Published: October 30, 2009 10:33 am      

Buffs roam to Tulsa for District Title

McAlester Buffaloes’ Head Coach Bryan Pratt spent the past eight Fridays in the lobby of First National Bank and Trust of McAlester discussing the upcoming and past games of the Buffs (8-0) season during the morning radio show “Coffee with coach,” aired on AM 1150, with Vic Wheeler and John Yates.

This morning was no different for Pratt. Sitting in front of a desk with all eyes and ears opened to what he had to say about the Buffs opponents, the East Central Cardinals of Tulsa.

The Buffs take on the Cardinals (7-1, 5-0) tonight at East Central Stadium with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

The first topic of the morning was the Buffs early jump on last week’s opponents the Tahlequah Tigers, recovering an onside kick during the opening kick off.

“It’s always good to execute what we’ve practiced during the week,” Pratt said. “We noticed they lined up differently during a kickoff. I told the kickoff team that if they see Tahlequah line up in that formation, ‘do an onside kick.’ We practiced the onside kick during practice.”

Pratt said that the consistency of time management in practice is key to the success.

“I think it starts with the younger teams,” Pratt said. “Our seventh and eighth graders are undefeated. The kids see what we want and they go out and do it. The main thing is that our coaches believe in what we are doing. Our scheme.”

The Buffaloes’ scheme seems to be on the district championship against the Cardinals.

“Like I said before, ‘defense wins championships,’” Pratt said. “Our defense has done a great job this season.”

Pratt also mentioned that the Buffs key defensive player is senior Tim Curry, at lineman.

Curry was out of last weeks game and teammate Tanner Scott stepped in and punished the Tigers.

Scott was limited in practice, cutting the week short for a family emergency.

“I can’t believe Tanner played as well as he did having a short week,” Pratt said. “He’s always played hard and he knew what to do. We have a team that can fill spots, it doesn’t matter who is in that position. Our offense didn’t miss a beat.”

The Buffs’ Tyler Crabtree was filling in for injured starting quarterback Tony Kiefer, who is expected to start against the Cardinals.

Contact Porky Falcon at pfalcon@mcalesternews.com