The Beggs Golden Demons and Dewar Dragons will continue their journey through their respective playoff brackets tonight with second-round action.

When the postseason began last Friday, three Okmulgee County teams were in action, seeking a state championship.

The Demons and Dragons advanced to this week's second round with decisive victories in their respective playoff openers, while the third county team to earn a playoff berth in 2018, Morris Eagles, had their dreams of a state championship dashed with a 40-22 loss to the Adair Warriors in Adair.

Beggs began their journey towards a possible second-straight trip to the state championship game with a 56-13 win at home last Friday over the Wyandotte Bears.

The Demons' next roadblock in their postseason journey will be the Oklahoma Christian School Saints, whom the Beggs squad met in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A playoffs last year. Beggs came away with a 32-26 victory over the Saints en route to its first state championship game appearance since 1977.

Oklahoma Christian enters the second-round battle in Beggs with a 7-4 record. The Saints began their postseason with a 63-26, come-from-behind, win over the Okemah Panthers last Friday in Edmond.

The 2018 season did not start well for Oklahoma Christian, dropping its first three games by a combined 108-54. The three non-district losses for the Saints this season came against Jones (27-10), Pauls Valley (34-14), and Metro Christian (47-30), respectively.

The first win of the 2018 campaign for the Edmond private school came in its District 2A-1 opener September 21, defeating Oklahoma Centennial 42-6.

The Saints continued their winning streak in district play with wins over Newkirk (44-22), Chisholm (54-16), Hennessey (40-33), and Alva (37-20), respectively, to sit at 5-3 on the year.

Oklahoma Christian's 5-game winning streak was snapped on October 26 in Perry with a 31-26 setback to the host Perry Maroons.

The Saints closed out their regular-season schedule November 2 with a 58-14 drubbing of Luther in Edmond, finishing the regular season with a 6-4 record, 6-1 in district play and tying Perry for the top spot in the district standings. Perry was awarded the district title due to the Maroons' 5-point win in Week 9.

The next obstacle for the Dewar Dragons is the Yale Bulldogs, who earned a spot in tonight's second-round contest after upsetting Foyil 20-12 last Friday in a first-round meeting in Foyil.

Yale comes into tonight's second-round battle with an 8-3 record. The Bulldogs kicked off their 2018 campaign by winning their first four games by a combined margin of 172-42, defeating Summit Christian (62-14), Coyle (30-12), Pioneer-Pleasant Vale (30-16), and Maud (50-0), respectively.

The first loss of the 2018 season for Yale came in the Bulldogs' non-district finale September 28 at Regent Prep, dropping a 32-22 decision to the Tulsa prep school.

The following week (October 5), Yale began District B-7 action with a 52-6 drubbing of Prue, then earned district wins over Wesleyan Christian (38-12) and Olive (56-8) to sit at 3-0 in district play - 7-1 overall.

The Bulldogs' chances of a district championship fell by the wayside in their final two regular-season games, dropping district meetings with Depew (28-16) and Davenport (50-0), respectively, to finish 7-3 in the regular season and 3-2 in district play.

If the Beggs Golden Demons and Dewar Dragons are to continue on their journey toward a state championship game appearance this season, the county squads will need to find a way to get past their tough second-round opponents tonight in Beggs and Dewar, respectively.

Second-round wins will put the Demons and Dragons into next week's quarterfinal round, while losses tonight will bring the county squads' seasons to a close.

Below are offensive and defensive keys to the game for the two county teams competing in second-round playoff games tonight.

Beggs vs Oklahoma Christian

Beggs Offensive Keys

In last week's opening-round win over Wyandotte, the Beggs offense totaled 601 yards, including 483 yards on the ground and found the end zone a total of seven times in the first half with six of the scores coming in the run department - two each by Jared Sutter, T.J. Austin, and C.J. Brown. The other first-half score came on a long pass play from Dalton Spring to Shaidan Jordan in the second quarter. All eight of the Demons' touchdowns last week against Wyandotte went for 20 or more yards. If the Beggs squad is to continue their journey towards another state finals appearance, they will need to continue to find a way to move the ball down the field effectively. While the primary gameplan will be to possibly beat Oklahoma Christian with an effective run game, the Demons will also need to find a way to move the ball down the field through the air and have Spring get the ball into the hands of his dangerous and speedy receivers. The offensive line will need to continue keeping the opposing defense out of the backfield, opening up running lanes for the running backs, as well as give Spring time in the pocket to complete passes down-field to his receivers. The Demons will also need to avoid turnovers, costly penalties, and negative plays that take away scoring chances if they are to keep their playoff run going at least one more week.

Beggs Defensive Keys

The main focus for the very aggressive Beggs defense will be to get into the backfield and disrupt the rhythm of senior quarterback Calyn Halvorson (6-1, 195) and force the inexperienced signal caller to make errant passes that result in incomplete passes or interceptions. The Beggs defense will also need to contain the Saints' run game, which is led by junior Jaxon Conrad (6-1, 190). The Demons cannot allow Halvorson time in the pocket to complete passes to his two main aerial targets - senior wide receiver Blake Curtain (5-8, 165) and senior tight end John Meyer (6-4, 265). The Beggs defense will need to find ways to get the Oklahoma Christian offense off the field as quickly as possible without any points being put up on the scoreboard - either with three-and-out situations or turnovers.

Dewar vs Yale

Dewar Offensive Keys

The Dragons will need to continue to use a balanced offensive attack to put points on the scoreboard this week against a very tough Yale defense that has allowed an average of 17.3 points per game this season. In 11 games in 2018, the Dewar offense has averaged more than 400 yards of total offense and 50.3 points per game. The bulk of the offensive production this season has come from sophomore quarterback Joey Fowler, who has thrown for more than 2,000 yards and rushed for more than 1,500 yards in 305 total offensive plays. In order for the Dragons to continue on their run through the postseason, the offensive line will need to continue opening up running lanes for the run game, as well as allowing Fowler time in the pocket to throw the ball down the field to one of his many aerial targets, such as senior Braxton Loyd, who has more than 1,000 yards receiving this season. The Dewar offense will also need to get production in the run game from senior Kameron Wadley, who is closing in on a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2018. The Dragons will need to avoid turnovers, penalties, and negative plays that force the Dewar offense off the field without any points being scored.

Dewar Defensive Keys

The Dewar defense will need to force the Bulldogs to throw the ball more than they are accustomed to doing this year, as Yale has been a run-first type of team in 2018. The run-oriented offense has proven effective for the Bulldogs this season, averaging 34.2 points per game. The run game for Yale factors around lots of talent in seniors Marco Hernandez (5-10, 170), Jerrod Foster (6-0, 195), and Austin Moore (5-11, 175) at the running back position and seniors Carly Farmer (5-8, 150) and Justin Foster (5-11,

150) at the quarterback spot. If the Dewar defense can find a way to slow down the Bulldogs' run attack and make either Farmer or Justin Foster, whichever athlete is taking snaps under center, to throw the football, it could help the Dragons advance to their first quarterfinal appearance since 2015. The Dragons will also need to find ways to come away with takeaways on defense and force the Bulldogs into several three-and-out situations.