The McLoud Redskins dropped their district opener to Heritage Hall last Friday night, but the previous week finished non-district play with a one-point win over Class 2A Hartshorne on the road.
The Redskins go on the road Friday night to take on Mount St. Mary’s. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Redskins take a 2-2 record into the contest after they defeated Hartshorne 34-33 a week ago Friday night and losing 35-8 to Heritage Hall.
McLoud head coach Rusty Hall said prior to the contest with Heritage Hall, who is favored to win the district, that he believed “they are probably the toughest team we’ll play all year. They’re fast, athletic, and they have have a couple of Division 1 prospects.”
Following the contest, he described Heritage Hall as big, fast, physical. “They’re just a better team than we are. I told our kids after the game, they are a good measuring stick to a championship caliber team and that’s where we want to be and shoot for.”
Hall said his squad didn’t run the ball well against them. “We only had 122 yards passing. They were good on defense and we couldn’t move the ball. They had us down 28-0 at halftime, but we outscored them 8-7 in the second half and they played their starters the entire game,” he added.
With about 4 ½ minutes to go in the contest, senior signal caller Collin Gibson ran for a four-yard touchdown. Gibson tossed a pass to Wes Olds for the two-point conversion.
“We played much better the second half. I told our guys I was proud of them for stepping up and battling against them.”
Hall said starting offensive left tackle Braden Osborne went down on McLoud’s second offensive series and didn’t return. “He’s the second starting offensive lineman that’s went down this year. In their opening game,” Hall said, “we lost our starting right guard for the year with an ACL injury.
Halls thinks Osborne may have only a light sprain or small tear in the MCL and hopes he can come back in a couple of weeks.
Even though Mt. Saint Mary’s is 4-0, Hall said, “we should win this game. It’s very winnable.”
Against Hartshorne, McLoud came back twice after finding themselves down by two touchdowns each time.
Hall said his team was plagued by four turnovers in the road win against Hartshorne. “We stopped ourselves offensively. We only punted twice. We either scored or turned the ball over.”
Gibson completed 11 of 16 passes for 174 yards, including two touchdowns.
Sophomore running back Clint Campbell rushed for 195 yards on 24 carries including three touchdowns, and he caught two passes for 16 yards.
Hall said Gibson tossed an 81-yard TD pass to Carson Cue and an 11-yard touchdown strike to Coby Cardin.
The coach pointed out, “We finally found a kicker. We got him to come out on the Monday before our game. He converted all of the point after attempts except for the one that was hiked over the head of our placeholder.”