By Glen Miller

Getting exactly what head coach Tom Cobble predicted, El Reno High School’s football team got its nose bloodied a few times before swinging back in a 30-12 loss to Star Spencer.

The 18-point setback opened up the 2008 preseason for the Indians. It was the first of four Friday night home outings for EHS, which hosts Noble this week in its second preseason game. El Reno plays Woodward and Guthrie at Memorial Stadium to kick off the regular season.

“We took some shots, especially early on,” Cobble said of Star Spencer’s big-play threats. “But I think we got up, dusted ourselves off and got back after it and that’s a good thing. I thought there was more energy and emotion in our kids tonight.”

El Reno’s defense got a jolt early when Bobcats running back Darwin Rideua ran the opening snap up the middle, bounced to the outside and raced 70 yards for a touchdown.

Star Spencer came right back with a 31-yard pass completion from quarterback Jeremy Harris, followed by an 8-yard Rideau jaunt. On the next play, Harris busted a pair of tackles and raced 37 yards for a touchdown.

“My initial reaction was Star Spencer is pretty dang good,” Cobble said. “We were a typical first-year team and the first two or three plays on defense we overpursued and gave them the cutback lanes and they were good enough to take it. We’ve got to tackle better because we had people on the ball, but just did not tackle well.”

The Indians bounced back from the early hits and allowed the Bobcats only three plays over 10 yards in the next 10 plays of Star Spencer’s opening possession. Harris had a 10-yard scamper and a 13-yard pass, while Rideau had an 11-yard gain.

While Star Spencer thrived on its first offensive set, El Reno struggled as the first four plays netted only 3 yards - all on a run by Cory Dauphin. A 7-yard pass from quarterback Jakeil Everheart to Jovia Franklin, followed by two carries for 7 yards by Brian Solomon helped kick start the Indians offense.

El Reno completed its first 10-play controlled session with 16 yards of offense, with five plays being stopped on or behind the line of scrimmage. Those numbers were quickly reversed on the first play of the open drive as Everheart rolled left, cut back across the field and raced 50 yards for a touchdown.

Both second team units squared off in a 10-play set, with the Bobcats scoring on a 20-yard pass completion on their final play. El Reno countered with a drive as quarterback Colby Hudson wrapped a 9-yard pass to Caleb Wilson and a 10-yard completion to Nick Maddox around a pair of runs by Devante Moore for 6 yards. Moore added another 10-yard gain before Hudson moved the team down to the Bobcats’ 26-yard line with a 4-yard pass to Dylan Abner.

On the final play, Hudson threw a pass to the end zone that dropped through the hands of a stretched-out Abner.

Star Spencer’s varsity unit added two more scores, one from a yard out after a 34-yard pass completion was stopped shy of the goal on a shoestring tackle by Matthew Pruitt. Harris later tackled on a 70-yard touchdown strike to Keon Johnson.

The Bobcats had one other scoring opportunity, driving down to the Indians 14-yard line before Harris was picked off in the end zone by Pruitt.

The stop sparked the offense, as Moore carried for 4 yards, followed by an Everheart 8-yard pass to Abner and a 13-yard run. Dauphin shook loose on runs of 1, 9 and 10 yards to move EHS to the Star Spencer 19-yard line.

On the next play, Everheart rolled to the right and threw a 19-yard strike to a wide-open Hudson in the end zone.

“We will work more this week on sprint out passes,” Cobble said. “It’s better for him to get out of there to where he can see the field better and run or throw.”

Everheart ended the scrimmage completing 3-of-5 passes for 34 yards, while Hudson was 3-of-4 for 23 yards. Hudson’s scoring catch led all receivers in yardage. Abner had two snags for 12 yards, followed by Maddox’s catch.

Everheart led all El Reno rushers with 66 yards on seven carries, while Moore had 22 yards on five carries. Dauphin had seven rushes for 20 yards as the Indians ended the scrimmage with 119 yards on the ground off 23 carries.

“The last go was probably our best on both sides of the football,” Cobble said. “The offensive line blocked well and the defense was able to make some plays.”

Star Spencer had 214 yards on the ground, while taking to the skies for 180 yards, and 198 of the team’s 394 yards came off the five scoring plays.

“They were huge and bigger than we were up front. Their running back gave us fits,” Cobble said. “The big plays just killed us. We had people with opportunities to make tackles and they made us miss. A lot of things will get better with time and practice.”