KOGT Pregame begins at 6pm
It has been a couple of weeks since West Orange-Stark won its district opener at Silsbee. The Mustangs used this past open week since the Silsbee game to heal up and get ready for the remainder of the season.
According to Coach Cornel Thompson there will be some changes for West Orange-Stark especially on defense. He has changed positions with some of the Mustangs. “We improved our defensive football team I think by moving some new faces on the defensive side of the ball, so we’ll see what happens,” Thompson informed.
This week the Mustangs play Hardin-Jefferson on KOGT. Thompson identified the offense run by the Hawks as the Slot-T which they have run since Coach Dwayne DuBois came there from Vidor.
Thompson complimented DuBois on how patient he is with his offense. DuBois studies his team’s offense and every year makes modifications to improve the Hawks’ Slot-T.
The Slot-T is a running offense, and Sam Dickerson is the leading rusher for Hardin-Jefferson. Dickerson will get most of the carries on buck-sweeps and will have a few passes thrown to him.
The Hawks’ quarterback is Westen Nugent. He performs well in guiding the Slot-T for DuBois.
Running the ball primarily Hardin-Jefferson counts on its offensive line to make holes for Dickerson and Nugent. The leader in the Hawks’ O-line is Hayden Burton at the strong side guard.
Hardin-Jefferson plays mostly sophomores and juniors with very few seniors on offense. Thompson expressed, “I’m really impressed with their patience the way they run their offense.”
On defense the Hawks look a bit like the Mustangs. They use a 50-Defense with an odd man front and two linebackers just like West Orange-Stark.
The Hawks’ noseguard Enrique Montes will be a force to deal with for the West Orange-Stark blockers. Burton also starts on defense at a tackle and will draw the attention of the Mustangs. Another two-way player is Michael McIntosh who plays in the defensive line for Hardin-Jefferson.
Coach Thompson wants to run the football against Hardin-Jefferson which he said has some good young players on its defense. The Hawks have a good forcing unit geared to stop the opposition’s ground game. “We’ve got to find a way that if we can’t run the ball, we’ve got to be able to play action pass instead of just straight drop back pass to move the ball against them,” Thompson stated.
The game Friday is between the first place Mustangs and the last place Hawks. Hardin-Jefferson is 0-7, but have played several opponents much closer than the scores indicated. Two fumbles against Little Cypress-Mauriceville led to easy touchdowns for the Bears which was basically the margin of difference in the game. Film of other H-J games has shown Coach Thompson the Hawks shooting themselves in the foot with similar turnovers.
Thompson will not let his players take any opponent for granted. Thompson conceded, “They’re a football team that is going to beat somebody they shouldn’t beat, and I hope it’s not the Mustangs.”
Another distraction for Coach Thompson going into the game will be homecoming at West Orange-Stark. As coaches, Thompson and his staff work to keep the players’ focus on the game and not the festivities involved with homecoming. He wants the Mustangs to be involved in homecoming activities, but West Orange-Stark is not familiar with losing homecoming games so the players need to be with the team when they cross the blue line onto the playing field.
Many requests and calls have come into the athletic office from WO-S alumni who plan to attend the game and see the revised stadium while Thompson thanks the community for funding the new field with the passing of the recent bond issue. “They tell me that there is rain is coming in Friday night, but we will not be sloshing around in mud,” Thompson concluded.
The West Orange-Stark Mustangs play the Hardin-Jefferson Hawks on Friday at Dan R. Hooks Stadium. The kickoff will be at 7:30 PM with pregame at 6pm on KOGT.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
-photo by Allen Nation, KOGT-
8/30 – at Nederland 21-20
9/6 – LCM 36-14
9/13 – at Newton 14-20
9/20 – Crosby (TS Imelda)
9/27 – at Bridge City 46-7
10/4 – Jasper (lightning)
District 10-4A D2
10/11 – at Silsbee 17-9
10/18 – Off
10/25 – H-Jefferson 7:30 pm
11/1 – at Liberty 7:30 pm
11/8 – H-Fannett 7:30 pm
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