Wednesday, September 30, 1998

Coaches talk about upcoming game, off week

By JEFF WALKER

Staff Writer

When the Cooper football team travels to Killeen Friday night to take on Ellison, the Cougars won't have to worry about facing the No. 1-ranked team in the state.

The Eagles suffered their first loss of the year last week to Marshall High, 14-12, which caused Ellison to fall to sixth in the Associated Press' poll for Class 5A.

Cougars' head coach Randy Allen said it doesn't matter to him or his team whether the Eagles are ranked first or sixth, the talent level remains the same.

"They are a very talented team," he said at the weekly coaches luncheon Tuesday. "I was talking to a recruiter from USC and he said Ellison has about nine players that should play at Division I schools and they were looking at three of them."

The game will be the second consecutive contest Cooper will play against a ranked opponent - the Cougars defeated North Mesquite, 28-3, two weeks ago when the Stallions were ranked eighth in the AP poll.

Cooper also played Waco High earlier this year, losing 24-10, and the Lions received a vote in this week's poll. Allen said Ellison is similar to Waco but even better.

"The big thing for us is we have to be emotionally ready," he said. "We weren't emotionally ready for Waco. It helped us being ready for North Mesquite and I think Ellison is different from Waco in that they have speed on both sides of the football. Their defense is bigger and more talented so we're going to have to complete a high percentage of passes, we're going to have to run the ball effectively and on defense we're going to have to stop (running back) Reggie Duncan."

Good bye

Abilene High head coach Steve Warren couldn't have scripted a better outcome through the first five games of the season as his team enters its bye week. The Eagles are 4-1 after their 28-15 victory over San Angelo Central Friday and Warren said his team is in perfect shape.

"We feel good about where we are," he said. "The players are in good shape mentally and there is an air of excitement knowing that the next time we take the field everything will be for real and we'll have to turn it up a notch for the district schedule."

With the team as healthy as they have been all season, Warren said he and his coaching staff will use this off week to work on things they don't get to work on during the normal game week.

"We have two major goals and No. 1 is to concentrate on fundamentals," he said. "You tend to overlook that when you are preparing for an opponent so we'll do that this week. Number two is the kicking game.

"We're going to make some personnel changes with the our kicking game and those guys need to get as many repetitions as possible. There will be some changes along the lines and with our kickoff coverage and punt team."

The team had a shortened practice Monday. But otherwise, Warren said the team will not alter its practice schedule, which includes looking at the Eagles' next opponent, Odessa Permian.

"We won't work on them at the beginning of the week, but towards the end we'll start," Warren said.

Friday night alternative

Fans in Abilene will have a rare occurrence Friday night - no local football.

With Cooper and Abilene Christian High School on the road, and AHS and Wylie both open, there will be no local high school football games in town this week.

Warren and his staff will be busy on Saturday, much like they normally are, but this week will be slightly different.

"Normally as a coaching staff we work all day Saturday and part of Sunday," he said. "This week we're going to go scout Permian as a staff."

The Panthers play host to Bishop Lynch Saturday at 2 p.m. at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa.

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