If ritual means anything, then Muskogee’s practice plan this week may give the No. 5 Roughers an edge going into Friday’s District 6A-3 showdown with No. 2 Jenks.

This week, Roughers coach Matt Hennesy and defensive line coach Josh McMillan donned the pads and went to work on the defensive side of the football to generate some game-like intensity in preparation for the Trojans. The last time that occurred, the Roughers knocked off Broken Arrow 25-22 in a game that paved the way for Muskogee’s shot at its first district championship in two decades.

For Hennesy, the intensity may have been raised too much. He’s spent the week nursing a jammed hand as a result of a collision with a face mask. So it’s probably a good thing he’s spent the last four weeks in coaches attire — even though Muskogee’s intensity level hasn’t been near what it was the last time this strategy was tried.

“We match up with (Jenks) pretty well and I think they’d tell you we match up pretty well,” Hennesy said. “And it’s no secret we haven’t played a team of that caliber the last four weeks. The kids know that. You try and find a way to motivate them, but your talent is better than the other guys and even they’ll tell you that. And the end result is, they’re going to play perfect and we’re going to have to play terrible for the outcome to go in their favor.”

It’s nothing new for Hennesy, who served at Jenks under Ron Lancaster.

“It used to really frustrate me when I was up there and we’d come out against a team that’s not very good and we’d be so flat in pregame, and you’d think ‘on any given night’ deal, that we might be in trouble,” Hennesy said. “But we’d go out there and win 70-0. The difference there was that you didn’t have to be excited or amped up for the game, but you had to come out and execute whether your adrenaline’s flowing or not.

“Well, this week is different. Jenks and Muskogee at Indian Bowl for a district championship and two home games in the playoffs. If you can’t get up for this, you need to check your pulse.”

That’s not a problem this week.

Roughers running back Vernon Scott agreed, but doesn’t mind the hulkier Hennesy and McMillan, both of whom size up comparably in pads to the bigger Roughers like 305-pound Arkansas-bound nose tackle Robert Thomas. Hennesy played at Kansas State and McMillan just recently with the Tulsa Talons.

“It’s never fun getting hit by them but it’s good because those guys are NFL-caliber type bodies out there,” Scott said. “That doesn’t compare to a scout teamer.”

Another assistant with Arena League experience, Ben Bowling, suits up every week and works as a defensive back or running back. Bowling is a Jenks graduate.

“He helps a lot too, but those big guys hit harder,” Scott said with a laugh.