Indians suffer first loss

WYNNEWOOD - Down three starters, the Comanche Indians could not muster the offense they needed, falling 27-8 to the Wynnewood Savages last Friday. 

Missing a starting running back and two offensive linemen, the offense could not get anything going consistently. The effort was there, which allowed the Indians to stay in the game until late.

The Savages led 20-0 in the third quarter before Comanche put together a 54-yard drive capped off by a hard 8-yard touchdown run by Evan Dodd in the final minute. The Indians then ran a two-point play to perfection out of their swinging gate to cut the lead to 21-8.

On Wynnewood’s ensuing possession, the Comanche defense and penalties on the Savages left the home team facing a fourth-and-32 from their own 18 yard line, forcing Wynnewood into a punting situation. 

The Indians looked to have all the momentum on their side with plenty of time still remaining in the fourth quarter to mount a comeback, but a roughing the punter penalty against Comanche gave the ball back to the Savages.

Wynnewood took full advantage of the fresh set of downs, driving 67 yards in six plays capped off with a two-yard run with 7:05 left in the game. The extra point was missed and Wynnewood led 27-8.

Comanche was unable to get any offense going after that as the final minutes wound down.

“I think the positive of it is, I think we have these boys playing really hard,” said Gary Robinson, head coach. “They are playing with a lot of heart, with a lot of pain and a lot of passion. They’re starting to buy in to what we want to do. The effort is there. We’re not really having to coach that anymore. I think we’ve come a long ways since last year as far as personal fouls and getting into fights after plays and that sort of thing. I’m trying to get them to focus on sportsmanship and doing their job.”

The lack of numbers, though, is hurting as the Indians do not have much depth.

“The negative part of it to me is we show up at a Class A school and they’ve got about 55 guys on the sideline and we’ve barely got 30,” Robinson said. “We need to find a way to get these kids out of the hall and out on the field because we have a bunch of juniors and seniors that are just good looking athletes and for whatever reason, they just don’t come out and play football. We need those kids. There’s seven or eight of them that are just amazing-looking athletes and they just want to be straight wrestling, basketball or all kinds of excuses.”

Having more players not only helps with numbers but also strategy.

“We saw what they were doing to us defensively in the first quarter, but we couldn’t make the adjustments because all those guys on offense play defense,” Robinson said. “We couldn’t get them over on the sideline to talk to them and we had to wait until halftime to make those adjustments instead of the first quarter.”

The Indians will be on the road again this week when they travel to Kingston to take on the Redskins at 7 p.m.