Local Sports
Marquee matchup for Konawa girls; playoffs begin
Teams in Classes A and B begin the postseason Thursday or Friday, but playoff games will share the spotlight with some marquee regular-season match-ups during a big week for area basketball teams.
The area's most high-profile regular-season contest this week will be Tuesday at Dale, where Konawa — expected to take over the No. 1 spot in the new CoachesAid Class 2A girls rankings after an impressive victory at Bethel Tuesday — will meet the Lady Pirates, who should drop out of the top spot after losses last week to Christian Heritage and Bethel. When the Lady Tigers last traveled to Dale in 2008 for 1-versus-2 matchup, the game went to three overtimes before Konawa prevailed to move into the top spot in the rankings and keep alive an unbeaten season that finally ended with a loss to Walters in the 2A semifinals a month later.
In addition to Tuesday's game (where the Tigers will face a Dale squad ranked No. 9 in 2A), both Konawa squads will travel to Byng for a rivalry doubleheader Friday. The Byng boys (who upset 4A No. 8 Tecumseh at home Friday and edged Konawa in an overtime thriller in their last meeting) and girls squads will start the week with games at Lindsay Tuesday.
In the week’s other rivalry showdown, Roff will be at Latta Tuesday for a doubleheader that will be the last playoff prep for the visiting Tigers (No. 1 in Class B) and Lady Tigers.
Ada’s boys and girls squads will try to reverse their recent struggles when they travel to Hugo Tuesday before hosting Idabel Thursday in a make-up game (girls game will tip off at 5 p.m.) that was iced out and hosting Tecumseh teams Friday that swept the Cougars and Lady Cougars in their season openers.
The week’s other contest involving ranked teams will be at Sulphur Tuesday, where the 15-2 Lady Bulldogs will host once-beaten Tishomingo in a battle of the No. 12 and No. 4 teams in Class 3A.
Later in the week, the focus will shift to the playoffs, with Allen in Class A and Roff and Asher in Class B all hosting district tournaments.
Although Allen’s boys squad is the likely favorite in a three-team district with Haileyville and Sasakwa that opens play Friday night, the much-improved Allen girls figure to face a tough test from a Sasakwa club that recently dropped out of the Class A top 20 but reached the Class B state tournament last season.
Elsewhere in Class A, the third-ranked Stratford Bulldogs will be a solid choice to capture the boys title in a district tournament at Bowlegs where ninth-ranked Wayne will be favored on the girls side, and Stonewall will be at Caddo Friday for another three-school district tournament that includes the host teams and Calera.
Roff's boys squad has been a consensus No. 1 in Class B all season, and the Tigers should be an overwhelming favorite in a four-team district with Mill Creek, Tupelo and Wapanucka that begins Thursday. Tupelo's 20th-ranked Lady Tigers will be favored to claim the district crown on the girls side.
At Asher, the host Indians are expected to claim the title in a three-team district that also includes Paoli and Springer, while the Lady Indians — who have won more games this season (seven) than in their previous four seasons combined — could compete for the title in a wide open girls district tournament where Paoli could be a slight favorite.
In other Class B action, the boys teams from Calvin and Wanette will all be in action Thursday on the opening night of a district tournament at Moss where the host Lady Pirates (ranked No. 4) and the 16th-ranked Varnum Whippets will be heavily favored to claim the girls and boys titles.
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Byng edges Tupelo in 10th
Thunderstorms that blanketed most of central and southern Oklahoma gave fans at Thursday’s final game of the opening round at the Latta Invitational quite a light show. But it was nothing compared to the show put on by Byng and Tupelo.
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Tigers ready for first test of 2010
East Central head coach Tim McCarty, his players and coaches know history won’t be on their side when they travel to Kansas to play Fort Hays State Saturday night (kickoff 7 p.m.) in their 2010 season opener.
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Dale drops Ada
When Dale grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, Ada softball coach Scott Simpson was simply waiting for his team to engineer a comeback like he’d seen it do on several occasions during the impressive seven-game winning streak the Lady Cougars rode into Thursday night’s contest.
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Veteran Cougar fans will root against Cascia Hall tonight
As the Ada High and the Ardmore Tigers battle for the 87th time tonight, a portion the Cougar family in the stands and listening on KADA 1230 AM and 99.3 FM will have at least part of their attention elsewhere.
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Ada set to pay McBroom a visit
Consider this the rubber match.
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Sports Briefs 9-2-10
Coed softball planned for Sept. 11 in Stonewall
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Coalgate, Stratford tangle in opener
With their teams’ final scrimmages scheduled for different days last week, veteran Stratford coach Michael Blackburn and first-year Coalgate head man Wade Boyles were able to do a little first-hand reconnaisance in advance of Friday’s season-opening renewal of one of the area’s best football rivalries.
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Roff shuts down Byng
The Byng softball team entered Tuesday night’s contest against Roff riding the momentum of a 3-1 win over friendly rival and highly-ranked foe Konawa just 24 hours earlier.
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Tuesday's Baseball, Softball Capsules 9-1-10
Tuesday’s Games
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Ada stops Durant
Ada’s Lady Cougars have come up with a simple recipe for cooking up a winning streak over the past couple of weeks: start with solid pitching, pour in some clutch hitting, add a heaping handful of defense, then mix well for seven innings.
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