Minco Bulldogs OK 2024 Team Preview

Get 25% Off Your Subscription By Entering Knight25 In The Coupon Code Area. Enjoy!   It's the month of July and that means it's preview time! Throughout the month of July and even into August, we are publishing well over 100 of the most in-depth team previews that you'll find anywhere to get you completely ready for the 2024 football season. This is something that began for us at PRZ-Oklahoma in 2021 and it continues to get bigger and better every single year. We're looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state in every class. From defending champions, to the top contenders and plenty of dark horses and other teams to know, we'll have complete coverage every single day. There will be multiple previews dropping every single day! In this post, we take a look at the Minco Bulldogs!   Minco Bulldogs   Preseason Prep Redzone Ranking: #6 In Class A-1 Preseason Coaches Ranking: #5 In Class A-1   Head Coach: Brock Wardlaw - 10th Season - 85-22 Record At Minco   2023 RESULTS (11-1 Record - Lost In Class A 2nd Round)   Aug. 25th - Beat Dibble 47-26 Sept. 1st - Beat Mooreland 35-0 Sept. 8th - Beat Apache 33-23 Sept. 15th - Beat Merritt 67-24 Sept. 22nd - Beat Cashion 45-0 Sept. 29th - Beat Watonga 49-0 Oct. 6th - Beat Christian Heritage 37-7 Oct. 19th - Beat Hinton 34-7 Oct. 27th - Beat Crescent 26-7 Nov. 3rd - Beat Casady 30-28 1st Round - Beat Elmore City 48-0 2nd Round - Lost To Hooker 21-20   2023 Offensive Scoring Average: 39.3 Points Per Game 2023 Defensive Scoring Average: 11.9 Points Per Game   The Minco Bulldogs came into the 2023 season as one of the top teams in Class A and it showed throughout the year. The Bulldogs were a consensus top ten team coming into the 2023 season and that was due to the fact that they brought nearly everybody back from the 2022 season. That experience certainly helped them as they would have a perfect regular season and they looked great while racking up the wins. The season began with dominant wins in the non-district schedule. The only close game was a week two win over Apache where the Bulldogs won 33-23. That would actually be the closest game of the regular season until the final week. The Bulldogs were rolling and the defense was playing lights out. They went into district play and absolutely dominated. They ran away with the district championship and only gave up 21 points against five district opponents. There was no doubt that the Bulldogs were rolling. They had a close call against Casady in the regular season finale but got out with a 30-28 win to cap off a perfect 10-0 regular season. They shut out Elmore City in the first round, which was their fourth of the year. But in the second round, they were upset by Hooker at home, losing 21-20 as Hooker made their run to the state title game. The season ended abruptly but there's no doubt that this was still one of the top teams in Class A throughout the 2023 season.    2024 OUTLOOK   Last year, Minco was a consensus top ten team and brought back everyone. This year, the Bulldogs are still a consensus top ten team but they are going to be significantly younger than the team that made it to the playoffs a year ago. Only five starters are back on the offensive side of the ball and all eyes will be on the quarterback position. The Bulldogs have had a very reliable and productive quarterback for several years and now they will have a new QB1 as we head into the 2024 season. Whoever that ends up being will benefit from having some legitimate firepower at the wide receiver positions. On defense, they bring back just three starters and this was a unit that was absolutely dominant in 2023. They gave up a little over ten points per game and we talked about how dominant this defense was in district play. This season, they'll have almost an entire new cast of characters on that side of the ball. But there are pieces that return that have the Minco coaching staff excited about the possibilities. Those coaches are expecting this team to come into the season with a chip on their shoulder. They are unproven as individuals but this is a program that is used to winning at a high level. The expectations haven't changed and fortunately for Minco, this is not an individual sport. So while they might be inexperienced, they will grow together and could be rolling at the right time when the calendar flips to November. The early schedule will test this young team but they are still a major player in the brand new Class A-1.    KEY LOSSES TO GRADUATION   Ashton Taylor - Defensive Lineman Eli Kirkes - Offensive Lineman Reed McMurtrey - Quarterback   PLAYERS TO WATCH    Senior standout [player_tooltip player_id='901963' first='Carson' last='Littlejohn'] has been a player that we've liked in the state's 2025 class for a while now. He's a versatile athlete that has good size and can plug in at just about any position and be effective. Last season, his greatest asset was what he was able to do on the defensive side of the ball. Whether he was lining up at linebacker or in the secondary, Littlejohn was productive on that side of the ball. When we were going through this process a year ago, we really liked his potential to be a big play wide receiver. He still has that potential with his size to have that breakout moment on the offensive side of the ball this season for a Minco offense that will need playmakers.     