Phantom Stang
10-08-2009, 05:27 PM
SW eyes fresh start vs. Bucks
Written by Ron Howell
Thursday, 08 October 2009
One of the oldest cliches in high school football is that every team is 0-0 going into district play. But after combining for a 1-9 record so far, both Sweetwater and Breckenridge are certainly eager to embrace the idea.And it’s more than an idea — because Friday’s winner will have a 1-0 record in the only game of the season that really matters.
Sweetwater (0-5) has had two weeks to put its latest defeat (48-0 at Big Spring) in the rear mirror, Head coach Craig Slaughter and his staff are thinking only about Breckenridge, a team he had success against when he was at Clyde and the teams were in the same district — along with Sweet-water — in 2006 and 2007.
That was a different dis-trict and Breckenridge had a different coach, however.
And this has been a different season at Sweetwater, which hopes to begin turn-ing things around with a big win on its home turf.
Slaughter said workouts this past week were good and that he was impressed with the team’s intensity at the start of this week’s practices on Monday.
“We had a bounce in our step because we know what’s at stake now,” he said on Wednesday. “What you’ have done before doesn’t matter. You’ve got three seasons — preseason, district and playoffs — and now we’re working on the second one.”
Despite scoring only 34 points so far, Sweetwater has shown signs of better production recently.
The Mustangs had a sea-son-high 263 yards against Clyde three weeks ago and even had 237 against Big Spring — including a season-best 124 yards passing.
“We’ve got to move the ball and score in order to be successful,” Slaughter said. “We’ve put too much pressure on our defense. And we have to force turnovers. We haven’t been doing that.”
Breckenridge, meanwhile, is just 2-13 since David Fambrough became the Bucks’ coach prior to the 2008 season. Breckenridge is still looking for its first win in District 2-3A. This might be the Bucks’ best chance since the district also includes state-ranked Wylie and Graham as well as Brownwood and Snyder.
Sweetwater sees things the same way, since Brec-kenridge averages just 8.8 points a game and like the Mustangs has reached 20 points just once — when the Buckaroos got their only win of the season, 21-6 over Vernon three weeks ago. Breckenridge was defeated by Midland Christian 45-7 in its most recent outing.
Slaughter knows this is a pivotal week. “You have to get the wins when you can,” he said. “Each one puts you in a position to control your own destiny. But you have to take it game by game, especially when you are in a district like this one.”
Sweetwater Reporter (http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/content/view/170044/122/)
Written by Ron Howell
Thursday, 08 October 2009
One of the oldest cliches in high school football is that every team is 0-0 going into district play. But after combining for a 1-9 record so far, both Sweetwater and Breckenridge are certainly eager to embrace the idea.And it’s more than an idea — because Friday’s winner will have a 1-0 record in the only game of the season that really matters.
Sweetwater (0-5) has had two weeks to put its latest defeat (48-0 at Big Spring) in the rear mirror, Head coach Craig Slaughter and his staff are thinking only about Breckenridge, a team he had success against when he was at Clyde and the teams were in the same district — along with Sweet-water — in 2006 and 2007.
That was a different dis-trict and Breckenridge had a different coach, however.
And this has been a different season at Sweetwater, which hopes to begin turn-ing things around with a big win on its home turf.
Slaughter said workouts this past week were good and that he was impressed with the team’s intensity at the start of this week’s practices on Monday.
“We had a bounce in our step because we know what’s at stake now,” he said on Wednesday. “What you’ have done before doesn’t matter. You’ve got three seasons — preseason, district and playoffs — and now we’re working on the second one.”
Despite scoring only 34 points so far, Sweetwater has shown signs of better production recently.
The Mustangs had a sea-son-high 263 yards against Clyde three weeks ago and even had 237 against Big Spring — including a season-best 124 yards passing.
“We’ve got to move the ball and score in order to be successful,” Slaughter said. “We’ve put too much pressure on our defense. And we have to force turnovers. We haven’t been doing that.”
Breckenridge, meanwhile, is just 2-13 since David Fambrough became the Bucks’ coach prior to the 2008 season. Breckenridge is still looking for its first win in District 2-3A. This might be the Bucks’ best chance since the district also includes state-ranked Wylie and Graham as well as Brownwood and Snyder.
Sweetwater sees things the same way, since Brec-kenridge averages just 8.8 points a game and like the Mustangs has reached 20 points just once — when the Buckaroos got their only win of the season, 21-6 over Vernon three weeks ago. Breckenridge was defeated by Midland Christian 45-7 in its most recent outing.
Slaughter knows this is a pivotal week. “You have to get the wins when you can,” he said. “Each one puts you in a position to control your own destiny. But you have to take it game by game, especially when you are in a district like this one.”
Sweetwater Reporter (http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/content/view/170044/122/)