Golden Bears look for first win hosting Tyler

BACK AT HOME — After a trip to Catholic Central last week, Oak Glen will look to get in the win column when it returns home this week to host Tyler Consolidated. - Andrew Grimm
NEW MANCHESTER — The Oak Glen football team enters Week 7 still looking for its first win of the season.
Oak Glen fell behind early against Catholic Central Saturday night on Reno Saccoccia Field inside Harding Stadium, and the Golden Bears were unable to rally as the Crusaders came away with a 35-7 victory.
“We tried some different things, and we showed them some different looks,” Oak Glen (0-6) head coach Doug Taylor said. “Catholic Central is a tough team. We changed some things. We showed them some different looks, but then we got back to doing what we normally do and we had success.
“We did make some mistakes. We missed some blocks. We are a work in progress. We want to get better week in and week out. We made some mistakes, and we are working on correcting those mistakes.”
This week, Oak Glen takes on Tyler Consolidated at 7 p.m. Friday night at home on Homecoming.
“It’s Homecoming this week,” Taylor said. “This week is time for the alumni to come back and for the community to come together. Our focus is on we don’t want to let all of that stuff be a distraction for us.
The Silver Knights come into play this week with a record of 3-2.
“They are a good football team,” Taylor said. “They only have two losses. One of the losses came against Williamstown, and they’re a power in Class AA. Their other loss was to Cameron by a score of 13-6. They are a really good football team. They have played some good competition. I think it is going to be a spirited game.”
Tyler Consolidated shut out Magnolia, 42-0, last Friday night at home.
“Offensively, they show you a lot of different looks,” Taylor said. “They will be unbalanced, they will be in a heavy set, they will be in a full house, they’ll be in the spread, they will be in the I and they will be in a two-back set. They play a couple of different quarterbacks. They can do different things. They are versatile. They can run. They can throw. They have size. They’re aggressive. Offensively, they are pretty good.
“We watched film on them against Magnolia and Cameron. Against Magnolia, they used a heavy set. They had double tights. They had three backs.”
This season, Tyler has defeated Ritchie County, 54-7, Petersburg, 27-20, and Magnolia. The Yellowjackets defeated the Silver Knights, 49-0, and they lost to the Dragons by a touchdown.
“Defensively, they like to have nine or 10 guys in the box,” Taylor said. “They will blitz. They stack their linebackers. Scott used to do that in the early and mid 2000s. They blitz. They are aggressive. They are built to stop the run. They are going to be a challenge for us.”
The boys from Tyler County have the size advantage against the boys from Hancock County.
“One of our guards is 170, and our center is 158,” Taylor said. “Most of the time, we are going to be at a size disadvantage. Our offensive line is different. We want our guards to pull. We want them to be quick. We want them to be able to get angles. They are strong up front. They have guys 245 or 250 on their defensive line.”
The Golden Bears have been hard hit by injuries and sickness this season, however, things seem to finally be going in the right direction for them.
“We are kind of healed up,” Taylor said. “Noah Schmidt is going to be out. Richie Gudino came in and played left tackle for us. He did a good job. We’re looking for him to be even better this week.
“Varsity-wise, we’re pretty healthy. We just have the normal nicks, and bumps and bruises everyone else does at this time of the year.”
Oak Glen is a running team, and the Golden Bears are looking to have success with the ground game against the Silver Knights.
“We are who we are,” Taylor said. “We are going to show them a couple of different things. Running the football is our bread and butter. That is what we do best. We are going to have to pick up their blitzes. We are going to have to be able to handle their guys up front. We are built for three or four yards and a cloud of dust. We are looking to have six-minute drives. We want to keep their offense off the field.”