In addition to Littlejohn returning on both sides of the ball, the Bulldogs will also see the return of junior [player_tooltip player_id='1334931' first='Landon' last='McMahon'] at wide receiver and also in the secondary. McMahon had a breakout season last fall as a sophomore. And maybe we should have seen this coming because he was on our radar prior to the 2023 season. He would end up being very productive on both sides of the ball for a Minco team that was definitely a run-first unit. The shifty wide receiver would finish with over 300 yards receiving and three touchdowns and over 30 tackles and a pair of interceptions on defense. Between McMahon and Littlejohn, the Minco offense should be okay in the passing game.     Junior running back and linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1334933' first='Sebastian' last='Valdez'] might be the most productive player that is returning from last year's squad. Valdez had his breakout moment during his sophomore season in 2023 and he did it on both sides of the ball. On offense, Valdez emerged as one of the top players in the running game, finishing the year with over 700 yards on the ground and 11 touchdowns. On defense, Valdez also finished the year with over 70 tackles. So he's coming into this season as a two-way machine that can bring a lot to the table. And with a young team on both sides of the ball, having that type of production and playmaking ability will be a crucial key early on in 2024.    MORE NAMES TO KNOW   Aden Brummell - 2026 Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Case Brassfield - 2026 Offensive/Defensive Lineman Colten Mendez - 2025 Offensive/Defensive Lineman Jace Bratcher - 2026 Offensive Lineman/Linebacker [player_tooltip player_id='1718968' first='Tucker' last='Meiwes'] - 2026 Offensive/Defensive Lineman   2024 SCHEDULE/GAMES TO CIRCLE   Aug. 30th - Hinton Sept. 6th - AT Dibble Sept. 13th - AT Apache - Minco will wrap up non-district play early in week two before taking a much-needed bye week to prepare for district play. Before they do, they have a tough test against a really talented Apache team, who will be one of the top teams in Class A-2 this season. The Bulldogs have really dominated this series over the last decade. They've won six in a row against the Warriors, including last year's 33-23 victory. Another win over the Warriors here should give Minco a ton of momentum. Sept. 27th - Frederick - District play opens up in week four and the Bulldogs will do it at home against a Frederick team that also comes into this season as a top ten team. The Bombers are dropping down from Class 2A That wasn't originally supposed to happen but when the emergency April redistricting happened, Frederick went from 2A-2 to A-1, landing in Minco's district. It's a tough district opener as the Bombers have a very strong rushing attack and they'll also have a lot to prove in the new class. Oct. 4th - AT Stratford Oct. 11th - Wynnewood Oct. 17th - AT Walters Oct. 25th - Hobart Nov. 1st - AT Christian Heritage - On the first day of November, Minco goes on the road to face Christian Heritage in a critical week nine match-up. The Crusaders are also a top ten team in the preseason rankings and with the majority of their starters back, they believe that they have a team that can contend for the district championship this season. But the Bulldogs have had their number in recent memory. They've met four times in the last six seasons and the Bulldogs won three of those meetings, including a 37-7 win last year. Nov. 8th - AT Okemah   NOTABLE   Minco is one of the more underrated programs of the last decade when you consider their consistent success and ability to make it into the playoffs. Last season was their 14th consecutive trip to the playoffs, dating back to 2010. This is the longest streak in school history and as they go into the 2024 season, they expect to continue it. And one thing we like about this streak is how it's not just squeaking into the playoffs and out in the first round. In 14 consecutive trips to the playoffs, Minco has lost in the first round on just three occasions. Now, on the flip side of that conversation, the Bulldogs are still looking for that deep playoff run. In the 14 consecutive trips to the playoffs, the Bulldogs have only made it to the quarterfinal round on three occasions. And each time of those occasions ended with the Bulldogs falling short. They haven't been to the semifinals since 1977 but they look to change that this season. The district is favorable for a young Minco team. If they can pick up some momentum heading into the playoffs, they could not only continue the playoff streak, they could play deep into November and December.    LAST FIVE SEASONS   2023 - 11-1 - Lost In Class A 2nd Round 2022 - 8-3 - Lost In Class A 1st Round 2021 - 8-4 - Lost In Class A 2nd Round 2020 - 7-3 - Lost In Class A 2nd Round 2019 - 10-2 - Lost In Class A 2nd Round   CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY   2 State Championships   1970 - Beat Wetumka 28-0 1968 - Beat Sperry 35-14

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