Wednesday, September 23, 1998

AHS, CHS coaches look at upcoming bye week

By JEFF WALKER

Staff Writer

Randy Allen and Steve Warren differ in their coaching philosophies.

The head football coaches of the cross-town rivals are approaching their bye week of the regular season, but the Eagles and Cougars will not be doing the same things.

Cooper, fresh off an upset victory over eighth-ranked North Mesquite, will not prepare this week for its next opponent, No. 1-ranked Killeen Ellison.

"Our idea is to have each individual coach to have three goals they want to attain during the week for practice," Cooper's Allen said at the weekly coaches luncheon Tuesday. "I also have my owns goals that are a little bit larger like the kicking game, morale and unity.

"We'll work on some specific areas, like our kicking game, punt return, things like that. We'll try to improve areas where we normally don't have the time to work on them during a normal game week."

Cooper has not had a bye week since the 1994-95 season.

"We don't have a lot of time to work on some things during the regular season because we're busy working on the other teams' game plan," Allen said. "This year, I'm looking forward to it. When you win a big game like we did, you go into the week with a little momentum and you can give yourself a little breather. My only regret is the scrimmage with (Wichita Falls) Rider on Aug. 28 wasn't a regular game because then it would have given us 10 games."

Abilene High will play host to San Angelo Central at Shotwell Stadium this week before being idle next week.

"Right now, we're not really talking about it because we're still working toward Central," Warren said. "I would imagine we will just work on (Odessa) Permian, though, because that's our next opponent and it's our district opener."

The Eagles have had bye weeks the past few seasons and Warren admitted that while they look to the next opponent, his coaches also like to spend some time reviewing the team's direction thus far.

"You have the tendency to look at what areas need to be sharpened and what you need to work on fundamentally," he said. "You look at where your team is at and how the productivity has been, or lack thereof."

Warren said he is happy with the progress of the Eagles after four games.

"I feel good right now," he said. "We've played a tough non-district schedule and that continues this week. We're 3-1, and, up and down, I'm very pleased with where we are."

M*A*S*H report

The Eagles will play this week's game without starting offensive lineman Sergio Allelo. He will be replaced by junior Fred Mata.

"Sergio has a slight separated shoulder," Warren said. "He'll be back in time for district in three weeks."

The news out of Cooper is not as positive. Allen found out Monday that linebackers Somdy Vorasane and Paul Mock will be lost for the season with anterior cruciate ligament knee injuries.

"They're out for the season and we find out Thursday about (quarterback Jeremy) Janssen's collarbone. (Cornerback) Lee Haggerty (who has a broken wrist) is supposed to get a short cast put on this week and we'll see what happens with that."

Jeff Walker can be reached at 676-6711 or sports@abinews.com.