Norman North vs. Edmond Memorial

Sophomore Chapman McKown scores the T-Wolves' first touchdown of the season. (Reese Gorman, 09/11/2020)

 Reese Gorman / The Norman Transcript

Friday will mark Norman North's home opener as it takes Yukon in its final non-district game.

A lot has changed with North's game day procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team’s first home game will be no exception.

Players will be required to have a temperature check before arriving at Harve Collins Field, they will be required to get taped up at North's campus as opposed to its shared home venue at Norman High and there will be no pre-game dinner.

“There’s a lot of protocols we have to follow, it’s not a bad thing by any means, but it can be time consuming,” North coach Justin Jones said. “We have to make sure we have cones set up at the stadium where every player is going to stand. We have to make sure every player has their own water bottle.”

Not only will the protocols be different, the team it's facing before beginning district play is expected to be more of a challenge than Edmond Memorial — who the T-Wolves beat 46-7.

“Yukon is a good football team,” Jones said. “We have to be more disciplined on defense, more physical and we can’t play so flat footed.”

Yukon's flexbone offense averaged 415 yards running per game last season, making it one of the leading rushing attacks in the state, Jones said.

Holding the line and not letting the Millers break a way is going to be a challenge, but it will be a necessity if the T-Wolves want to improve to 2-0.

“We certainly got a challenge for us,” Jones said. “We’re a defense built on speed and we’re going to have to bring a certain kind of physicality to have some success [Friday] night.”

The T-Wolf defense looked strong last week against Edmond Memorial, holding the Bulldogs to no offensive touchdowns. Jones said they will have to do that and more.

“We have to continue to chase the football,” he said. “Making sure we’re getting lined up right and we have to make sure we’re disciplined. Everybody has to do their job, because if we have one break down it’s probably going to turn into a touchdown.”

Reese Gorman

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rgorman@normantranscript.com

Yukon at Norman North

When: 7 p.m.

Place: Harve Collins Stadium

Records & Rankings: North 1-0, unranked; Yukon 1-1, unranked

Radio: SportsTalk FM 98.5

Online: normansports.tv

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Staff Writer

Reese Gorman covers elections, local politics and the COVID-19 pandemic for The Norman Transcript. He started as an intern in May of 2020 and transitioned into his current position as a staff writer in August of 2020.