Pryor Team Preview

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> Stay tuned to Prep Redzone Oklahoma every day as we release more individual team previews as we get closer to the start of the 2021 football season. In case you missed it, you can check out our Preseason Rankings <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/06/2021-preseason-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>RIGHT HERE</strong></a>. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Overview </b></span>The <strong>Pryor Tigers</strong> are building something that they hope continues in 2021. They went 6-5 in 2019 in the first year under head coach Kenny Davis and then went 8-3 last season. They started out the year 6-1 and had one of the highest scoring offenses in Class 5A. But it all came to a crashing end with their second round playoff game against McAlester. The Tigers were shut out against the Buffaloes and not many people saw that result coming. As they head into a new season, they look to use that loss as motivation and want to continue the trend they've had in the last two seasons with their record continuing to improve. The Tigers bring back seven starters on offense and another seven starters return on defense. However, the biggest question will be the quarterback position. One of the things that Pryor benefitted from in 2020 was the addition of quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="38570" first="Ben" last="Ward"]. The standout quarterback moved to Pryor after lighting it up at Cleveland during his sophomore and junior seasons. However, now that Ward has graduated, the Tigers have to find someone to replace that production. And it was a lot of the firepower on this offense that was up there in scoring. Ward threw for nearly 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns and added another 700+ yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground. Whoever ends up stepping into that role of QB1 for the Tigers will have some firepower around him. The Tigers have some of the better and experienced skill players returning in this district and Class 5A overall. They should be a playoff team yet again in 2021. <hr /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>2020 Results (8-3 Record - Lost In Class 5A 2nd Round)</strong></span> <strong>Sept. 4 -</strong> Beat Catoosa 44-13 <strong>Sept. 11 -</strong> Beat Gravette, AR. 54-26 <strong>Sept. 25 -</strong> Lost To Lincoln Christian 61-22 <strong>Oct. 2 -</strong> Beat Glenpool 54-21 <strong>Oct. 8 -</strong> Beat Nathan Hale 72-8 <strong>Oct. 15 -</strong> Beat Memorial 48-13 <strong>Oct. 23 -</strong> Beat Sapulpa 33-18 <strong>Oct. 30 -</strong> Lost To Collinsville 63-41 <strong>Nov. 6 -</strong> Beat Claremore 22-21 (OT) <strong>1st Round -</strong> Beat Will Rogers 60-26 <strong>2nd Round -</strong> Lost To McAlester 47-0 <hr /> <strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Players To Watch</span></strong> <strong>Bobby Belew - 2022 Wide Receiver</strong> Arguably the best athlete returning to the Tigers will be senior wide receiver and defensive back Bobby Belew. The senior Tiger was the top wide receiver a year ago. He led the team in receptions, yards and touchdowns. He’ll have a new quarterback throwing him the ball but we expect him to take his game to the next level. The 1-2 combination of him and fellow senior wideout Josh Gore has the coaches at Pryor very excited about the big play potential in the passing game. <strong>Leo Lovins - 2022 Running Back</strong> We expect Pryor’s senior running back Leo Lovins to have a big year in this Tiger offense. Last year, Lovins was the starting running back and led the team in rushing but he didn’t have nearly as many carries as quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="38570" first="Ben" last="Ward"] had and Lovins finished with seven touchdowns on the ground. As mentioned, we expect Lovins to build off last year and be a big play threat in the Pryor offense. With a new quarterback in the backfield, expect Lovins to have a big workload, especially early on in the season. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>More Names</strong></span> <strong>Blake Raglin - 2023 Offensive Lineman</strong> <strong>Erick Caraveo - 2022 Offensive Lineman</strong> <strong>Josh Gore - 2022 Wide Receiver</strong> <hr /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Notable</strong></span> After five consecutive losing seasons, the Pryor Tigers have turned things around under head coach Kenny Davis. In his first season in charge of the Tiger football program, they had their first winning record since 2013. Last season, they added on to that with a couple more wins and the Tigers had back to back winning seasons for the first time in nearly two decades. Pryor has historically been one of those up and down programs. They’ll rattle off an 8-4 or a 9-3 season but then unfortunately they would follow that up by almost flipping it and going 3-7 or 4-6 the following year. The Tigers look to have more consistency coming into the 2021 season, coming off the back to back winning seasons and quite frankly, a 2020 season in which they fought a lot of adversity and put up some big numbers on offense. The schedule is very manageable this year as well and they should be able to add a third consecutive winning season to their mark and make it back into the playoffs. <hr /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>2021 Schedule/Games To Watch</strong></span> Sept. 3 - AT Catoosa Sept. 10 - AT Gravette, AR. Sept. 17 - Grove <strong>Sept. 24 - AT Tahlequah</strong> - The two highest ranked teams in Pryor’s district are Collinsville and Tahlequah. And unfortunately for the Tigers, they’ll have to hit the road to face off with both of them. In fact, three of Pryor’s first four games are on the road so by the time week four rolls around, the Tigers will be used to playing away from home. The district opener will be a tough one and it’ll be a "Tiger Battle" between the two teams. Tahlequah has one of the best linebackers in the state in [player_tooltip player_id="114810" first="Eli" last="McWilliams"] and they have other talent around him that makes this Tahlequah defense fairly tough. A win here will give Pryor a big boost going into October. Oct. 1 - Glenpool Oct. 8 - Nathan Hale Oct. 14 - AT Memorial <strong>Oct. 22 - Sapulpa</strong> - A week before their showdown with Collinsville, the Tigers will play host to a Sapulpa team that is in basically an identical boat to them. They’re trying to rock the foundation and try to get a shot at the district title or at the very least finish second and get a home playoff game. Right now, we feel good saying that Pryor, Sapulpa and Tahlequah will all be battling for spots 2-4. If one of them can knock off the Cardinals, they’ll have a shot at the district crown. But, losing to the other schools will make this race more wide open. If Pryor loses here, they could be in danger of finishing fourth, or even on the outside looking in if another team outside of the conversation jumps up. <strong>Oct. 29 - AT Collinsville</strong> - The second of the tough road tests comes towards the end of the season when Pryor travels west to face off with Collinsville. The Cardinals are hands down the favorites in this district and it’s pretty easy to see why. The three-headed monster of [player_tooltip player_id="51256" first="Andrew" last="Carney"], [player_tooltip player_id="61136" first="Brayden" last="Gilkey"] and [player_tooltip player_id="64382" first="Oscar" last="Hammond"] give the Cardinals a ton of production and firepower. Pryor will come into this match-up knowing that they can score on the Cardinals and put up some points after putting up 40+ last year but the problem is they gave up 60+ points. This has been a one-sided series with Collinsville winning nine straight against the Tigers and the last three wins came by 20+ points. Nov. 5 - Claremore <hr /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Championship History</strong></span> <em><strong>0 State Championships</strong></em>