It took a week longer than he hoped, but coach Matt Hennesy was able to get plenty of playing time for his reserve players in the Muskogee Roughers’ 57-10 homecoming victory over the Bartlesville Bruins last Friday night.

Backup players entered for the second series of the second half and finished out the game. He would’ve tried to empty the bench a week earlier against Tahlequah, but threatening weather ended the game with 44.9 seconds left in the first quarter and the Roughers winning.

The Roughers roared back last Friday to pounce on the Bruins with 28 straight points in the first quarter en route to a 42-3 halftime lead and cruised to their fifth straight victory in as many games. Ranked No. 1 in the latest Associated Press Class 6A state poll, MHS is now 2-0 in District 6A-4.

“We came out and performed like we should,” Hennesy said about his team’s dominance on both sides of the ball. “Bartlesville’s trying to build its program and ours is there. I said two weeks ago that championship teams not only perform great against good teams, but they take care of business against teams not as good as them.

“Everyone got into the game but two players. One guy was sick and the other was our fourth team punter. We were able to see guys who could play and who needed a lot of work.”

Hennesy and his team know they have a lot of work ahead of them this week in getting ready for Jenks (7:30 p.m. Friday at Janks). The Trojans, ranked third in the AP poll, are 4-1 and 1-1 after beating Owasso 34-0 last Friday night.

And the truth be known, Coach Allan Trimble’s squad has been on the Roughers’ minds for some time now.

“Offensively, we’ve been working on some plays for Jenks even though we haven’t practiced for them per se,” Hennesy said. “We had two games (Tahlequah and Bartlesville) that we should’ve won and it gave some of our coaches a chance to look ahead.”

A win over Jenks puts Muskogee on track to decide the 6A-4 championship in two weeks against No. 2 Booker T. Washington. Hennesy’s team, though, is looking that far ahead. The Trojans remain a formidable opponent, despite the 43-36 loss in three overtimes to Washington to open district play two weeks ago.

“It’ll be huge for them if they lose to us and can finish no better than third in the district,” Hennesy said. “If they beat us, they can get first, second or third. We’ll be focused and ready to play Jenks.”

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