, sr.), John Wolf (6-1, 245, jr.), Tyler Sivard (6-3, 275, sr.) and Brandon Hilton (5-9, 220, fr.) and wide receivers Corbin Cooper (6-1, 185, jr.), Jaquevean King (6-2, 195, jr.), Jonah Scott (5-10, 140, sr.) and Jakadian Williams (5-4, 140, jr.).

Through eight games this season Wells had completed 38 of 81 passes 577 yards and five touchdowns with one interception and Golston was 35 of 73 for 430 yards and three TDs with four picks. Golston had rushed for 398 yards and eight TDs on 65 carries and Wells had 280 yards and 11 touchdowns on 64 attempts.

Sivard had registered 35 pancake blocks and Wolf (21), Richards (20) and Hilton (13) were also in double figures.

Cooper had caught 28 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns and King (13 receptions for 171 yards and a touchdown), Scott (6 for 123 and two TDs) and Williams (4 for 109 and two TDs) were the next top receivers.

“They’re a little over 50 percent throwing,” said Potts. “When they’re in 2-by-2 they want to throw it and when they’re 3-by-1 they seem to want to run it a little bit more. They play two quarterbacks, they’ve got two or three receivers that are really good, they have a tailback that’s really good and they have three or four really good defensive linemen too that play offense. They’re spread all the way.

“We’ve got to keep them contained because they’ve got athletes and speed all over the field. That’s a big challenge for us.”

The Warriors are led defensively by lineman Donte Reece (6-4, 280, sr.), linebacker Michael Harper (5-10, 180, jr.), strong safety Trevor Scharnhorst, linebackers Bradley Howell (5-10, 168, soph.) and Jalen Ellis (6-2, 175, soph.), tackle Trae Richards, free safety Jhadi Harjo (5-10, 175, sr.), nose guard Armonnie Wise (5-11, 220, soph.) and defensive backs Jaxen Thompson (6-0, 170, soph.) and Tay Nelson (5-8, 155, sr.).

Through eight games Idabel’s top eight tacklers were Reece (56 total tackles), Harper (49), Scharnhorst and Howell (46 each), Ellis (36), Richards

(32), Harjo (26) and Wise (25). Reece (7 sacks), Harper (5) and Richards (4) were the Warriors’ sack leaders.

Harjo had picked off eight passes and Thompson and Nelson had intercepted two apiece, Nelson had recovered three fumbles and Reece had two and Harper had caused four fumbles.

“They’re a multiple 3-4 defense,” remarked Potts. “We have to take care of the ball, time of possession, make first downs and not have penalties kill us. We didn’t have many penalties Friday night but the few that we did really hurt us and put us in bad situations.”

The Rangers were in a similar position last year when they hosted Eufaula, a playoff participant, in Week 10. Roland upended the Ironheads 24-17.

“They came to our place and I think we pulled out a 24-17 victory that knocked them out of the district championship spot I believe,” Potts said.