It was a rough night of District AII-3 football for the Gore Pirates as they suffered a 48-6 loss to the visiting Talihina Golden Tigers last Friday night at K.G. Horn Stadium.
The lone score for the Pirates (3-2 overall, 1-1 in district play) came on a 6-yard touchdown run by Bladin McCartney that cut the Gore deficit to 14-6.
The Golden Tigers (5-0, 2-0) set the tone as they returned the opening kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown to take the lead, an advantage they never relinquished.
“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Gore coach Brandon Ellis said. “You can correct all you want in practice, but in game time those seem to find us. We turned the ball over twice. We had about a 65-yard pass/run. At about the (Talihina) 3-yard line, (the Talihina defender) strips us and the ball goes back into the end zone for a touchback. That would have made it 14-14 (with the TD and subsequent and successful two-point conversion). They scored on the opening kickoff, which didn’t set the tone very good (for Gore).”
Despite the first district loss, all the major goals of a district championship, a playoff berth and a state championship are still within reach.
“Everything is still in sight,” Ellis said.
The Pirates will hit the road to meet the second of the five new members in the district, the Tulsa Regent Prep Rams (4-1, 1-1), at 7 p.m. next Friday in Tulsa.
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To Get There — Take Oklahoma State Highway 10 north to U.S. 62 east of Muskogee. Take U.S. 62 west to the Muskogee Turnpike. Take the Muskogee Turnpike west to the Creek Turnpike. Take the Creek Turnpike west to South Memorial Road. Turn right on South Memorial Road to Tulsa Regent Preparatory School, located at 8621 South Memorial Drive.
