Ben Schatzel Sports Writer Due to some heavily forecasted storms for Friday, October 24th, the Seminole Chieftains were forced to play some Thursday night football to try to dodge the weather. The #12 Chieftains travelled an hour south to battle the #3 Sulphur Bulldogs, looking to pull a major upset. In the end, Mother Nature still got the best of both teams, just like the Bulldogs got the best of the Chieftains. Sulphur took a 35-0 lead into the intermission, which is when the game was called due to lightning and surrounding storms. The contest still counts as a loss for Seminole and drops the Mean Green to 5-3 overall and 2-3 in district play.

The Chieftains would receive the opening kickoff, promptly go three and out, and punt the ball to the home team with 9:47 to go. A methodical five-minute drive by the Bulldogs was stuffed inside the tenyard line when DB Carter Childs sacked the Sulphur QB on 4th down. However, the Seminole offense was again forced to punt after just three plays. The Bulldogs, thanks to good field position after the punt, would strike on a two-yard touchdown run with 1:17 left in the opening quarter.

Seminole faced a third and long to start the second period and were granted a first down after a Bulldog DB was called for targeting on WR Jay Ladd. Ladd would not return to the ballgame, but the Sulphur DB stayed in the game despite being called for targeting, which is an automatic ejection. After the automatic first down, the Chieftains were forced to punt at the ten-minute mark, just 3 plays later.

Only down 0-7 a couple of minutes into the second, the Seminole defense supposedly had forced a 3rd&15 on the Sulphur offense. However, two unsportsmanlike penalties on the Chieftains gave the Bulldogs the ball inside the ten. Two plays later and the home team had doubled up their lead, 14-0 at the 8:32 mark.

Two more Seminole three-and-outs by the offense allowed Sulphur to extend their lead to 21-0 before DE Brayden Byrd pounced on a Bulldog fumble at midfield, a bright spot for the Chieftains with 2:14 to go until half. However, the Mean Green would turn the ball over on downs, and Sulphur would score twice more over the final two minutes, making the score 35-0 at the intermission.

The final five or so minutes of the half were played with surrounding lightning, and as both teams headed to the locker rooms, it was announced that the rest of the contest had been cancelled.

The Seminole offense was without two of their biggest playmakers in WR Mason Bennett and WR Jay Ladd for much of the game and could not get anything going. Over the course of the 24 minutes of gametime, the Chieftains totaled just 29 yards, 19 rushing yards on 19 attempts, and 10 passing yards on one completion.

Self-inflicted wounds due to penalties by the Chieftains gave the home team life early on. The Chieftains tallied eight penalties for 74 yards in this quick ballgame. Those 74 yards accounted for roughly 33% of the Bulldogs’ total offense and gave them timely first downs throughout the game.

With his team now sitting at 2-3 in the district standings after the 35-0 loss, Head Coach Mike Snyder will look to rally his troops. Snyder’s Chieftains need to win their next two games to have any shot at making the postseason. Which means the road to a playoff berth starts Friday, October 31st, when Seminole welcomes the Mannford Pirates and celebrates senior night. Game time is set for 7:30 PM.