Barry Lewis

Tulsa World Sports Editor

For several football teams, Friday night will be the last major preparation before playing the games that really count.

Those teams will then have a bye week before their district openers Sept. 25-26.

Jenks and Union enter the MidFirst Bank Backyard Bowl from totally opposite directions. Second-ranked 6AI Jenks is 2-0 and looks to keep that momentum rolling going into its showdown against No. 1 Bixby in two weeks -- which is shaping up to be the regular season's game of the year.

In contrast, the Redhawks are 0-2 for the first time since 2020 when they started 0-4, including a 28-0 loss to Jenks in the Backyard Bowl. But that start didn't keep Union from reaching the state semifinals.

Jenks goes into Friday's game as a big favorite although histo

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