"I think we were a better team than the score showed tonight and I think the next seven weeks will prove that to be true. We've just got to keep getting better."

Wagoner could use Gus Jones. Its star running back/linebacker who has committed to play at Oklahoma next year missed most of the a 43-6 loss to Grove, then sat again as the Bulldogs lost 28-20 to East Central. The 1-2 start is the worst for the Bulldogs in Dale Condict’s four seasons at the school.

“I’ve dealt with it before, just not here,” Condict said. “But these kids are facing it with an attitude that’s as good as it’s been during the entire time I’ve been here.”

Not only did they lose Jones, four other starters, two that go both ways, went out in the Grove nightmare.

It’s an attitude that may have helped them bounce back to almost beat 5A No. 4 Tulsa East Central after a nightmare contest against former district rival Grove. Not only did the Bulldogs absorb a 43-6 loss to their former district rival, they lost of five starters, three of which went both ways, and battled the 5A power to the end. One of those was Oklahoma commit Gus Jones (back spasms) who is listed as “possible” for the district opener.

“The good thing is we had a week to adjust to the personnel issues and the kids did a great job of responding,” Condict said. “We starting losing people against Grove in the first quarter and it snowballed. In that situation the game plan is out the window, all the way down to special teams preparation and there’s not much you can do to adjust like if it had happened to you on a Monday.”

Fort Gibson? Last week, the Tigers wiped a board clean when it erased a 14-game losing streak, a skid dating back to a Week 8, 2006 victory against Stiwell. Tahlequah got its long-awaited wish of dropping out of Class 6A, but has yet to record a victory in its first non-district run in 5A. Maybe its a numbers recognition thing because the Tigers have yet to play a 5A team, losing to 6A Claremore and 4As Catoosa and Sallisaw. The encouraging thing: there’s three other 0-3 outfits in 5A-4 (Stilwell, McAlester and Tulsa Edison) and the Tigers will get a test against one of those in Stilwell this week.

Keys, which lost a starting running back earlier is 0-3 in 2A. The Cougars lost a running back, Kyler Welch, in the preseason and have struggled since.

In Class A, B and C, the grace period was considerably shorter as districts in these groupings have been doing battle now, in some cases, since Week 2. Except, that is, Midway. The Chargers got the non-district draw in Week 2 while the rest of C-4 went to war with each other and didn’t opend district until Friday when they blew past Bakokshe, 36-14.

“We’d played what I thought was a pretty tough schedule the first two weeks,” Midway coach Robb Carroll said in reference to Wetumka and Porter.

But they’re 1-0 in the games that count — something others will gun for tonight.