From the opening kickoff, the Hornets turned it up a notch last Thursday, jumping out to a 21-0 lead on Tulsa Webster en route to the 51-29 victory.

Coach Don Hendrix said his team had a sense of urgency.

“We needed a victory to keep our playoff chances alive,” he said. “We’ve had our games where it took a while to get started, but we wanted to establish something early.”

The Hornets, now 5-4 overall and 3-3 in District 4A-4, scored on their first three possessions for the early lead. Hilldale had 197 yards in total offense after the first three touchdowns and finished with 468 yards for the game.

The win secures Hilldale a non-losing season.

“That was one of our goals going into this season after being 1-9 last year,” Hendrix said.

That game is the past as the Hornets now put all of their attention on the showdown at Wagoner this Friday.

Hilldale needs to win also hope Poteau loses to Muldrow. if Poteau loses, the marginal points difference between the Pirates’ loss and Hilldale’s win must favor Hilldale by eight or more points.

“Our thing is take care of business and do things right,” Hendrix said. “That’s going to be the big key.”

Muskogee seeks postseason

The Roughers’ playoff scenario is simple.

MHS has to win at home against Tulsa Memorial Friday and hope Sand Springs loses to Jenks. If Claremore loses to Sapulpa, the Roughers nail down fourth place by virtue of the head-to-head meeting with the Sandites. if it goes to a tiebreaker in marginal points, coach Matt Hennesy’s team needs to win by 11 or more points. That would keep Claremore from knocking MHS out of the picture as the Zebras trail Muskogee by six in marginal points.