By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
With a district title all but locked up, Southwest Covenant will take its longest road trip of the season as the Patriots look to continue their unbeaten streak.
And, the Patriots should come back from northeast Oklahoma with their eighth win of the season.
The No. 3 ranked Patriots will make a trek close to the Kansas state line in northeast Oklahoma to take on Welch in a 7 p.m. game. The game was originally a district C-3 game, and SWCS will get their 15-points for the contest no matter the outcome. Welch has had to forfeit two games this season, including a district contest, which has made them ineligible in district play the rest of the season. The game will be seen as a forfeit for district standings.
SWCS enters the game with a 7-0 record and a 4-0 district mark. Welch is 0-6.
The Wildcats have struggled all season and have been mercy-ruled in each of the games they have played. Their last outing was a 48-0 loss to Coyle which ended at halftime. The week before the team forfeited because they did not have players to field a team.
“We did have some concerns that they would not be able to finish out the season when they forfeited their game two weeks ago,” SWCS head coach Trey Cloud said. “But, they told us they were going to play and we will head that way about 1 p.m. on Thursday.
“They have struggled this year, they have like eight or nine players on their team,” he added. “It will be one of those games that I look to play a lot of our younger kids a lot of the game.”
The Wildcats have struggled all season and have only scored one touch-down this season. Welch has won only 12 games combined in their last five seasons combined. The Wildcats are 12-45 in that time span.
The Patriots had one of their best offensive nights last week in a 55-14 win over Covington-Douglas rolling up nearly 500 yards of offense. The Patriots are led by the ground game from Trevor and Tyler Kelly. Both rushed for over 100 yards last week. Quarterback Ben Webb had his best game last week, totaling over 270 yards of offense.
“This is one of those games that we want to get past and not come out with any injuries,” Cloud said. “We know we just need to go up and play our game and come home with another win.”
