By Mike Kays

Phoenix Sports Editor

Non-district schedules are over. Teams have had up to three weeks to tinker, tweak and test.

Some, like Checotah, Sequoyah and Porter, all 3-0, are getting rave reviews. Especially Checotah, which ended nine years of frustration at the hands of cross-county rival Eufaula and then ripped 2A No. 6 Henryetta 40-7. Checotah, under second-year coach Brandon Turley, has equaled last year’s 3-7 record in three tries.

You won’t be seeing much tweaking in Turley’s case.

“We want to try and build on what we’ve done,” he said. “But at the same time we have to realize that we’re no longer flying under the radar. We’re now ranked by just about everyone (No. 9 in Class 3A) and it’s something these kids have never faced. We’ve got to maintain our focus.”

For others, there’s refreshing symbolism in the start of district games. Whatever happened before now stays before now. Progress reports don’t count for grades and zero and 3 doesn’t keep you from winning a district title if you win your next seven.

No one need a cleaner slate than Hilldale. Having lost startling fullback/linebacker Ty Smallwood in Week 2, it got worse for the Hornets last week when they lost four more players — three with concussions and one due to a knee injury.

The 0-3 start is history, including last week’s 43-0 loss to Tuttle, but they’ll move forward minus starting quarterback Taylor Chalk, cornerback Trey McMahan, punter Stormy Dotson and Smallwood’s last-minute replacement at linebacker, Dustin Meilutas.

“One year when I was at Hugo, we were 0-3 and made the playoffs, so anything’s possible,” head coach Don Hendrix said. “We’ve got a lot to overcome but we’re going to give it a shot. We need to get players healthy and eliminate mistakes.”

Mistakes may be the hardest part — Hilldale entered this season with only seven seniors, two being Smallwood and Chalk. Younger players need broader learning curves and in this case, the optimist might say they’ll be mentally tougher for having gone through this run.

“That may be true if they don’t get so beat up they quit,” Hendrix said with a laugh, proof that a coach going through these times needs a sense of humor and perspective as well.

As far as progress reports might go, Muskogee battled through the equivalent of excessive homework and tough teachers. If the theory that better teachers make you smarter is true, then the Roughers, at 1-2 and losers of back-to-back games for the first time since 2005, are on schedule for some good fortune as 6A-3 battles begin.

"Our problems are fixable," Hennesy said following last week’s 24-7 loss to Union. "We knew the first three weeks would be a killer but we needed to grow through it. I think the effort has been there and it really does boil down to little things.