On Monday morning, Olton head football coach Joel Baker got in touch with his inner William Wallace.

Wallace was the Scottish commoner who united his people in the 13th century to overthrow English rule, portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie “Braveheart.” Not that the Mustangs are considered common – not by any stretch of the imagination with what they’ve accomplished – but they are going up against the ruling entity of Class 1A in No. 7 Canadian, the defending state champion, in today’s 1A Division I Region I Final at Dick Bivins Stadium in Amarillo.

“We talked about Canadian and I gave them the speech from ‘Braveheart’ that ‘Hey, they’re not 7-foot tall, they don’t shoot bolts of lightning out of their eyes and they don’t shoot fireballs out of, whatever,” Baker said. “They’re human. If we play our best ball, we have a good opportunity to win. We’ve talked about that for a long time around here and we think we can do it.”

The Mustangs (10-2) have already reached historical proportions this season. By beating Stanton last week, Olton became the first football team in school history to win two playoff games in a season. The school was 0-8 in its previous games past the bi-district round, and it would be understandable if the Mustangs relished in their history-making season.

But that would defeat what Baker and the rest of the coaching staff have told this team all along, that they’re better than what most everyone has given them credit for. The task now is to make sure they keep that focus while all those in town bask in the playoff glory.

“They’ve heard it from all the people in town about what they’ve accomplished,” Baker said. “But we’re looking forward to doing even more. We’ve got a chance to be a good team with what we’ve got, a very good team. We’re going to milk it for all it’s worth.”

“Everyone is real excited because we’ve never done this before,” added standout receiver Ryan Nieto. “Everybody is enjoying this while it lasts. We just have to treat this week like any other game and not put much pressure on ourselves.”

And the one factor that may keep the Mustangs from being complacent is attention to detail. Baker said his tendency to be “nitpicky” accentuates the fact they had four turnovers and eight penalties in the 35-21 win over Stanton, which he felt led to two or three touchdowns being left on the field.

That could be deadly for the Mustangs if the same happens against a Canadian team that has not scored fewer than 34 points all year. The Wildcats’ lone loss of the season was a 51-35 shootout against Class 3A Perryton right before district play started, and since then they’ve continued to be an offensive juggernaut.

Quarterback Braden Robinson has thrown for 2,445 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushed for 702 yards and eight scores, all tops on the team. The Wildcats as a team average 440 yards and 47 points per game.

“When they play someone who can score, then it’s a game and that’s what we want our mindset to be,” Baker said. “If we can get some breaks on defense and tackle well then we’ve got a better chance, but we’ve got to score some points.”

But if it’s a shootout, then the Mustangs have just the offense to stay with the Wildcats.

Quarterback Bobby Wayne Workman has been outstanding all season and can match Robinson’s numbers. He has thrown for 2,933 yards and 27 touchdowns to just six interceptions, and he has rushed for 755 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Nieto is Workman’s favorite target, having caught 74 passes for 1,279 yards and 13 touchdowns. Baker said Olton will look to get Nieto into some one-on-one matchups and take advantage of his athletic ability.

“I think it’s something we have to do,” Nieto said. “We have to take advantage of what they’re going to try to do to us. We could be playing a lot better and that’s how we’re going to have to play this weekend to win.”

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CLASS 1A

Division I Region I Final

Olton vs. No. 7 Canadian

2 p.m., Dick Bivins Stadium, Amarillo

Records: Olton 10-2, Canadian 10-1

Olton vs. Canadian

beat Stanton 35-21 Last week beat Wellington 48-31

362.5 Total offense 437.0

261.0 Total defense 305.5

31.3 Points scored 46.9

16.5 Points allowed 21.5

QB Bobby Workman Player to watch QB Braden Robinson

(2,933 passing yards, 27 TDs) (2,369 passing yards, 27 TDs)