After Week One Pounding, Bixby Regroups

Very little went right in Loren Montgomery's Bixby debut. The Spartans try to boucne back in Week 2 against Sapulpa.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 5:45 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Sep 7, 2010 10:43 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

BIXBY, Oklahoma – Figuratively, Loren Montgomery’s Bixby Spartans got their lunch money stolen last Friday in the season opener against Jenks. The former Trojans assistant only managed to put seven points on the board against his old team, but learned a lot about his current squad in the loss.

“I felt like we had a real good game plan going in. I felt like we were going to execute and, honestly, I thought we had a good chance to beat those guys,” he said.

The loss to Jenks stings for the Spartans because it was the team’s first game in Class 6A. The Spartans know that one loss doesn’t mean their season is over. The coaches think the embarrassing blowout could help them in the long run.

“We learned immediately what all of our weaknesses were on offense, on defense and on special teams,” Montgomery said at practice on Tuesday. “Those things are really pointed out when you’re playing a team as talented as Jenks. We learned that our level of play isn’t where it needs to be. We need to play a lot faster.”

Bixby didn’t manage much offense against the Trojans in Week 1. The Spartans threw for just 94 yards, 80 of that coming on one play.

“I think you can attribute that a lot to first game jitters,” said quarterback T.J. Eckert. “It seems to happen a lot against Jenks in the first game.

“It’s frustrating because we do it all day out here in practice against our defense. It’s just the execution’s not there right now.”

The Spartans have changed up a few things on offense after going over the game film against Jenks. The Trojans was able to control the line of scrimmage against Bixby, something Montgomery’s team plans to correct this Friday.

“I feel like our offense is going to come out and be able to execute much better this week,” said wide receiver Michael Nelson. “We’ve noticed some things that we can do to open up our offense and get it moving.”

Bixby’s defense allowed 65 points in Week 1. Prior to last Friday, the most points Bixby had allowed in the previous six seasons was 58 in the 2004 season opener against Jenks.

Bixby heads out on the road again in Week 2 to play a Sapulpa team that’s still reeling from the loss of a teammate. Justin Fitzpatrick died in a car crash on September 2nd. The Chieftains won their first game over Ponca City two days later.

Sapulpa executed well on an emotional night last week. The Chieftains won by six and played great defense against the Wildcats.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.