Trending
NEW MANCHESTER – The Oak Glen football team is looking to end the season on a positive note.
After losing to Southern Garrett two weeks ago, Oak Glen is looking to back to .500 with a win in its season finale against Hampshire. The Golden Bears will take on the Trojans at 7 p.m. tonight at home up at the Bears’ Den on Senior Night.
“That has been the message to our players,” first-year Oak Glen (4-5) head coach Derrick Stickles said. “This season has been a rollercoaster. It has been full of ups and downs. We have faced adversity. We faced adversity right at the start of the season. Our kids have done a great job of responding to adversity. The coaching staff has challenged the kids to continue to practice with intensity. I am very pleased with how our kids have continued to show up . They show up to practice every day, and they work hard. They put us in a good position. We have an opportunity win a game this week.”
Both teams enter this week fresh off a bye while coming out on the losing end of things the last time they took the field Oct. 23.
Oak Glen had won three of four games entering its game against Southern Garrett two weeks ago, however, the Rams defeated the Golden Bears, 42-30, on the road.
“They did a really-good job of running the football,” Stickles said. “They ran the ball well all night. At times, we have had a hard time stopping the run this year. They ran the Wing-T, and that is difficult to stop. As a coach, I am going to have to do my research and looking into finding a way to stop teams from running the ball against out of the Wing-T. That will make me a better coach, and it will put us in a better position to win games.”
The Green-and-White will have to travel more than three hours this week to take on the Golden Bears.
“That’s the story of West Virginia football,” Stickles said. “When you play football in West Virginia, you know you are going to have to travel. With where we are located, we are going to have to either travel to them, or they are going to have to travel to us.”
On the other side, Hampshire lost to Washington, 57-13, on the road.
The Trojans also enter the final week of the regular season at 4-5.
“They like to spread out the formation,” Stickles said. “They want to spread you out and run the football. They do pass the ball. They are balanced. They have one player who is a great player. They have a really-good running back. He can run the ball. They want to spread you out, and he comes out of the backfield and runs passing routes. Running backs coming out of the backfield have given us some problems this season. Guys coming out of the backfield have caused problems for us in the secondary. We are going to have to respond when they do that. We are going to have to make adjustments. If they hurt us with that, we are going to have to adjust.”
Hampshire opened the season by defeating Preston, 24-19, Aug. 28 on the road to begin the season on a good note, however, after defeating the Knights, the Trojans then lost their next four games to drop to 1-4. After beating Preston, lost its first two home games to Frankfort (37-0) and Moorefield (42-8) before losing to Grafton (39-12) and Keyser (44-12).
“Defensively, they run a 3-4,” Stickles said. “They run a lot of coverage 0. We are going to have to figure out what formations gives us the best change to win in the box with our running game. We can also throw the ball with our passing game.
“I have a great coaching staff. My coaching staff has the ability to adjust to what the other team is doing. They watch a ton of film. I think we are going to be able to come up with a good gameplan going into the game. We may have to adjust it. We may have to adjust it to what gives us the best chance to move the football.”
Sitting at 1-4, the boys from Hampshire County responded and won its next three games to get back to .500 on the season. In the winning streak, Hampshire defeated Northern Garrett (39-12) at home, Rock Ridge (53-0) on the road before going back home and toppling Berkeley Springs (27-13).
“,” Stickles said. “.”
The boys from Hancock County want to send their seniors out with a win in their final regular season game of the year.
“It’s very important,” Stickles said. “Every day is a step closer to your last game. I don’t know if the playoffs are in our future. I remember back when I was still playing college football. I was frustrated. I was told not focus on wins and losses, but instead to focus on experiences. This is an experience for them. It is going to be an experience when they take the field Friday night. We want to win Friday night. Winning Friday night, gives us something to build off of. Winning your last game of the season makes the offseason easier. It makes it easier for the guys to get in the weight room or whatever. You want to win your last game.”
The Golden Bears know what is going to take to come out victorious this week.
“We are going to have to eliminate mistakes,” Stickles said. “We can’t have penalties. We have done a good job of cleaning up our penalties. We just have to eliminate mistakes. We cannot turn the ball over. We had a chance to run the Southern Garrett game into a shootout, but we had some turned. We cannot afford to have turnovers. We have to take better care of the football. We have to stop the run. We have to have 11 guys running to the football. Good things happen when we have 11 guys running to the ball. We have to come out with intensity. If we do those things, we should be OK.”
Oak Glen enters this week in 21st place in the West Virginia Class AA ratings. The top 16 in each class qualifies for the postseason.
Hampshire is also on the outside looking in this week as the Trojans find themselves in 20th place in the Class AAA ratings.