Muldrow football coach Logan Coatney said his Bulldogs were ready for this year’s “Battle of 64” with the archrival Roland Rangers, which took place Thursday night at Marty Rogers Field. The ’Dogs indeed had some bite in them.
The Bulldogs avenged last year’s 21-14 loss to Roland at Ranger Stadium in an emphatic way with a 53-20 romp over the Rangers.
“It was a good win for us,” Coatney said. “There were times we looked like a really good football team, and times where we didn’t look like a good football team. We turned the ball over three times tonight and just didn’t execute. There’s time out there our kids got to be more focused on what we’re trying to accomplish. Overall, I am proud of our kids. They’ve worked extremely hard. It was a good win for us and our program. Our kids were hungry for this win. I’m proud of how we overcame some adversity and some penalties that really hurt us. Our kids overcome adversity in a lot of different ways, whether that be responding after a score from Roland, whether it be a penalty or call that didn’t go our way. I was extremely proud of our kids in the way they took the opportunity that was presented to them and made the most of it. I’m tickled pink. I think our kids went out there and executed, but we still have so much to clean up and fix.”
One of the things that helped the Bulldogs (10) was taking the ball away from the Rangers (0-1), which happened eight times.
It only took 57 seconds for the ’Dogs to get their first takeaway as former Roland Ranger D.J. Massey picked off Roland quarterback Dalton Crossno at the Roland 40 with 11:03 left in the first quarter.
Despite an unsportsmanlike penalty on Muldrow, the Bulldogs ended the 55-yard drive with a 57-yard touchdown pass from Teaguen Collins to De-Shawn Willson. Antonio Fujarte kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Muldrow lead with 10:13 left in the first quarter.
The Rangers tried to go for it on fourth down but were stopped at midfield, producing Muldrow’s second takeaway of the game.
Thanks to a 39-yard pass from Collins to Massey to get the ball down to the Roland 3-yard line, Willson took it in from there. However, a bad snap stopped the conversion, with Muldrow now ahead 13-0 with 7:02 remaining in the period.
Roland’s next drive was stopped by Muldrow’ third takeaway, a fumble recovery by Tasker Colbert at the Roland 3. That gift was turned into Muldrow’s third TD, a 1-yard run by Collins with 2:05 remaining in the quarter. Wyatt Prewett’s extra point went wide left, keeping the ’Dogs ahead 19-0 after the opening period.
The Rangers finally hit paydirt as Crossno connected with Lucas Younger on a 7-yard touchdown pass. Billy McElhaney’s PAT cut the Roland deficit to 19-7 with 8:29 left before halftime.
It looked like the Bulldogs were going to take the momentum right back as Jacob Gregory took the ensuing kickoff 26 yards to the Roland 39. However, on the next play, Roland got the turnover, but could do nothing with the possession.
Collins scored his second touchdown on a 57-yard run. Fujarte’s extra point went wide left, keeping Muldrow’s advantage to 25-7 with 5:29 left in the first half.
The Rangers answered on their ensuing possession. Thanks to a 38-yard run by Younger, the Rangers capped the possession with a 27-yard TD pass from Crossno to Paul Johnson. McElhaney’s extra point was good, cutting Roland’s deficit to 2514 with 4:37 left before halftime.
The momentum did not stay with the Rangers for long as Collins made it a hat trick on touchdowns as he returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for the score. Prewett’s PAT made it 32-7 with 4:25 remaining in the first half.
After exchanging turnovers, the Rangers went into Muldrow territory on their ensuing drive, only to be stopped on downs at the Muldrow 31 with 2:54 left in the first half.
The Bulldogs cashed that takeaway as Collins scored his fourth TD of the opening half, this one on a 63-yard scamper with 53 seconds remaining before halftime. Prewett’s extra point put Muldrow ahead 39-14 at halftime.
The ’Dogs struck first in the second half as Collins accounted for his fifth touchdown, this one coming by the aerial method as he hit Kade Scott on a 22-yard TD pass. Prewett hit the PAT to up Muldrow’s advantage to 46-14 with 9:31 left in the third quarter.
The Rangers got a 55-yard interception return by Austin Benham to set up Roland at the Muldrow 36 with 4:52 remaining in the period. However, on the next play, Muldrow got the ball right back on a fumble recovery by E.J. Sanders, who took it 53 yards to paydirt with 4:37 left in the quarter. Prewett’s extra point put Muldrow ahead 53-14.
“We put the defense in a bad position,” new Roland football coach Greg Wise said. “Our execution wasn’t there offensively. I’ll take the heat for that. That’s my responsibility to have this team ready to go, and I didn’t have them ready to go. I’mnot going to make excuses. This team wasn’t ready to go. We just didn’t get the job done.”
Despite overcoming a personal foul penalty, and thanks to a 34-yard scamper by Gregory and an offside penalty on Roland, the ’Dogs tried to cash in the takeaway but were stopped on fourth-and-goal at the Roland 2 with 1:15 left in the quarter. Muldrow took a 53-14 lead into the final period.
However, this Roland possession ended in another turnover in the early stages of the fourth quarter, which saw Scott pick off Crossno and return the interception 25 yards to the Roland 40. However, this was the one time the Bulldogs could not take advantage of a takeaway as Prewett missed a 27yard field goal with 4:47 left in the game.
The contest’s final score came on a 63-yard TD scamper by McElhaney, who missed his extra-point attempt wide right, to make the final score 53-20.
However, Coatney will try to make sure the Bulldogs don’t have a let down as they prepare for Week 2’s opponent, a road game at Waldron, Ark., at 7 p.m. next Friday.
“I just finished telling the kids, it’s just step one in what we’re trying to accomplish this season,” Coatney said. “This game, whether you’re on my end of it or Roland’s end of it, this game can set up your entire season if you let it. Luckily for us, we have an opportunity to let this win catapult us into next week, and just keep that ball rolling and win two games in a row and you three games in a row. Now, you have a winning streak, and it goes from there. Our kids are just fighting. They’re hungry. They want to go compete and win. We don’t want to let the emotional high of this game be a fallout next week when we go down to Waldron.”
For Wise and the Rangers, it’s all about getting better before they, too, face an Arkansas opponent, Lavaca, Ark., in the home opener at 7 p.m. next Friday at Ranger Stadium.
“We have a lot of stuff we need to improve on,” Wise said. “We have to improve on our tackle and our reads. We have to execute our offense, and (Thursday) night, we didn’t do it. Right now, we’re not executing — and that’s on me. We haven’t had a lot of time with this offense, regardless of the reason why. We’re going to go back to work and correct this stuff (mistakes). I think if we have more time with this thing (offense schemes), we’ll perfect what we do. We’re going to have a lot better results this year — but it will take time to do that. When we get to the conference (District 2AII-3), I think we’ll be able to do that (execute).”
