Published: September 11, 2008 10:28 pm      

Saints look to bounce back against Thomas

Derek Turner knows about the tradition rich Thomas football program, and he’s not about to let back-to-back losing seasons fool him.

“Thomas is one of those traditional powerhouse, they have tremendous history and it’s just a football town,” Turner said.

The Terriers may have had a couple of lean years, but they should give OCS a challenge when the two teams square off tonight in Thomas. Both teams are looking for their first win of the season, with Thomas falling to Cordell, 6-0, while the Saints were knocked off by Sulphur 34-7.

Tonight’s game is the second straight road trip for the Saints, who play three of their first four contests away from home. OCS returns to Edmond next week against Christian Heritage Academy, before hitting the road for Watonga the following week. But don’t look expect any complaints out of Turner, who was pleased with the early part of the schedule.

“If you can get them done right early, it’s certainly nice to get them out of the way,” Turner said.

Despite last week’s loss, Turner said his team took away many positives from their trip to Sulphur, including a resurgent effort in the second half.

“Our kids competed well, we just made some young mistakes,” Turner said. “I think we learned more going to Sulphur than playing someone else. I was happy they way we came back out in the second half and kept them from scoring, they didn’t give up and fought back.”

Turners expects his defense to be prepared for anything tonight. The Terriers like to run out of an I-Formation, but also will spread things out.

“They can power it at you or you out, these guys can do both,” Turner said.

On the flip side, the Terriers primarily stick with a four-man front, similar to the Saints defensive gameplan.

OCS will need to get more production and less mistakes from their offense. Last week the Saints were hurt by three turnovers deep inside their own territory, but Turner believes his young team is catching on to their shotgun spread offense.

“Our goal is to just keep getting better and improving on what we do,” Turner said. “What we do is fun for the kids, it’s a wide open offense but you do need to learn it, and it’s a process. We are a no huddle offense always in shotgun spread and all the plays are signaled in from the sidelines.”

The game is set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m.