marie@pvdemocrat.com — District action for area teams opens this weekend of the gridiron for all the teams in Garvin County with the exception of Wynnewood and Paoli.

Paoli, in its 10-team district, has already played two-district games. Wynnewood would have played out of their district this week in their seven-team district but couldn’t find anyone to play them this week.

With the “First” part of the season in the book, the “Second” part of the season will determine who advances to the playoffs in November.

Several teams went on the road last week for the first time but are returning home to begin district play. Pauls Valley and Elmore City-Pernell return to the friendly confines of home while Maysville, Paoli and Stratford hit the road again.



Purcell at Pauls Valley

After facing their rival to the west in Lindsay last week, the Panthers turn to the north to face another rival in Purcell.

The Dragons are 2-1 after back-to-back wins against Class 2A rivals Washington and Lexington. Both PV and Purcell have a common opponent in Lindsay and the Leopards defeated both schools in non-district action.

New coach Shannon Watford is guiding the Dragons. Watford won back-to-back titles at Hennessey and is now looking to guide the Dragons there.

Jonah Woodly is the workhorse for the Dragons with 70 carries and 9 touchdowns. Woodly had three touchdowns last week against rival Lexington but it was the passing of Drew Rolin that grabbed the headlines.

Rolin threw for a career best 350 yards against Lex and had four touchdowns. His favorite target was Jonah Northcutt who had over 100 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

The Dragons defense has bee solid the last two weeks. They held Lex to less than 130 yards and held Washington in check giving up only 14 points.

Parker Bay and Barrett Huey have led the Dragon defense with 40 tackles between.

Northcutt and Erik Gonzales head the secondary and have an interception each.

Bother teams are looking to get of on a good foot in district play. Pauls Valley wants to get the bug-a-boo off their back and play four full quarters this week and get into the win column.

Kick off at Thompson Field in 7:30 p.m.



Wynnewood bye

Wynnewood will get to rest and recoup after three solid games as they are off this week. The Savages couldn’t find anyone to play this week that wasn’t someone else’s JV squad.

The Savages will get to go and scout some teams in person that they will play down the road.



Wayne at Elmore City-Pernell

The Elmore City-Pernell Badgers suffered their first loss last week on the road at Velma in a thriller. ECP returns to Wheeler Field this week but the task at hand is a huge one as the No. 2 team in Class A and defending State Champ Wayne comes to town.

Adding more interest to the game is the head coaches are brothers. ECP’s Sam Sharp will face brother Brandon and a couple of other relatives from Wayne.

Despite losing All-State running back Josh Way  to graduation, Wayne has not missed a beat behind quarterback Sam Martin and running back Louden Johnson.

The two have combined for over 600 yards on the ground and have accounted for 11 touchdowns between them.

The two combined for five touchdowns last week in a 42-13 win over Meeker. Wayne had over 350 yards in offense last week including 266 on the ground.

Defensively, Wayne has been stout all season giving up two touchdowns per game. Johnson and Lane Shephard lead the defensive effort with 41 tackles between them. Martin is the anchor in a secondary that has four interceptions on the year.

Elmore City needs to get back on track and give coach Sam Sharp and win over his brother.

Kick off at Wheeler Field is 7:30 p.m.



Maysville, Paoli, Stratford

Maysville, Paoli and Stratford will all be on the road this week looking for district wins.

Maysville has a tough task of playing a very athletic Wewoka. The Tigers are very explosive and recently have been playing more under control.

Maysville is trying to get kids healthy as they come into district play and a win could help the healing process a bunch.

Paoli will look for their second straight win as they travel to Macomb. Macomb has only had football for the less than 10 years and is still trying to build their program. They have struggled offensive this year with only six points thus far.

They have some tools to work with they just haven’t put it all together.

Paoli, after their conveniencing win last week over Cyril, needs to win to keep pace with the likes of Central, Fox, Alex and Waurika. The Pugs are currently tied with four other teams for fourth place in the district. This is a game they need to win if they want to have a chance at making the playoffs.

Stratford got a big win last week against Rush Springs. This week the road test is a tough one as they travel to Southeastern Oklahoma to face the Class B defending State Chmps Caddo Bruins.

Caddo moved up to Class A this year and has played three good games. They are 2-1 on the season and are among the teams that are going to fight it out for a playoff spot.

The two teams are very similar and this game should be one of the better ones in the state.