Long trip no concern for OBA

There’s a positive for Oklahoma Bible Academy being a young football team.

They’re not old enough to know that a bus trip to Texhoma isn’t supposed to be fun.

“Some of these kids have never been to Texhoma, so it’s kind of exciting to them,’’ said Trojans coach Mark Boyd whose team visits the Red Devils in a District A-1 game tonight. “They don’t know it’s supposed to be a tough thing.’’

The Trojans won at Texhoma, 15-0 in their last meeting there.

Instead of going on a charter as they have in years past, the Trojans will go on two school buses, giving each player and coach his own individual seat.

OBA will have a pregame meal before leaving and will have a snack at Balko along the way. They will make more frequent stops to break up the trip. The Trojans will get there earlier than usual to acclimate themselves.

“We can’t deny it’s a long trip,’’ Boyd said, “but those guys do it all the time and show up to play. We lost to a Panhandle team (Beaver 34-21) at home last week, so we know it’s not impossible.’’

The Beaver loss has added a sense of urgency for the Trojans, who are 1-1 in the District A-1 race. Texhoma shares the district lead with Thomas at 2-0 with wins over Beaver (29-0) and Mooreland (19-6).

“We can still make the playoffs if we lose, but we’ll have to beat someone who is tough to beat,’’ Boyd said. “It was really huge to lose a home game that we could have won. On the other side, it would be huge if we go to the Panhandle and win a game.’’

Texhoma, under new coach Aaron Witten, runs a shotgun Wing T offense designed to confuse defenses while utilizing the Red Devils’ speed.

“I think they like the idea of spreading it out,’’ said Witten to the Guymon Daily Herald last spring. “This program has been built on three yards and a cloud of dust football and I think they are ready to change that perception.’’

Texhoma opened the season with losses to three Texas schools — Gruver, 30-19; Sunray, 41-6 and Stratford, 51-14.

“They try to outflank you and make you do things defensively that aren’t sound,’’ Boyd said. “They know what they’re doing better.’’

Witten told the Guymon Daily Herald after the Beaver win”we’re head and shoulders  a different team than we were before.’’

OBA is looking to fix its own problems first. The Trojans rushed for 210 yards and passed for a season-high 125 yards against Beaver, but stopped themselves with three interceptions and two fumbles.

“We never did get on track,’’ Boyd said. “We had good spurts, but we can’t turn the ball over as much as we did and expect to beat good teams. If we played Beaver like we did Yale, Pioneer and Mooreland, we would have won, but we didn’t.’’

Boyd said he blamed himself for not making some defensive adjustments. Beaver converted on a third-and-12 late in the game on a drive that gave the Dusters a two-touchdown lead.

“The coaches and players tried their best to win, but we didn’t click as well as we usually do,’’ Boyd said. “They had us on our heels, but I have to take responsibility for that. We had someone lining up wrong. That’s an adjustment a coach has to make.’’