Altus High head football coach Jim Holloway is treating this week's playoff game with Shawnee just like he and his staff treated the end of the regular season.

Then again, the Bulldogs were basically in a playoff situation needing one win down the stretch to get into the playoffs and needing another win to improve their position in the playoffs.

The Bulldogs will host Shawnee at 7:30 p.m. Friday night at Hightower Memorial Stadium.

"We're not treating this week any different than we have the last two weeks." Holloway said. "Because it was the playoffs in Chickasha. It was the playoffs last week. The reason I like our chances this week is that we have already played two. We had all the pressure on us just to get into the playoffs."

The Bulldogs dug themselves into a hole five weeks ago when they lost a disappointing district game to Duncan.

Since that time things have changed and Holloway said it's the attitude.

"They've (the players) turned up a notch in practice," Holloway said. "Practices are not like they were four weeks ago. The atmosphere is not the same. They are lot more fun to coach."

Shawnee (5-5) returns several starters from last year's state championship team. Back are wide receiver Jason Bourbonnais (5-10, 170 Sr,), fullback Cody Liles (180 Sr.), tailback Mark McClain 160 Sr.), tackle Jared Kesler (175 Sr.) and center Zach Howard (225, Jr.).

The Wolves run a 5-3 defense with big lineman, good linebackers and an athletic secondary.

"They put 11 quality football players out there on defense," Holloway said.

Offensively the Wolves show a lot of formations including no-backs, one-back. two-backs and three backs. They will use a power running game and they will spread things out.

"Some teams like to spread you out to run it, some like to spread you out to throw it and they do it both," Holloway said. "They watch a lot of TV. If you watch a college or pro game they will be a carbon copy of what they do."

With all the formations that Shawnee has used, the Bulldogs will not see anything they had not seen this season.

"There is absolutely nothing that we haven't seen," Holloway said. " The plays they run we've seen and we know how to defend them. It's just a matter of us condensing that information and get it them to the players."

On the flip side its no secret what the Bulldogs are going to do. They are going to try to pound Shawnee with their wishbone offense and the running of quarterback James Holt, fullback Zacc McCaskill and halfbacks Omar Nails and Sean Shelly.

Shawnee has not seen that type of offense this year and that could give the Bulldogs an advantage. Most of the teams the Wolves have played are one-back shotgun spread type teams.

"We have to run the football and hopefully play like we did last week," Holloway said. "We had one turnover and only one penalty. When you play a game like that it really gives you a chance to win. We need to play as close as an error free game as we can."

Bulldog notes: Last week's fake punt that led to a touchdown against Ardmore was the first time Holloway had used the play since 1993. Holloway and his staff have eight fake punts, PATs or field goals in their play book. They always have one ready for each game and it is determined during the week which one will be used if needed. The play used last week will not be in the offense this week.

Altus and Shawnee have not played since 1975. The Bulldogs have had three memorable games in the 1970s. In 1971, Altus won a 44-36 thriller in the Class 3A semifinals at Hightower Memorial Stadium. The Bulldogs the following week defeated Okmulgee 42-14 for the state championship. In 1973, the Bulldogs started seven sophomores and nearly pulled off a big upset of Shawnee in the semifinals which was also played here. Shawnee rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Bulldogs 15-7 enroute a state title. The most controversial game was in 1974 in Shawnee. Both teams were elevated to class 4A, the biggest class of football at the time. Both were also in the old Boomer Conference. The game ended in a 7-7 tie. Altus kicker Eddie Graham's PAT attempt after the Bulldogs touchdown clearly went under the cross bar of the goal posts. However, officials signaled the kick good. While those officials were walking off the field they were booed heavily by Shawnee fans. There was a report that one fan threw a bottle at those officials but no one was hurt.

Friday night's game will be the first playoff game Altus has hosted since 1998.

A victory over Shawnee and the Bulldogs will play the Tulsa Edison-Tulsa East Central winner next Friday at Tulsa.