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West anything but idle on the bye
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
Plano West’s 45-7 loss to Arlington Martin in Week 0 left the Wolves with plenty to work on.
Luckily for West, they had some extra time to work because of a Week 1 bye.
“For us it has been simple this week,” said Mike Hughes, West head coach, “go back out there and work on the fundamentals.”
“I really thought our offensive line would be better, but we did not do well up front in that first game,” Hughes said. “We need our offensive line to create those holes because we have to establish a running game. That’s not something we were very effective at last year, but we want to establish that this year so we can have those long drives and wear our opponents out.”
West had just 90 yards rushing in the opener with senior Carlos Wiggins leading the Wolfpack with 39 yards.
But reinforcements are on the way.
Missing the first game due to injury, junior Tim Okposin is scheduled to start when the Wolves return to the field Thursday against South Garland.
“Tim is a really talented athlete,” Hughes said, “and we think he could be a spark for our offense.”
Though Okposin will be the starter, look for West to continue handing the ball off to Wiggins as well. Wiggins is in his third varsity season as a wide receiver, but his speed has the Wolves looking to get him the ball in a variety of situations.
“Our goal is to get Carlos out in space,” Hughes said. “If we can do that, we feel really good about his ability to shake that safety. He reminds me a lot of (former West running back) Arthur Coleman.”
While Okposin is coming back, West has lingering injury concerns with senior left guard Chase Thomas and senior defensive back Daniel Kim.
Being without Kim could cause more players to step up on a West defense that already has its hands full learning and better executing a new 4-3 scheme.
“We are still learning on defense,” Hughes said. “This is a read defense, which is different from our past defenses, so we are still focusing on technique and working on gap control. The kids believe in what we are doing and now it’s a matter of just trying to get better.”
The effort to achieve that goal was evident this week.
“The kids have come back and had a really good week of practices,” Hughes said. “They are smart and they know how to keep everything in perspective; we can’t dwell on any win or loss or we are going to get beat the next week.”
Next week was a theme for West during the bye as the Wolves prepare for Thursday’s game against South Garland. Though the personnel has changed from 2010 to 2011, the Colonels run largely the same offense and defense as last season when they were defeated by the Wolves, 21-7.
The West coaches got to see that firsthand Friday as they watched the South Garland-Martin game one night after taking in the Lewisville-Carrollton Creekview contest. The Wolves open District 8-5A against the Farmers on Sept. 23.
No such assignments were in the cards for the players as they got Friday night off.
“We practiced [Friday] and then the guys got to go home and rest for the weekend,” Hughes said. “We need them to be ready Monday because we want to get back on the field and prove we are better than what we showed against Martin.”
West will get that opportunity at 7 p.m. Thursday when South Garland comes to Kimbrough Stadium.
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