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NEW MANCHESTER, W.Va. -- The Oak Glen football team suffered a setback last week in the annual “Battle of the Bridge,” however, the Golden Bears are looking to get back on track this week against a former rival.
Oak Glen (3-4) had a difficult time getting anything going last week against rival East Liverpool as the Potters shut out the Golden Bears, 41-0, in their annual rivalry game last Friday at Patterson Field.
“East Liverpool has a lot of athletes, and they made a lot of good plays,” Oak Glen coach Derrick Stickles said. “Defensively, they did a good job of taking away what we wanted to run. As a coach, I did not do a very-good job of adjusting and finding things we could do so we could have success. Our kids played hard. They play hard every week. I just have to do a better job of preparing us to play against teams like East Liverpool.”
Prior to the loss to the Potters, the Golden Bears won their previous two games to get back to .500 on the season following a three-game losing streak.
Oak Glen looks to get back on track and get back to the .500 mark as the Golden Bears host Tyler Consolidated at 7 p.m. today. The Silver Knights spent many years as an OVAC school, and they had plenty of battles with the Golden Bears in many different sports. Tyler Consolidated spent 24 years in the OVAC before leaving the conference and joining the Little Kanawha Conference. The Silver Knights have been a member of the LKC since 2008, and the school spent almost a decade as a member of both conferences before deciding to leave the OVAC in 2017. The Tyler County school had been a member of the OVAC since it opened back in 1993. Since leaving the OVAC, the Silver Knights tend to get forgotten about in the local area.
“That’s very true,” Stickles said. “They are very tough. They are very talented. They have a good coaching staff. They are well coached. They do a lot of things well on offense. They spread the ball around. They use different formations. They have good running backs. They can throw the ball. We are going to have our hands full. I am going to have to be able to come up with a good game plan, and I am going to have to be able to adjust to what they are trying to stop.”
The Silver Knights enter with a record of 3-3 as Tyler Consolidated defeated Magnolia, 55-14, last Friday at home.
“They are pretty balanced,” Stickles said. “I think they do prefer to run the football. They have some talented running backs. I think they want to establish the run. I think they want to run the football. That is what good teams do. They want to establish run and that opens up the pass. They ability to do both.”
Tyler Consolidated has also picked up wins this season against Buffalo (44-7) and Weir (49-35) while losing to Williamstown (30-7), Doddridge County (35-13) and Wahama (67-25).
“Defensively, they mostly use an even front,” Stickles said. “They will jump in an odd front. They will bring pressure. They will bring pressure from their inside linebackers. We are going to have to be prepared for that. We have a young offensive line, so we are going to have to make sure we are prepared for that pressure. We are going to have to be able to pass protect. I think we match up well with them in terms of size and athletic ability on both sides of the ball.”
“I like how we match up with them. We are going to have to be able to pass protect. We want to establish the run.
“We have challenged our guys. We have challenged our guys every week, and they have responded. They do what we ask. This week, we need them to finish their blocks so we can establish the run. I do like how we match up against them, but it is not going to be easy.”
After seven weeks of games, the Golden Bears are dealing with the normal bumps and bruises that all teams deal with late in the season.
“Miss Jordan (Simpson) our athletic trainer does a good job of communicating with me when one of our guys is injured,” Stickles said. “Our training staff does a really-good job. We have nothing major. We did have one significant injury last week. He was working his way into our starting lineup. Our long snapper Eli Martin broke his collarbone. He is going to miss the rest of the season. He is a huge piece of the puzzle. Losing him is going to be hard. We have your normal bumps and bruises.”
Oak Glen is excited about playing at home this week. The Golden Bears played three-straight games on the road earlier this season, and the boys from Hancock County spent the last two weeks playing away from home. Oak Glen ends the regular season with three-straight home games.
“It is definitely going to be nice to be at home,” Stickles said. “We have three home games the last three weeks. We have run the gauntlet of travel this season. We have had some long road trips. Teams took it to us on a couple of those trips, but in our last one, to St. Marys, we were able to come out with the win. We have traveled this season. East Liverpool wasn’t a far trip, but it is definitely going to be nice to be at home for our last three games of the regular season.”
Tyler Consolidated defeated Oak Glen, 29-21, in overtime last season at home.