Tonight’s game against Ponca City is an important one: a win secures a playoff spot for the Chieftains, but it may also be a test of the strength of a team that so far has remained undefeated in district play.
Tanner Gregory, 2016 graduate of Sapulpa, has recently taken up the mic to start providing play-by-play commentary for the Chieftains on the school’s YouTube channel, Chieftain TV. A new expanded program this year means that both home and away games in Chieftain football will be broadcast live on Chieftain TV, and where possible, commentary on the game will be provided by Gregory and his on-air partner Braden Ward.
Gregory and Ward will not be on hand for tonight’s broadcast because of a prior engagement, but Gregory was still able to come on the Timeloop show this morning to give his two cents for tonight’s game.
“Since district play started, they’ve had a really good second half of the season,” he said. “The first three games, those are non-conference games, so they don’t really count towards the playoffs or anything. They do count on the record, but not towards the playoffs. So they’re 3-0 in district play.”
“Tonight’s game is pretty significant because it guarantees a playoff spot,” Gregory said. “Ponca City comes into the game 1-5, Sapulpa’s 3-3, but 3-0 in district play. They’ve really turned a corner since they started district play and have really put together some nice games.”
The district play schedule so far has not been overly difficult, with Sapulpa dominating against Capitol Hill (A homecoming game at 68-12) and later against Putnam City West just last week (58-0). The biggest challenge has been the game against Bartlesville, which they won on the road in double-overtime 35-28.
Still, Gregory remains confident in the Chieftains’ chances against Ponca City, especially given that Ponca City was defeated by Sand Springs last week.
“I don’t think they’re going to have to do anything special to win the game,” Gregory said. “They’re going to have to stay mentally locked in. It’s fall break week—the game was supposed to be last night—so there are some distractions that naturally come with that.”
“But to speak to the competition, they did have some tough games in the first three games, and they have a younger offense. They still have some seniors on the offense side of the ball, but they have a young quarterback, and their defense played really well in those three games.”
“They need to just go in there and be who they are. They just need to stay mentally locked in and come home with a win. They need to stop the run—Ponca City likes to run, but it’s nothing they haven’t seen before. If they can stop the run and just take care of the ball offensively, no turnovers, they’ve done a pretty good job of running the ball offensively.”
Watch the rest of the conversation with Micah and Tanner here below:
