By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Coming off an impressive lopsided win, Yukon now turns its attention to more a more challenging task.
Taking on Norman North in the Millers final non-district contest Friday at 7 p.m. at Harve Collins Stadium in Norman.
The Millers, 1-1, return to the scene where head coach Jeremy Reed collected his first win as the Millers’ field boss. That win, 38-31 in 2017, snapped a five game losing skid to the Timberwolves.
Both Yukon’s wins in the last seven years has come at Harve Collins Stadium and the Millers will look to add to that win total on Friday night.
But, the Millers will face a challenge from an NNHS team that has comes in 1-0 after rolling to a 46-7 win over Edmond Memorial. The T-Wolves annual game rivalry game with Norman was canceled the opening week of the season due to Covid-19 concerns.
Norman North features a team with more of a college-sized front line on both sides of the ball, has a pair of speedy runningbacks and a quarterback that is a run-pass threat.
“Norman North will be the best team we have played,” Reed said. “They are a good football team, are a playoff caliber team. We saw that coming, have knew going that they would be better than they have been the last couple of years. They have had some really good freshman teams.
“It will be a good test for us going into our district play,” he said. “They have two really good runningbacks, have a good quarterback and their offensive line is bigger than most colleges. They will be a handful this week.”
The Millers will be looking to take more confidence into this game coming off a 62-20 win over Edmond Deer Creek. The YHS offense rolled up 537 yards of offense in the win, while holding Deer Creek to 250.
Holding the T-Wolves will be more of a challenge. NNHS’ running game is led by Gabe Trevillson, who rushed for 211 yards last week.
“I feel we will have some added confidence going into this game,” Reed said. “But, it is one of those things that its great to win and win big, but you can’t carry those points over with you. Told the kids to enjoy it now it is time to move on.
“Hopefully we will prepare with great diligence, because this team will meet all of our preparation. They will bring more challenges to us that we need to see and hopefully we can do our part to make it a good game.
“Norman North is a balanced team, they may be a little more heavier on the run, but they are definitely willing to throw the ball and have the people to throw it to.
“They will be in the shotgun and do what spread teams do,” he said. “Their quarterback is a good player and they are capable of throwing the ball when they want to.”
The Millers will also throw a challenge at the Norman North defense. YHS had nine different runners carry the ball last week and have speed on the outside in Caden Hernandez and Makari Slaughter.
Hernandez is also a threat in the pass game. He has caught touchdown passes of over 50 yards in each oh the first two games.
“We have to continue to be physical up front, play at their pad level and our runningbacks will have to do a good snap of carrying out their techniques. We will do what we need to do. It’s not complicated in the sense that we run about 10 plays and try to do them really, really well.
“Norman North have an odd front look, but will play some even man fronts. They have great size on that side of the ball and have great length. I think they are really good on defense, the things that jumps off the film is their length and size.
“We will have to go out an execute what we do. It is a pretty simple game when you dial it all the way down. You have to make blocks and hold onto the football, those are our keys to our success.”
The Millers’ second week in their new defensive look was a better outing and Reed is looking for the defense to be more improved this week.
“We have to stop the run,” Reed said. “They have two good runningbacks and the quarterback can run to if you give him the opportunity. We need to put them behind the chains a little bit and make them a more one dimensional team.
“This will be a more challenging game, they have a really good team and it should help us get prepared for down the road and a playoff run.”
