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Destination District: West makes final stop before 8-5A
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
The Plano West football team was fired up after defeating South Garland, 21-17, last Thursday, but the Wolves (1-1) were also cognizant of the fact that one win in one non-district game will not make their season.
"I think having the bye helped us a lot after that tough first game," said Blair Edwards, West senior linebacker. "We were able to focus on technique, pressure and playing smashmouth football; now we need to keep that up."
Junior linebacker Mike Mitchell was quick to agree.
West's next opponent should prove plenty challenging as North Mesquite (3-0) enters Friday's game against the Wolves, set for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Mesquite, with impressive credentials thus far.
North Mesquite has reached its undefeated mark in crushing fashion.
The Stallions have defeated Rowlett, North Garland and South Grand Prairie by at least 20 points each. North Mesquite is averaging more than 42 points per game and has not allowed an opponent to surpass 16 points thus far, statistics which equate to an average Stallions' win of more than 29 points per game.
West head coach Mike Hughes and his staff got to see that dominance firsthand Friday when they watched North Mesquite defeat SGP, 29-9.
In addition to scouting an opponent, Hughes saw a lot of his own team on the field.
"North Mesquite is a lot like us both offensively and defensively in terms of what they like to run," he said. "Because of that we are going to run a lot of [No. 1 offense versus No. 1 defense] this week in practice. Sometimes it can be tough for the scout team to represent what the opponent will be like, but that shouldn't be a problem this week."
West likes to use four primary runners.
Senior quarterback Carson Smith will periodically take off with the ball and the remainder of the carries are distributed between senior Carlos Wiggins, junior Tim Okposin and sophomore Auston Anderson.
North Mesquite likes to use four primary runners too.
For the Stallions, quarterback King Davis will take off with carries also going to Anthony Sims, Demarcus Luke and Corey Hunt. Sims is the leader of the group with 475 yards rushing and three touchdowns thus far, but the quartet has combined for 965 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground.
"They do a lot of two-back stuff and will definitely try to establish the run," Hughes said. "But their quarterback throws a good ball too."
The Stallions go up against a West defense that showed significant improvement from Arlington Martin to South Garland, dropping its yards allowed from 527 to 306.
"When we switched over, we knew our defense was going to take some time," Hughes said. "But I think the guys are learning it quickly and starting to see what we can do in this defense."
West runs the 4-3, just like North Mesquite.
The Stallions operate in a read defense and will keep two safeties deep in order to prevent the big play with JacQuenten Young standing out in the secondary.
"Their strategy is to make you grind it out and go on those 12- to 15-play scoring drives," Hughes said, "and they do a good job with it."
If West is to construct those types of drives, it will rely heavily on the run game.
Okposin, Smith and Wiggins combined for 208 yards and two touchdowns rushing against South Garland. Hughes noted that the big-play ability of Wiggins and the return of Okposin gave the Wolves a shot in the arm, but also praised the boys in the trenches.
"Our offensive line played a lot better last week," he said.
Sophomore Zach White was part of that line as he filled in at left guard for injured senior Chase Thomas. Thomas is expected back Friday, but that won't necessarily put West back at full strength as Okposin sat out the second half of Friday's game and is questionable for this week.
West will attempt to run the ball with or without Okposin, but the passing game remains a work in progress.
"Carson had some good passes last week, but we had some key drops," Hughes said. "We've got to get better in that area."
With the similar structure of the offense and defense for North Mesquite and West, the deciding factor Friday may well be special teams.
"I think this thing is going to come down to the kicking game and who takes care of the ball," Hughes said.
West will roll out junior Michael Cerrone as its punter and junior Zack Myer as its kicker and North Mesquite counters with Farid Olalde and Danny Contreras at those respective positions.
North Mesquite doesn't start district play until Oct. 7, but after going 5-5 and missing the playoff last season, the Stallions will enter Friday's game at Memorial Stadium on a mission to continue building momentum. West will attempt to do the same, but with an eye on Sept. 23 and its 8-5A opener against Lewisville.
"We are trying to keep playing well and keep getting better," Hughes said. "We got better after the Martin game and I think we'll be better after the South Garland game."
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