The 21 points is four more allowed than the goal established for this year’s defense by defensive coordinator David Heath.

“Coach Heath likes a challenge and they’ll provide the defense with one,” Hennesy said. “They’ll be motivated to reach that goal.”

Hennesy also expects the offense to be motivated to keep its momentum going. They’ve had a good balance of running and passing the past two weeks, but the effort against Broken Arrow, particularly in its consistency in moving the ball on drives, was the real confidence boost they’ve needed.

“They’ve had two good weeks but they proved themselves against one of the better defenses we’ll face,” Hennesy said. “Hopefully, they’ve gained confidence.”

The Roughers got some additional good news when the speedy Brenton Bogar, who clocked a hand-held 4.1 during preseason drills, returned to practice on Monday for the first time since he suffered a high ankle sprain when he blocked a punt against Owasso in the season opener. That sparked a second-half comeback from a 17-0 deficit. Hennesy hopes it sparks flexibility on both sides of the ball for his team.

“We’ll move Vernon Scott back to free safety which is what we’ve been wanting to do,” Hennesy said. “Victor (Williams) coming on as the freshman at corner has changed my mind-set. We can move YJ (Jordan Brown to strong safety where he’s better than at free safety and let Nico (Cubit and (Angelo) Shipp concentrate at receiver and we’re dang near becoming one-way players with the advancement of (Allen) Starks at running back,” he said.

Starks had 96 yards rushing last week, a season high. Kiki Smith, a junior who like Starks is a more physical-type runner, could see some increased action behind Starks, Hennesy said. All of this would allow the two fastest Roughers, Bogar and Scott, to mix in as receivers to stretch the field.