Harrah improvement phase continues on

Guthrie BlueJay head coach Rafe Watkins in the past has continued to say how much Harrah's third year head football coach Greg Willis has improved the Harrah football program and now the wins are starting to begin.

The Jays travel to Harrah and take on the 3-2 Willis lead Panthers for the third district game of the season. Guthrie currently stands at 2-0 while Harrah is at 1-1 in district play. Guthrie has wins over Ardmore and Durant. Harrah opened the district with a 48-0 loss to Shawnee and last week took down Capitol Hill 30-0.

The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 start with wins over McLoud (19-7) and Piedmont (21-11) and was a play, or two from being 3-0, but dropped a 21-20 thriller to then undefeated Tecumseh. The last time a Panther team was 3-0 dates back to 1967.

Guthrie, who defeated Harrah 49-7 inside Jelsma last season, has not lost to the Panthers during the Watkins tenure that dates back to 2001. Harrah will moved down in class to 4A starting next season so this may be the final Guthrie-Harrah gridiron game for awhile.

A season ago Harrah accumulated just 139-points in 10 games. However, this season they have produced 90 already in just five games.

The passing game this season with quarterback Eddie Reynolds, who has thrown for over 200-yards, has helped trigger the Panther offense. Reynolds may be more impressive on the ground with his ability to run as he has rushed for over 300-yards in five games.

"He's not what we saw last week, but he is very capable," Jays secondary coach Tom Haynes said. "We got to get pressure on him and we got to cover receivers, but he does throw a good football and can throw it down field."

"The passing game is probably not as intricate as what we have seen, but they seem to be confident in short routes and will try and stretch the field and throw the ball deep on us, and if we are not where we are suppose to be then they can hit us," Haynes continued with.

Reynolds is complimented with running back Trey Tuggle. Tuggle, who had a rushing touchdown last week over the Redskins, has now rushed for over 400-yards this year to go along with four scores.

In the win over Capitol Hill, the Panthers and Redskins were in a dog fight in the first quarter with no score before erupted for 21-points in the second period to gain some distance from the Redskins.

The defense pounced on a loose ball in the end zone to finish off the scoring, 30-0.

The Panther defense is allowing just over 200 yards of offense with around 90-yards in the air and 110 on the ground. The anchor of the Panther defense is Shawn Morgan and linebacker Billy Danna. The duo combined for nearly 100 tackles a season ago. Harrah will face a very balance Jays offense.

Guthrie are doing their best Oklahoma State impression with a balance offensive attack. The Jays are averaging 141 rushing yards and 140 passing midway through the regular season.

The challenge in the contest will appear for the Harrah offense working against the BlueJay defense, who once again are at the top when stopping the run. Currently, Guthrie is allowing an average of 66-yards a game and behind the Jays are top ranked Tulsa Kelley with 84-yards a game.

The game can be heard on Triple Play Sports Radio 105.1FM, and streaming live on Guthrie Sports Page Radio. The pre-game is set for 7:00. The radio broadcast will be played back on Sunday night on GSP Radio.

GSP is also making it available to all fans to listen to the game inside the stadium on their radio players on 105.1 FM.

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