By Jeff Johncox
PURCELL -- Does any team have a tougher time of it than Purcell in this week's second round of the state playoffs?
Well, any team that doesn't have to travel to Tulsa Union or Jenks, maybe, but the Dragons will be facing the unstoppable small-class machine that is Cascia Hall tonight in Tulsa, a team that's won back-to-back state championships (in 2007 at Class 2A, in 2008 at Class 3A) and 38 straight games.
"They're a good, solid football team," Purcell coach Mike Wilson said. "You look at a team on film and you say, 'OK, we can run here. They have a little weakness there.' These guys, they don't have many weaknesses. They have great players at all 11 positions on both sides of the ball. And they're a good special-teams team.
"It's not accidental that they've won 38 games in a row. They've played at that level for a long time now."
The Dragons (9-2) know they have a tough task ahead of them.
The Commandos (10-0) average 39.5 points a game, though District 3A-3 isn't exactly the toughest district in the state.
Unlike Class 6A, the eastern half isn't considered dramatically stronger than the west.
In fact, at the end of the regular season, the two sides of the state were evenly split with five teams in the top 10.
Cascia Hall's biggest wins were district games: A 24-6 victory over Berryhill Oct. 2 and a 28-21 win Oct. 30 over Sequoyah-Claremore (which knocked Purcell out of the playoffs in the second round last year).
But the Commandos were obviously a step above most of the eastern-half talent.
And the Dragons know it, though they're not ready to just roll over and let Cascia Hall make them the latest in a long string of victims.
"They're obviously pretty good, they'd have to be to win 38 games in a row," Purcell running back Jonathon Chavira said. "We're looking to go in there and break that streak, keep going and make sure we win the whole thing."
Yep, the Dragons are confident.
And why shouldn't they be?
After all, they're one of the top teams in Class 3A, too, and one of the hottest. Since quarterback Cole Swayze returned from an ankle injury Oct. 2 against Dickson, Purcell has won seven straight.
And Swayze might be Wilson's X-Factor.
The sophomore signal-caller runs the coach's shotgun option with near perfection and has thrown for 598 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for over 1,000 yards and 16 scores.
"We started out the year as a pretty young football team with a lot of guys who hadn't played very much," Wilson said. "They've developed as the year's gone on. They're a real competitive group.
"Then we have a guy who, any given week, is the best athlete on the field. That's a good thing."
To beat Cascia Hall, though, it can't just be the Cole Swayze Show.
If the Commodores leave any openings, make any mistakes, Purcell will have to capitalize. And the Dragons will have to play well defensively.
"You can't leave points out there," Wilson said. "We have to hope we get a couple breaks. The longer we're able to stay in the ballgame, the better chance we've got. I really feel like our kids are up to the challenge."
They think so, too. The Dragons aren't headed to Cascia Hall to bow at the feet of a 38-straight victory statue.
They're there to play for a spot in the state quarterfinals, and they feel confident they can pull off the upset.
"We feel pretty good," Chavira said. "We've been working hard. We feel like we've got a pretty big chip on our shoulder right now, and we're looking to knock the top team off."
Jeff Johncox 366-3535 jjohncox@normantranscript.com
