By Jeff Johncox
A year ago, it was almost the same story.
When Moore came down to Harve Collins Field to take on Norman High that time, both the Lions and Tigers were struggling with a 0-2 start.
This year is the same as NHS heads up to Moore Stadium.
Last year, the Tigers' 37-0 victory led into the next week's win at Putnam City West, and they eventually finished 2-8.
The loss, though, sent the Lions spiraling further downward, and they didn't win a game until Week 9, when they took down injury-riddled Southmoore.
"Our kids have their head up a lot this week," NHS coach Greg Nation said. "They know we beat them last year. I think they're struggling to find their identity a bit. We're motivated this week."
The Tigers have played two strong halves of football.
The first half of the Crosstown Clash, NHS was right there with Norman North. It was the same story last week, except this time the Tigers took the lead into the locker room against Del City before falling 19-7.
NHS' defense has been dominant in both games. Led by linebackers Michael Barrett and Greg Offenburger, the Tigers are only allowing 165 yards per game. That's pretty impressive against two teams that know how to put some points on the board.
Conversely, the NHS offense is only averaging 95 yards per game.
Needless to say, a win over Moore would give a huge confidence boost for the Tigers, who badly need one.
"We need for our spirits and our motivation to get a win for our kids," Nation said. "We've had a good week of practice. We're pretty much going to do the same things we did last week. We had ball control. We had no turnovers."
Moore, on the other hand, has struggled in all phases of the game.
The Lions are averaging 106.5 yards offensively, and they've allowed teams to run all over their defense for an average 331 yards per game.
After a decent opener, a 19-6 loss to rival Westmoore, Moore fell hard to Midwest City, 48-0.
Probably the biggest playmaker the Lions have is quarterback Vova Razryvin, who's completed 7 of 27 passes for 44 yards and an interception.
Razryvin is someone Nation's wary of, but also familiar with.
"He's a tough kid," Nation said. "When he was a freshman, he pretty much self-handled our team. Norman High won, but he was kind of like a one-man army."
But it will be much tougher for Razryvin to have a big game against this year's Tiger defense, which forced North to turn it over twice and Del City to give the ball away four times.
"We're confident," Nation said. "I think they're a lot like us. They're having some growing pains.
"We have to put our kids in an opportunity to win in the fourth quarter. Coaches don't win games, players win games. But at the same time, we have to give them the formula for success."
For two teams who have started out on the wrong side of things, success hasn't come easily.
But one of them will come away with a big victory tonight. It's like Nation said: "Someone's going to get a win."
Jeff Johncox 366-3535 jjohncox@normantranscript.com
