Published: October 29, 2009 10:24 pm      

Saints looking to rebound after another heartbreaker

Tough losses are nothing new for No. 10-ranked Oklahoma Christian School football team. In two years the Saints have lost four games by a total of six points.

While the Saints (6-2, 4-2) will look to rebound tonight as they host Crescent (3-5, 2-4), they’re not just out looking for a win, they want to make a statement.

“It’s no secret, we’re embarrassed about last week. Our kids made some stupid mistakes, and they weren’t stupid athletic plays, they were just composure issues, which we have worked on this week, that’s what cost us the game,” OCS head coach Derek Turner said.

“We have so much talent, sometimes the kids get a little too impatient. They want to get everything in one play, and patience is so important. Rather than grinding it out and letting things set up, they try to do it all at once.”

OCS has yet to play its best ball. But that’s not really a concern for Turner.

“Most teams have reached their peak by the fourth week of the year. We’re not even close to that and we’re at week nine. As far as we’re concerned we still have seven weeks left. We will have to win, it’s not going to be easy, but if we keep progressing, we’ll get there. We have the same record as we did last year at this time, and we were still switching players around at week 10,” Turner said.

Crescent has struggled as of late, dropping its last three games. They fell to Thomas 39-31, then lost to Christian Heritage 22-15, followed by a 49-14 loss to Watonga.

But there’s no lack of talent in Crescent.

“Their record doesn’t show it, but they have some really good kids. They have just faced teams that were mad and angry that came at them full force. Just caught teams at the wrong time,” Turner said. “But they have some athletes. They are big and physical.”

Jerod Miller, a fullback, and tailback Justin Pickle provide a good 1-2 punch on the offensive side of the ball. The Saints are unsure about who they will see at quarterback, though. The Tigers have used two quarterbacks this season.

The Tigers do a variety things on offense, which Turner says could be the teams downfall.

“They run some wishbone, they run some things out of the shotgun, just a lot of different things. They are hard to prepare for because you really don’t know what they are going to do. That could be part of their problem, they run too much stuff,” the head coach said.

Defensively, the Tigers are based out of the 4-3.

It is senior night for the Saints as they plan to recognize all their seniors. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.