Is it an All-Star game or a bowl extravaganza? How about a little bit of both?
Before a collection of Oklahoma’s best eight-man football players hits the field for the Eight-man All-Star Game Saturday, the chosen players and coaches are treated to a week that rivals a vacation to a Bowl Championship Series game or the Super Bowl.
Coaches arrived at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Monday and were treated to a day of golf and great meals courtesy of the school, but Tuesday was all about the players.
“They make it like a bowl game with a week of activities,” said Bubba Tamez, assistant to Thackerville coach Cody McCage, who will oversee the Green All-Stars. “It’s really a neat venue for these guys. So far it’s been an awesome experience.”
Thackerville is among the leaders in players and coaches. In all, the Wildcats have six representatives in McCage and Tamez and players Hunter McCage, Tague Hinkley, Justin Voyles and Colton Hackler.
“It’s been going good. They’ve got a lot of entertainment for us, but they keep us focused on the game,” Voyles said. “They’ve got a really good staff. They make it more about the kids than anything.”
With the addition of Hacker as an alternate, the Wildcats are tied with Welch with four players on the Green team roster, comprised of the even districts from Classes B and C (B-2, C-4). The Gold team is made up of the odd districts (B-1, C-3).
“It was an honor to be one of the select few who get to come up here,” Voyles said. “Considering we only started four years ago, I’m pretty proud of it.”
Fox is also well represented with three selections (Quaton Winslett, Deitrick Spigner and Timmy Swindell), two of whom made the trip in Winslett and Spigner.
“It was my senior year so I wanted to make sure I got it,” Spigner said of the All-Star nod.
Spigner (6-foot-7, 350 pounds) was a state-runner up in the shot put for the Foxes this spring, and will attend Oklahoma Baptist University on a track and field scholarship. If a college football coach comes calling, however. ...
“I’m waiting ‘til after this game to see if the offers come in,” he said.
Former Fox coach Jimmy Dushane has worked the All-Star game five years — three as a coach and two as a counselor.
“It’s fun to get to meet a lot of the kids and get to share this great opportunity,” Dushane said Tuesday. “Now, you get to coach some pretty remarkable talent — kids you strategize against.
“It’s just a matter of them getting adjusted to what we’re running.”
For the Thackerville bunch, the All-Star transition has been a bit easier. McCage has implemented his offense, so players from the likes of district rivals Corn Bible, Temple and Mountain View-Gotebo have had to adjust to the Wildcats’ basketball-on-grass style.
“It’s hard to tell after one practice,” Hinkley said of the players adjusting. “It’s a very short period of time for everyone to learn our plays — learn our offense — but it’s been pretty intense.”
Hinkley and his quarterback Hunter McCage will both attend Southeastern Oklahoma State in the fall as redshirt freshmen. That’s not stopping the tandem or the rest of the Wildcats from going full speed this week.
“It’s real exciting to test how good we are and it ought to be a really good, all-out game,” Hinkley said. “I know I’m going to college, but you go out to a football game to play.”
Erik K. Horne
221-6522
