The North Rock Creek Cougars will pay a visit to Conger Field tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. for a Fall Break football contest with Purcell.

This will be only the second meeting between the two schools on the gridiron and are both coming off tough losses last week.

“They are kind of like us,” Purcell Head Coach Aaron Dillard said. “They are reeling a little bit. They lost last week in a heartbreaker to Pauls Valley, a game they felt like they should have won and by looking at the tape you’d have to agree.”

Dillard describes the Cougars as “very good on defense.”

And on offense they present some problems as well with a 6’4” receiver who is very athletic.

“The a tough match up for anybody,” the Purcell skipper said. “And, they have a couple of running backs that keeps you honest from loading up on the receiver.”

North Rock Creek’s offensive line is a senior loaded quintet that has a ton of football experience under their belt.

“We will definitely have to play well to stop them,” Dillard confirmed.

“The key for us is to take care of the football and not beat ourselves,” he said. “Defensively, we’ve got to win on first down more and get them in some predictable down and distances.”

Purcell came up on the south end of a 53-14 count at Anadarko last Friday night.

Juniors Cash Cook and Braylon Francis accounted for Purcell’s two touchdowns. Cook returned an interception 40 yards to the house and Francis dove in from four yards out in the fourth period.

“We saw some good things from our D backs Matt Hall, Braylon Francis and Liam Cummings,” Dillard said. “They all did some good things and Paul Glorius had a good game receiving.”

Dillard went on to say Carlos Lara had a good night gaining 35 yards on six carries. He gave us a spark at times playing well.

“And up front, Brian Cazares and Kaden Pliler did a good job,” he confirmed.

“We got a big boost from Carter Bennett who did some good things well and Cash Cook had a really good interception just before halftime. He covered well all night long,” the coach confirmed.

“The story of the game was our terrible defense,” Dillard confirmed. “I was pretty disappointed in our defensive performance. We couldn’t stop their rushing attack, plus we fumbled six times and two were for scoop and scores. It was just one of those nights where very little went right.”

Purcell trailed 7-0 at the end of the first period and trailed 27-7 going into halftime.

Dragon notes:

Purcell Head Coach Aaron Dillard nominated Ty Thoming as the Defensive Player of the Week. Thoming registered eight tackles against the Warriors.

Brian Cazraes got the nod in the Offensive Line grading out at 84 percent.

There were no nominees for Defensive Lineman of the Week or Offensive Player of the Week.