We have just a few weeks left before the Central States Football League wraps it up and puts another year in the books. There have been some pretty good games and hopefully a few more nail biters left. Two teams, Bacone and Langston, have this upcoming weekend off and will be back in action on November 14^th. However, all the other CS teams are playing this weekend so let’s take a look at what you can expect.

NW Oklahoma State claimed their latest victim, Southern Nazarene, beating the Crimson Storm 48-28. The Ranger offense put on quite the show with an impressive 589 total yards of offense. Nate Guillory, the leading rusher the CSFL, and the key go-to-guy for the Ranger rushing attack, had over 200 yards on 27 carries. Guillory’s longest was 63 yards and he even put up two touchdowns on the day. Kyle Jech completed 20 of 31 for 271 yards and also had two touchdowns of his own. On the receiving end of those two touchdowns was WR Korey Williams who had 164 yards on ten receptions. Williams also received the CSFL offensive player of the week award for his performance against Southern Naz. On the defensive side of the ball, the Rangers were led, as usual, by their big guy, Lantz Mathers. Mathers, the leading tackler for the Rangers, had eight tackles last weekend against the Storm. Mathers had 3 ½ tackles for a loss and one sack. Rocky Lee also had eight tackles on the day including 3 ½ tackles for a loss. Currently NWOSU is 5-3 overall on the season and 3-0 in the conference. Technically the Rangers lead the CSFL standings. However, because of last year, they are ineligible for both the conference title and the playoffs. So yes, while NWOSU may be the top team in the CS, they are playing for pride rather than the title.

This weekend the Rangers will play host to Texas College. The Steers, who have had a very rough season, are currently 0-9 overall and 0-3 in the conference. There most recent loss was to SW Assemblies of God 28-20. X’Zavier Bloodshaw had a 39% pass efficiency going 18 of 46 for 295 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The Steers total rushing yardage was -2 and when you add the rush and pass, which isn’t too hard in this case, you get a grand total of 293 yards of total offense. The Steers, who started the season giving their opponents an average of 70 points per game, have slowly come around and begun to have some closer games as the season has rolled on. Texas College had a close game back on October 10^th losing to Bacone 35-32, on October 24^th the Steers fell to Oklahoma Panhandle State 31-26 and the most recent loss of course to SAGU. However, it doesn’t matter how close the games are if you don’t come out with at least one win. In 2008, the Steers had one win over Concordia Alabama 31-30. This year, I don’t anticipate Texas College to have anything but a goose egg in that win column. The last two games of their season are against NWOSU and Southern Naz in two weeks. Looking at this weekend’s game, I have a feeling it’s going to be ugly. You’ve got the top team in the CS going against the worst team. Last year, the Rangers had not trouble beating TC 58-27. This year, I see the game being much uglier. You have a team who is playing for pride and showing the nation they’re as good as anybody even if they can’t contend for the title this season, and a winless team who, if they can’t win, is just trying to avoid being shut out. I think the Steers will put a couple of points on the board, but not many.

NW Oklahoma State 63   Texas College 6

Southern Nazarene, as mentioned above, fell to NWOSU 48-28. Brady Wardlaw was thrown completely out of his element completing only 15 of 29 for 177. Wardlaw on average has around 256 yards of passing offense per game. Kevin Brooks, the Storm’s leading receiver who usually averages just under 100 yards per game was well below average with only 48 yards on five receptions, one of which was for 32 yards. Branden Smith led all receivers with 63 yards on six receptions. Not only did the Storm struggle to pass the ball, the rush was also ineffective. Wardlaw led the run with 57 yards followed by Smith who had 19 yards of rushing offense. Another offensive downfall for the Storm was the four turnovers they had throughout the game with three interceptions and one fumble. On the flip side, SNU had ample opportunity to convert on penalty yards given to them by the Rangers. SNU had over 180 yards moved down the field in their favor due to NWOSU’s mistakes. On the defensive side of the ball for the Storm, Codey Zickefoose was at the top of the stats chart with nine total tackles during the game. Other than Zickefoose leading the defense, there really wasn’t a whole lot to write home about. The Storm’s defense allowed the Rangers 319 yards of rushing offense alone. The only time all season that Southern Naz has allowed that many yards of rushing offense to an opponent was back on October 10^th when they allowed Southwest Baptist 374 and they lost that game 68-10.

This weekend, the Storm will host Oklahoma Panhandle State. The Aggies have definitely had their fair share of CS competition this season. The only team left for OPSU to play after this weekend will be NWOSU and that will be on November 14^th. On average, OPSU puts up over 430 yards of offense with 158 of those yards being rushing yards which leaves the other 270+ from passing. The Aggies manage to put up around 43 points to the CS’s 35. While it may appear that Oklahoma Panhandle State has the upper hand when it comes to these numbers, the Central States teams have kept some of these games pretty dang close. The Aggies have a 3-1 record with in the CS conference with their only loss to Langston in double overtime back on September 19^th. However, the final in the SAGU game was 50-48 and the final in the Texas College game was 31-26. With that being said, I think OPSU is good, but not that good. While it may be true they’ve won their last four games, I think that stops this weekend with Southern Naz. Brady Wardlaw and the Storm will be reeling from their offensive show last week and will come out ready to pass and ready to put up the big numbers we know they’re capable of. I think OPSU will come into the game overconfident from their four game winning streak and Southern Naz will catch them by surprise. But it will be a close game.

Southern Nazarene 38   OPSU 35

SW Assemblies of God finally got their first win! The Lions pulled away with the “W” in their 28-20 win over Texas College. Jeremy Fowler completed 23 of 43 for over 300 yards passing. The Lion offense recorded 120 yards rushing and 337 yards passing for a grand total of 457 yards of offense. Quentin Coleman highlighted the offense rushing for a 72 yard touchdown early on in the game. SAGU’s offense did struggle a bit with five turnovers recorded. Four out of the five put the Steers in prime scoring position should they have been able to capitalize on the turnovers. However, the Lion defense was able to stop Z’Xavier Bloodshaw and the Steer offense holding them twice within the SAGU 5-yard line and twice in the red zone. With the win the Lions are now 1-7 overall and 1-3 in the conference. There have been a few games this season that SAGU could’ve won but for one reason or another, the win just didn’t happen. Close games have included the six point loss to Howard Payne (23-17) back on September 12^th, the two point loss to OPSU (50-48) on September 26^th and the three point loss to Incarnate Word (37-34) on October 24^th. With these games just within reach for the Lions, it was nice to finally get to see all of their hard work pay off for the season.

This weekend, SW Assemblies of God travels to Lawrence, Kansas to take on Haskell Indian Nations. The Indians are currently 3-5 overall on the season. The big “up or down factor” I see for Haskell is the fact that they haven’t played a game since October 17^th when the Indians lost to Friends 28-7. While the time off could potentially prove to be a downfall for Haskell, I think the much bigger downfall goes to SAGU who has to drive over eight hours from Waxahachie to get to Haskell. That’s a lot of time driving and a lot of sitting. Last year when these two teams played, SW Assemblies of God handily beat Haskell 66-14. I have a feeling the tables might turn this year. I don’t anticipate as much scoring to take place this game but I think that Haskell has the stronger team this season.

SW Assemblies of God 13   Haskell 25

Those are my picks for this weekend. Both Langston and Bacone have this upcoming weekend off. Langston will make the long haul to California on the 14^th to play Azusa Pacific and Bacone will play SW Assemblies of God on the 14^thas well. Let me know your thoughts on any of these games. If you agree or think they will go a different direction, feel free to let me know!