Set to play Allen at home this week.
Stratford traveled to Del City to play the district 2A-3 Christian Heritage Crusaders last Friday night in their opening game of the 2021 football season. The Bulldogs met a tough Crusader team looking to get their first win of the season after a 28-12 loss to Oklahoma Christian School on Aug. 27.
The Crusaders offense was just too much for the Stratford defense to handle. The Crusaders scored twice in the first quarter, leaving the Bulldogs in a 13-0 deficit.
Skylar Joslin put the Bulldogs on the board with a 7-yard touchdown interception early in the second quarter making it a one touchdown game at 13-6.
The Crusaders went on to score twice more for a 27-6 loss for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs just could not pull anything together to make up for the early Crusader scores. The Bulldog offense struggled with too many penalties and not being able to move the chains. The Bulldog defense spent a lot of time on the field with the struggling offense not being able to move the ball.
The Bulldogs’ offense had 123 yards rushing on 33 attempts for an average of 3.7 yards. They added another 33 yards passing for the night. The Bulldogs ended the night with 85 yards in penalties and five punts for 42 yards.
The Bulldogs are a young team with a lot of grit.
“The team never gave up all night. I am proud of the guys for their effort,” Stratford coach Michael Blackburn said.
The Bulldogs have their home opener with the district A-7 Allen Mustangs Friday night. The Mustangs are coming to town with big momentum from their 54-32 win last week over district 2A-4 Tishomingo.
The Bulldogs will need to put the first loss behind them and look to fix the mistakes from last week to come away with a win against the Mustangs. Game time is at 7 p.m.