Purcell and North Rock Creek square off in a crucial District football contest Friday night on the Cougars’ home turf.

The Cougars are 4-1 with their only blemish on the season a one-point loss at the hands of Kingfisher.

NRC has one of the finest wide receivers in all of Oklahoma. 6’3” 200 pound Tyson Hawkins has division one offers from multiple schools.

“He’s very talented and is the best receiver we’ll see all year long,” reports Purcell Head Coach Aaron Dillard. The talented senior also plays free safety.

“He almost single handily beat us last year catching two deep balls,” Dillard said. “We’ve just got to make sure when the ball is in the air we have two guys there and make it as tough as we can.

On offense NRC has a good sophomore quarterback.

“They like to run but their quarterback is a dual threat. He runs and throws and they are pretty balanced,” Dillard said.

“They are a very good team and play well on defense,” the coach continued. “They are super multiple on defense depending on which game film you watch.”

NRC shows some even front defensive looks and some odd man fronts.

“They’ll make it tough on us but we’ll have a good game plan,” Dillard confirmed.

NRC is 1-1 in district play while Purcell is in search for its first league win.

“The key for us is to limit No. 3 from getting into the end zone,” Dillard said. “If we can make someone else try to beat us that would be in our favor. Offensively, we can move the ball but we’ve got to play clean with no turnovers or penalties.”

Marlow

Purcell hosted the powerful Marlow last Friday night with the Outlaws flexing their muscle for a 49-14 victory.

The Dragons let 21 points slip through their fingers, fumbling inside the Outlaw five on their first drive, having a punt blocked on the Purcell two yard line and letting Marlow return an interception for a score right before the halftime horn sounded.

“The score could have been closer if not for a couple of mistakes but credit them,” Dillard said. “They are super impressive.”

The coach said all things considered, his team has improved despite the last two weeks against Plainview and Marlow.

“We played more young guys against Marlow than we did at Plainview,” the coach said. “Those freshman and young guys are inexperienced but they played very well.

“We had some guys play that weren’t expecting to play,” Dillard said.

That included freshman Bentley Kirk who had a “super game”.

“We moved Braylon Francis over to the Mike linebacker spot and he did a fine job,” the coach said. “Our interior guys had a tough challenge against a huge Marlow line. I’ve very proud of Brian Cazares. I thought he played one of the best games at defensive end as we’ve seen around here in a long, long time. He did his job and allowed guys around him to make tackles. Ethan Colburn continues to get better and Cooper Selman got guys on the ground and saved a bunch of big plays.

“I loved the way we moved the ball against one of the best defenses in 3A. We’ve  just got to finish drives and take care of the ball. At times we went right through ‘em.”

Thanks to good up front blocking, Purcell rushed for 230 yards against a mighty Outlaw defense.

“Cooper Selman had a great night,” the coach said. “I thought JJ Hitchcock did some really good things at quarterback. Ty Nichols got in there and did well.”

Selman carried the ball 10 times for 74 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown run. He also had two pass receptions for 40 yards.

Cash Cook also had a good night for the Dragons rushing for over 100 yards and scoring on a 13-yard run. Cru Venegas booted both extra points.

“We had good perimeter blocking from Taizen Hernandez and Aedyn Whisenant. They had a great game blocking off the perimeter,” Dillard said.

Dillard praised the offensive line play of freshman Jesus Cruz.

“He had a great game and Cannan Haynes is so consistently good. We had Drew Pearson back at guard and that helped. I’m proud of Halo DiRienzo. He had to play left tackle and he hasn’t played there. But because of our player availability we moved Brian Cazares to right tackle.”

Dillard said his offensive line made it happen.

They did some really good things up against one of the best defensive lines in the state.

Dragon notes:

Purcell Head Coach Aaron Dillard nominated Cooper Selman as the Offensive Player of the Week. Selman rushed 10 times for 74 yards and a touchdown and had two pass receptions for 40 yards.

Dillard nominated Braylon Francis as the Defensive Player of the Week. Francis made 9 tackles against Marlow.

Halo DiRienzo was the nominee for Offensive Lineman of the Week. He graded out at 79 percent last Friday night.

The Defensive Lineman of the Week nomination went to Brian Cazares, who had three tackles and did his job so that others were able to make tackles.