Football has returned and it starts with a bang, as Sulphur opens the 2024 season at No. 1 (2A) Washington on Friday night.
The Dogs will look to end the Warriors’ 31-game winning streak and beat the two-time defending state champions in the class below.
Sulphur finished 8-4 last season.
The Dogs were 6-1 in district last year, finishing as runner-up to Heritage Hall, who lost in the state championship game.
Sulphur fell in the quarterfinals to eventual state champion Lincoln Christian.
After losses to Washington and Davis to open the season, the Dogs responded with six straight wins and eight victories in nine games, including a 42-7 win over Kingfisher in the first round of the playoffs.
This year, Sulphur returns 19 starters, while welcoming a new offense led by new coordinator Channing Hickman.
The Dogs scrimmaged Lindsay, Tecumseh and Plainview over the last two weeks to prepare for the season and head coach Corey Cole liked what he saw.
“We saw what we wanted to see,” said Cole.” I thought we played aggressive, and more importantly, we found a lot of things for us to work on. You can only see so much in practice, but it was really good to go against some other competition. It’s important to find the things you need to improve on and then go fix them, especially if we are focused on being as good as we want to be.”
The Dogs scored three times in the live period against Lindsay last weekend, while shutting out the Leopards on defense.
Sulphur did much of the same last Friday against Tecumseh, scoring four times in the live quarter and holding the Savages scoreless.
“The kids have definitely responded to playing someone else and hitting someone else,” Cole said. “We have had a lot of young kids step up and make plays and do some good things.”
Cole says the new offense is coming along and that he feels good about where it is.
“We have been really crisp, sharp and efficient offensively,” Cole said. “We have had great tempo in scrimmages, being able to snap the ball quick or go slower and address what the defense is doing and get into our checks. I have been really pleased with that side of the ball. It’s been great to get a different look and it’s given us some things we have found success with and some things we can work on.”
Defensively, the Dogs have been rock solid up front, which is to be expected.
But Cole has been impressed with the group as a whole and how fast they have fixed mistakes.
“On defense, we have played really well,” Cole said. “I think in the trenches our guys are playing extremely well. Overall, our kids are flying around and making a ton of plays. We have made some mistakes, but they are not lackadaisical miscues. The effort is there., It’s just been a technical thing.”
“It’s important we correct those technical things to get to where we want to win be. You can’t do that and expect to beat good teams. But I have been really pleased with how we have cleaned that up and gotten past it.”
Kickoff in Washington on Friday is at 7 p.m.
