IDABEL — After starting the season at 4-0, the Muldrow Bulldogs have now lost two straight District 3A-3 games, with the last one being a 47-27 setback last Friday night against Idabel.
The first quarter was tied at 14-all after two Teaguen Collins touchdowns, an 84-yard run on the game’s first play and a 97-yard kickoff return later in the period. Wyatt Prewett hit both extra points.
However, the Warriors (4-2 overall, 2-1 in district play) scored two TDs in the second period for a 26-14 halftime lead.
Coming off an Idabel turnover, Collins threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Massey, but the conversion was missed, to keep the Bulldogs (4-2, 1-2) down 26-20, but the Warriors scored a TD later in the period to take a 3420 lead into the fourth quarter.
The ’Dogs once more cut their deficit to a single score on DeShawn Willson’s 5-yard touchdown run, plus Prewett’s PAT, to bring Muldrow to within seven points at 34-27, but two Idabel TDs, one of which was set up by Muldrow muscle on special teams, put away the game.
“We played well in the first half,” Muldrow coach Logan Coatney said. “We turned the ball over on special teams (in the fourth quarter) on a kickoff return (which led to Isabel’s final touchdown). The score was a 20-point loss, and I can live with a 14-point loss with some stuff that didn’t go our way and lack of execution. They shouldn’t have had that last score, but when you turn the ball over, things like that take place. It’s a different environment there. I was proud of our kids. I think we played pretty hard.”
The ’Dogs will have a short week this week as they will entertain Lincoln Christian in a battle of Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Thursday at Marty Rogers Field.
Lincoln Christian will enter Thursday night’s game undefeated at 6-0 overall and 3-0 in district play. After winning its non-district games over Tulsa Victory Christian (56-0), Oklahoma City Heritage Hall (28-20) and Shiloh Christian (3814), Lincoln Christian has opened district play spotless after a 49-7 victory over Stigler, a 55-0 rout of Tulsa Holland Hall and a 63-20 blowout of Locust Grove.
“What doesn’t concern me may be an easier question to answer,” Coatney said. “(Lincoln Christian) coach (Jerry) Ricke does an outstanding job up there with those kids. Their offense is potent. They can do a number of different things. Defensively, they change up their looks, which means you never know exactly what you’re going to get from them. The kids fly around to the ball (defensively). One thing you look at on tape that stands out is they have 11 kids playing their rears off every snap — whether the offensive linemen continue to block 15 to 20 yards down field on one play or you see every kid they have out there hustling to the ball and gang tackling on every defensive snap. They’re extremely athletic. They’re preseason ranked No. 1 in our district and preseason No. 1 in (Class) 3A. There’s a reason they won a state championship last year, and there’s a reason they’re going to make a run for it this year.”
