When Ponca City Wildcat Coach Scott Harmon compares his team to its Friday opponent he sees out fits who have some similarities.

Ponca City is scheduled to open District 6AII-2 action Friday against the Sand Springs Sandites. The game is set for 7 p.m. at Sullins Stadium.

For one thing, both teams have lost a game. The Sandites are 2-1 with a 21-17 victory over Sapulpa and a 27-26 loss to Shiloh Christian and a 28-24 loss to Bishop Kelley. Ponca City is 1-1 with a 19-17 loss to Enid in the opening week and a 23-22 victory over Tulsa McLain. The Wildcats were idle last week.

Harmon notes that another similarity is that every game for both teams were close.

“As a coach you like that. It means you’ve been there and experienced what it means to play in a close game situation,” Harmon said. His Wildcats did rally to come from behind to win against McLain. McLain.

“They (Sand Springs) are similar to us,” he added. “If you don’t turn the ball you are pretty good. over, you are pretty good. If you turn the ball over, not so much.”

He pointed out that Sand Springs’ loss came when they turned the ball over to Bishop Kelley.

Harmon also expressed appreciation for having had a week off. The Wildcats were given a one-week vacation when scheduled opponent Ardmore’s entire team was quarantined due to COVID-19 concerns for two weeks.

“We are doing pretty well,” Harmon said when asked how his team was doing this week. “It is a good thing that we had a week off. It gave us a chance to work on some t hings and get some glitches fixed.”

The break in the schedule also gave the dinged up Wildcats some time to heal before entering the football wars again. However, the Wildcats will be without starting quarterback Grant Harmon, who suffered a shoulder injury in the McLain game and will be out for several weeks.

Coach Harmon said “We will operate as quarterback by committee the rest of the season. We have some packages involving others working at quarterback.”

Other district games Friday will be Bartlesville at Bixby, Choctaw at Booker T. Washington and Putnam City West at Muskogee.

In area games, Tonkawa will be at Morrison, Blackwell will be at Luther, Newkirk will be at Alva, Caney Valley will be at Woodland, Pawnee will be at Hominy and Deer Creek-Lamont will be at Medford.

TONKAWA AT MORRISON

The Tonkawa-Morrison contest has developed into a rivalry in recent years. It involves two schools with very proud traditions and a bunch of state championships in their history. Tonkawa won its opener 49-14 over Newkirk, lost its second game to Perry and then came back last week to edge Blackwell 15-14. Morrison is also 2-1 with a loss in its opener to Oklahoma Christian School and wins over Kiefer and Porter.

BLACKWELL AT LUTHER

The Blackwell Maroons are 2-1 having defeated Oklahoma Patriots and Oklahoma Bible before last week’s 15-14 loss to Tonkawa. Blackwell has moved from Class 3A from 2A and will be embarking on its first district game in that classification. Luther is 0-3, but has lost to some pretty good teams--27-14 to Prague, 40-16 to Jones and 8-6 to Antlers.

NEWKIRK AT ALVA

The Newkirk Tigers are looking for their first win after defeats to Tonkawa, Woodland and Oklahoma Bible. Alva picked up its first win last week by beating Fairview 14-6. Earlier the Goldbugs experienced a 54-6 loss to Kingfisher and a 47-26 loss to Thomas.

CANEY VALLEY AT WOODLAND

Coach Casey Goad’s Woodland Cougars have yet to experience defeat. They are 3-0 with wins over Oklahoma Union, Newkirk and Mooreland. This week they open district competition again Caney Valley, which is 2-1 with wins over Hulbert (42-0) and Liberty (28-8) with a 64-0 loss to Kellyville.

PAWNEE AT HOMINY

Pawnee takes on district opponent Hominy after having had a week off. The Black Bears at 2-1 with wins over Okemah and Mooreland. Hominy is 1-2 with a win over Tulsa NOAH and losses to Cleveland and Pawhuska.

DEER CREEK-LAMONT at MEDFORD

The Deer Creek-Lamont Eagles have played only one game and it was a big loss to Covington-Douglas. They are scheduled to open district play against a very tough opponent, Medford, which is 2-1 after a big loss to Covington-Douglas and wins over Kremlin-Hillsdale and Pond Creek-Hunter.