Football time is right around the corner and it can’t come fast enough for Sulphur.
The Dogs will start football practice in just about a month, as Sulphur look to build off a very successful 8-4 season that ended in the Class 3Astate quarterfinals.
Sulphur returns many starters, as the Dogs look poised to make an even deeper postseason run.
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.
Sulphur returns almost all its talent on both sides of the ball, as expectations are high once again.
Over the next month, as we prepare for the season, we will have a bunch of preview coverage coming out. We will look at the schedule, the offense, the defense and more.
Up first is the schedule preview, as we take a look at the Dogs first five regular season games in 2024.
The schedule is almost entirely new, as the Dogs play only three opponents from the 2023 season - Washington, Davis and Lone Grove.
Sulphur will enter a district with a bunch of new foes, including Perkins-Tryon, McLoud, Bristow, Victory Christian and Mannford.
Seminole and Lone Grove will round out district 3A-2 as familiar foes for the Dogs.
Sulphur will start the year hosting defending back-to-back Class 2A state champion Washington. The Dogs suffered a tough loss last season, falling 35-10 in the season opener at Agee Field.
The Dogs started the series in 2020 with Washington and have fallen to the Warriors in all four contests.
The annual Murray County rivalry game will take place in week two, as the Dogs host Davis, looking to rebound for the first loss in the series since 2015.
Sulphur fell in a heartbreaker at Wolf Field last year, losing 15-14 to drop to 0-2.
Sulphur hosts Cache in week three to close out the non-district slate, playing every game at Agee Field.
The Dogs last faced Cache in 2019, winning 14-3.
Sulphur will be on the road to open district play and close out September, when the Dogs face Perkins-Tryon.
In the back half of the schedule, which will be previewed next week, the Dogs will host McLoud in week 6 for homecoming, followed by a trip to Lone Grove.
Sulphur hosts a playoff team from last season in Bristow, as the Pirates come to town in week seven over fall break.
Sulphur will follow that up with a trip to a historic venue in Seminole to play the Chieftains for the first time since 2016.
Senior night will see the Dogs host Victory Christian, a team up from Class 2A that was 10-3 and made the quarterfinals a year ago.
The Dogs close out the season on the road at Mannford.
The schedule is once again tough, as Sulphur plays an always tough non-district slate and will have its hands full in District 3A2, just like last year.
The Dogs will open practice on Monday, Aug. 12.
Sulphur will host a media day on Aug. 10, followed by the Red/ White Scrimmage on Aug. 17.
The Dogs will scrimmage at Lindsay on Aug. 23 and at Plainview on Aug. 29.
Let’s dive into the first half of the Sulphur schedule for 2023.
WEEK 1 - SEPT. 6 vs. WASHINGTON
Sulphur will look to get its first win over Washington to open the 2024 season, as the Dogs host the back-to-back state champions in Class 2A.
The Warriors have played for the state title in four straight seasons, but will be replacing a bunch of starters that contributed to the success.
One player they will have back is Nate Roberts, (6-foot-5, 230), a senior TE that is a 4-star recruit.
Roberts is a top 200 recruit by many websites and committed to Ohio State in April.
Hudson Howard is also back after a solid season at running back a year ago.
Creed Barrett will have a chance to take over at QB for Washington as a freshman, while sophomore linebacker Case Alexander and junior safety Cash Guthmueller also return.
Washington head coach Brad Beller has been at the helm for 14 years and is 150-35 in his career.
Last year, Sulphur had a chance to make the game 21-17 in the 3rd quarter, but failed to score inside the 5-yard line and Washington pulled away late for a 35-10 win.
The Dogs also lost to Washington 31-20 in the school’s first ever meeting, followed by a 34-13 loss in 2021.
WEEK 2 - SEPT. 13 vs. DAVIS
Sulphur will look to avenge a loss at Davis from a year ago, the first time the Wolves won in the rivalry since 2015.
The Dogs struggled offensively and fell 15-14 last year, falling to 0-2 before winning six straight and eight of nine games.
The Wolves finished last year 9-3, losing in the 2nd round of the playoffs to Jones.
Davis kicked a late field goal with just seconds remaining a year ago after the Dogs fumbled it away with a chance to ice the game.
The Wolves will be replacing 14 seniors that were recognized by district 2A-4 coaches last season.
WEEK 3 - SEPT. 20 vs. CACHE
Sulphur will play Cache for the first time in five seasons, as Sulphur wraps up the non-district slate with three straight home games.
Cache was 6-5 a year ago, losing to Blanchard in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The Bulldogs will be led by senior athlete Christian Bennett, who plays wideout and linebacker.
Bennett was recently named to the VYPE Top 100 players in Oklahoma.
Canden Hance will also be a key contributor for the Bulldogs at either QB or WR on offense.
Sulphur is 3-1 all-time against Cache with wins in 2000, 2001 and 2019.
WEEK 4 - SEPT. 27 at PERKINS-TRYON
Sulphur will open up district play on the road at Perkins, who made the Class 3Astate semifinals a year ago.
After the Dogs fell to Lincoln Christian in the quarterfinals, Perkins narrowly lost 17-10 to Lincoln and finished the season 11-2.
The Dogs have played Perkins twice in the playoffs, winning 34-7 in 2018 and losing 35-6 in 2019.
The Demons will welcome back junior QB Beau Gravitt and wideout Cutter Greene, who is committed to Oklahoma State.
Beckham Smith also returns for Perkins as a senior running back and linebacker.
WEEK 5 - OCT. 5 vs. MCLOUD A rather new opponent will come to town for homecoming in the first week of October, as the Dogs play host to McLoud for the first time in 35 years.
Sulphur won in both 1988 and 1989 over McLoud when the teams were a part of District 3A-6.
McLoud was 5-5 last season and have not made the playoffs since 2020. The Redskins last winning season was in 2016 when they went 6-5.
