From an effort standpoint, Tripp McCarty knows just what to expect from his team in its season opener.
But after that, the second-year Pillow Academy head coach says it’s a crap-shoot.
“Like everyone else in the state, we don’t know what to expect. You never know until you play,” McCarty said. “Hopefully we will get a lot of questions answered in a positive way.
“The one thing we do know, however, is our kids will play hard, but we have to be able to take our technique into actual games. We have to be technically sound because you can’t win by just playing hard.”
McCarty is anxious to see how the Mustangs respond Friday in their season opener at Kirk Academy.
Pillow routed the Raiders 43-0 last year. Kirk comes in with a new coach, Ricky Weiss, who is trying to give the program its first winning season since 2008.
Weiss has said one of his biggest obstacles has been changing the mind set at Kirk, which is 18-46 over the last six seasons.
“The past means nothing. It’s week one, and everyone is undefeated and has big dreams,” McCarty said.
Under Weiss, the Raiders have a new offensive scheme with the midline and veer option attacks.
“That can take us out of our element because we like to move around a lot on defense, and you have to be careful with that having to play assignment defense against the option,” said the PA coach. “Defensively, we feel like they will stack the box, and we’ve got to be able to take advantage of some good situations when that happens.”
