Three Points and a Pick: Millwood at Douglass

The second Saturday of the season means the Soul Bowl has arrived. It’s always one of my favorite games to cover — in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad one. And I don’t plan on ending that trend today.

Three Points

1. Trojan blocking. Douglass’ young offensive line got all it could handle from Tulsa Washington last week, but Millwood won’t be able to bring that kind of size in the front seven. However, Millwood might have a little more speed up there, so it will be a different kind of task for the Trojans. They need to establish the run game and protect freshman QB Patrick McKaufman when he tries to throw. They were inconsistent in those areas last week, and it slowed the offense.

2. Falcons in the air. With London Potts at QB, Millwood has a better passing attack this year, to go with a lot of athletic ability at receiver. But the Douglass secondary is one of its strongest areas. If Potts can hit a few big passes early, it will open up the run game for a talented group of RBs.

3. Soul-mentum. The thing that regularly makes the Soul Bowl so great is that neither team can gain enough momentum to get a big lead and put the game away. The opponent always has an answer. If either team should find the strength to do it today, it would surprise me.

The Pick

Douglass 35, Millwood 34: Both teams have more balanced offenses than a year ago, when this was a slugfest of running backs. Look for big plays both on the ground and in the air from each side, and once again, a Soul Bowl Thriller.

– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Twitter: @ScottWrightOK