Friday, September 20, 1996

Eagles don't want to get complacent against Cleburne
By LANCE FLEMING
Staff Writer

Over the last eight years, the one thing Abilene High hasn't had to worry about is overconfidence.
After all, it's hard to be overconfident about anything when you've only won 10 games in the 1990s prior to this season.

But after a 2-0 start to the season, AHS head football coach Steve Warren decided to cut off any overconfidence problems before they got started. So he had a little team meeting Tuesday to take care of that.

"We talked about complacency before practice on Monday, then we had a team meeting Tuesday," he said. "Just because we're 2-0 doesn't automatically mean we're going to be 3-0. If we're not ready to play against these guys, they'll dot our i's; they're plenty good."

"Those guys" that Warren was referring to are the Cleburne Yellowjackets, who march into Shotwell Stadium tonight to try and put the first blemish on Abilene High's so-far spotless record.
AHS, however, will be trying to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 1985 when it beat Wichita Falls Rider, Sweetwater and Longview to open the season and earn a spot in the state's Top 10.

But while Warren doesn't want his team to be overconfident, he certainly doesn't want them thinking they can't win.

"I'm not seeing any overconfidence, and I hope that's the maturity of our kids," he said. "They like the feeling they have right now, and they want to work to get the next one.

"It's good to have high expectations, whether it's for yourself or your team," Warren said. "For so long nobody expected Abilene High to do anything except just field a team. But we want to have success, and right now these guys believe they can have it."

Warren believes any problems with overconfidence were taken care of after watching film of Cleburne tailback Charlie Williams, who stands 6-2 and weighs 215 pounds. He's run over opposing defenders from Boswell and Southlake Carroll in Cleburne's first two games.

He'll pose a big problem, because he'll line up at fullback, tailback and wide receiver. Cleburne head coach Dennis Parker said he'll put the ball in his big tailback's hands as much as possible.

"There's no guesswork with us; we're not going to try and fool too many people," Parker said.
"We'll get him the ball as often as we can, and I think we have to if we're going to have a chance to win the game. Anytime you play a good team like Abilene High, you're big players have to step forward. Charlie has to make plays only he's capable of making."

Abilene High shut down a good running back last week, holding Stephenville's Bill Odell to just 44 yards after he gained 231 yards in the first week.

"Our goal is to stop Williams," Warren said. "He accounted for about 90 percent of their offense last week, whether they handed it to him, pitched it to him or threw it to him. I don't think we can completely shut him down - although we did that last week. We're just going to have to gang-tackle him because he can make you miss. We just have to concentrate on holding on to him until help arrives."

As worried as Warren is about Williams, Parker is equally as concerned about AHS backup quarterback Ahmad Brooks, who scored on a 70-yard touchdown run on his first snap as a quarterback last week. Brooks, who'll probably enter the game in place of starter John Lackey around the third or fourth Eagle possession, gives the Eagles an added dimension with his running ability.

It's that dimension that will cut down on Cleburne's aggressive, blitzing defense.

"When he's in the game the blitzes are gone," Parker said of Brooks. "If you blitz you lose your second line of defense, and we can't lose that against him. He's quick and a great open-field runner. He's like the great wishbone quarterbacks in that he doesn't need a big hole - just a crack - to get into the open field.

"What he does to a defense is confuse them," he said. "You spend all your time teaching kids to pursue, and then you have to tell them to slow down and stay in their lanes. That puts them in a real bind."