The Rangers suffered their first loss of the season on Friday night at John Carter Field in LeFlore County as Pocola downed Roland 28-14 in the penalty-filled District 2A-5 opener.

Roland received the game’s opening kickoff and drove to the Pocola 32 before turning the ball over on downs. The Rangers were penalized four times for 30 yards during the offensive series.

The Indians got on the board with 4:40 left in the first period when quarterback Ian Hardwick completed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Trinity Bright before Conner Martin kicked the extra point. A key play in the six-play, 68-yard scoring drive was a 41-yard reception by Kolby Masterson.

Runs of 29 and 16 yards by quarterback Jaxon Fouts helped the Rangers move to the Pocola 27 on Roland’s next possession but Hardwick’s interception ended the scoring threat.

The Rangers recovered a Pocola fumble at the Indians’ 17 later in the quarter.

On the first play of the second stanza Martin, Pocola’s punter, was tackled short of the first down marker at the Pocola 25 after fumbling the snap. The Rangers advanced to the 8 before turning the ball over on downs at the 19 following a 5-yard penalty, a 6-yard sack and two incompletions.

The Indians led 7-0 at the intermission.

Pocola blocked a Roland punt early in the third stanza and the Indians’ Elijah Clouse recovered the ball in the end zone with 8:14 remaining and the score remained 13-0 after the two-point conversion run failed.

The Rangers registered their first points of the contest with 4:23 remaining when Fouts completed a 59-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Hunter Taylor. The conversion run was no good and the deficit stayed at 7 (13-6).

Masterson caught a 51-yard touchdown throw from Hardwick 13 seconds into the final period and Martin’s PAT made the score 20-6.

Following the Pocola touchdown the Rangers drove from their 40 to the Indians’ 32 before an interception halted the drive, and on Roland’s next offensive possession the Rangers advanced to the Pocola 24 before fumbling.

With 2:51 left in the contest the Indians’ A.J. Lyons ran for a 76-yard touchdown before Hardwick threw to Garrett Scott for the conversion and a 28-6 lead.

Wide receiver Tuvaris Noonan caught a 1-yard touchdown throw from Fouts with 19 seconds left and Fouts also passed to Noonan for the conversion. The drive was set up by a 33-yard kickoff return by Kejuan Youngblood and key plays in the scoring series were runs of 7 and 25 yards by Fouts and a 17-yard reception by Noonan.

Fouts completed 9-of-21 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions and Taylor (3 catches for 113 yards and a TD), Dakota Price (1 for 45), Noonan (3 for 24 and a TD), Courtland Oliver (1 for 17), Tyler Carlile (1 for 12) and Youngblood (1 for minus 4) caught the throws. Michael Taylor was 1-of-1 for 23 yards

Fouts rushed for 71 yards on 15 carries, Oliver added 43 yards on 10 attempts and Drake Davis carried the ball three times for 16 yards.

Hardwick completed 4-of-7 passes for 121 yards and two TDs and Martin was 0-of-1 for no yards. Masterson (2 catches for 92 yards and a TD) and Bright (2 for 29 and a touchdown) had Pocola’s receptions.

Lyons (14 runs for 126 yards) was the game’s leading rusher and Hardwick had 35 yards on 12 attempts.

Roland’s leading tacklers were Jakob Bush and Joaqim Campbell (8 total tackles each), Davis (5), Mason Schalski and Fouts (3 each) and Carlile (2).

Bush had one tackle for loss and one forced fumble, Cameron Hull had one tackle for loss, Davis registered one forced fumble and one sack, Campbell forced one fumble and Carlile and Schalski each recovered a fumble.

“We never really got in rhythm,” Roland head coach Mark Rutlege said. “We couldn’t get a drive put together it seemed like. Every time we had a little success there was always a penalty on it. A lot of holding and a lot of procedure penalties.

“It wasn’t the penalties as much as it was the timing of the penalties. Any time there’re 30-plus penalties in a game it’s going to be hard for anybody to find rhythm. We didn’t get an unfair share of it, Pocola got penalties too.”

The Rangers were penalized 22 times for 185 yards in the contest and the Indians were flagged 19 times for 172 yards.

“We couldn’t get much going,” Rutlege said. “We didn’t have Ashton Peters, and he’s an integral part of our offense.”

Peters is battling a knee injury and Rutlege said he could possibly return in a couple of weeks.

Roland wide receiver Hunter Taylor was injured in the game after catching a pass but a doctor said he had no breaks or concussion, Rutlege said.

“Our defense played up to standards,” remarked Rutlege. “They scored once on a deep play. We were in good coverage, it was just a good pass. There was another one where they scored after Tuvaris (Noonan) tipped the ball and they came down with it. Our defense played pretty well throughout the game.”

On Friday Roland hosts Vian and Pocola plays at Keys in District 2A-5 action.