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High School Sports

September 25, 2008

A meeting of the undefeated

Velma-Alma to square off against Maysville

Ron Booth

VELMA — VELMA — A young Velma-Alma football team has faced several challenges in the first three weeks of the season. However, the Comets might get their toughest challenge of the season in Week 4.

Velma-Alma head coach Greg Gothard said that the Warriors will be a formidable challenge.

“Maysville is by far the best football team we’ve played this year,” he said. “I compare them a lot to the Texhoma team we played last year. Their front seven are very comparable type players. They are big-type players that go to the football. Our best chance to have success is to play field position. We have to make them earn everything they get, because we’re going to have to earn everything we get.”

The Comets won the last meeting between the two teams in the first round of the 2007 playoffs by a 22-10 score.

“They run that no-huddle spread. It’ll be a challenge for us. A little bit of a good thing is that we’ve seen that from Comanche,” Gothard said. “As far as a coaching staff, we have what we think is a decent game plan. There is a difference if you have kids that are good in space, like Maysville, they can put you in a bind. You have to attack those kids in space.”

The Comets and Warriors are both undefeated at 3-0, and both are 2-0 in District A-4. Maysville has outscored its district opponents, Rush Springs and Healdton, 96-18. Velma-Alma has won its district contests over Elmore City-Pernell and Waurika by a combined score of 77-20.

Dillon Donaho will be Maysville’s primary weapon.

“He’s a 5-9 175-pound running back with good vision,” Gothard said. “His next best asset is his feet. He is a power-type runner. He is good in that offense, but he’d be good in an ‘I,’ which is what they ran last year.”

While Maysville has Donaho, the Comets have a passle of athletic players led by junior Trenten Files. Files ran for 157 yards in a 37-13 win over Waurika last week. Sophomore Tanner Jenkins rushed 22 times for 136 yards and sophomore quarterback Dillon Morgan was 5-of-11 passing for 74 yards and a touchdown.

This week could play a determining factor in where Velma-Alma starts the playoffs.

“Right now, our better chance would be Week 10, because we’d have seen more things,” Gothard said. “I sat, but by Week 9 and 10, Maysville has a really good grasp of their no-huddle offense.”

Gothard admits that there is a late-season sense of urgency surrounding the game.

“I think the kids sense that. We started talking about it right after Friday night’s game, and usually we wouldn’t start talking about a game until Monday,” he said.

“Maysville has probably been looking toward this game since Week 1, also.

“With the types of things that Maysville is doing on both sides of the ball, we need to make sure that we are where we need to be in all phases of the game,” Gothard said. “We are checking ourselves.”

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