It’s a brand-new season for the Durant Lions on Friday night as they face off with the Duncan Demons on the gridiron for the first time since 2011.
Coach Todd Vargas’ squad opens District 5A-1 play against the Demons with a 7 p.m. start on Homecoming evening at Spend Life Wisely Stadium. Duncan is 0-1 in league play and 2-3 overall after dropping a 24-17 verdict to Noble in its opener last week in the six-game district slate.
“Duncan is very similar to what we saw from Ada and Clinton in their abilities,” Vargas commented. “Their team speed is pretty comparable. They are well coached and have some two-way guys like we do that are playing on both sides of the ball. They are good defensively, run to the ball well and are athletic. They have been inconsistent some offensively but do some good stuff. They have a young quarterback that has tremendous ability but makes mistakes at times. They have also struggled with some injuries up front. They are definitely going to be a worthy opponent for us.”
The Lions got their offense in gear in the first half of their last outing before a bye a week ago to help prepare for the district season. Durant rolled to a 21-0 first half lead at Clinton before a plethora of second half penalties stymied them in a 28-21 defeat.
That dropped the Lions to 1-3 on the season but still 0-0 in league action and a game in front of Duncan, Guthrie and Midwest City, which all suffered losses last Friday.
Vargas hopes to get back to running the ball like they did in that Clinton first half, which may be pivotal with a chance of wet conditions with rain expected at various points all week.
“Offensively we want to run the ball,” he said. “We ran it extremely effectively against Clinton. Penalties just stifled our offensive momentum in the second half. We want to duplicate how we did in the first half of that game. Duncan is physical defensively. They want to run the ball well and utilize the screen game some.
“Taking care of the ball will be key but I don’t think the rain should affect us too much. We have done a good job in turnover ratio up to this point and want that to continue. I thought we played really well in the first half at Clinton. We just can’t afford to get behind the chains like we were the whole second half. If we eliminate mistakes I think we have a chance to be as good as we want to be.”
Duncan started the year with a veteran offensive line but has been slowed by injuries that have revamped the lineup in recent weeks.
Senior running back Ty Lane is one of the catalysts for the Demon offense along with elusive receivers Eric Hernandez and C.J. Warner.
With the Lions having a fresh slate this week, they are looking to put their best foot forward and get off to a good start in the tough 5A-1 district race.
“We spent the off week really working on ourselves last week,” Vargas added. “We lighten the load a little and got healthy. We were able to take that extra time and fine tune some things.
“Our kids are excited about the fresh slate this week. Those first four nondistrict games don’t affect our goals. We are looking at an opportunity to get a win against Duncan at home Friday and be a great step in the direction of our goals.”
