After last week’s 34-14 loss to Iraan at Ratliff Stadium, the Compass Academy football team has been busy trying to fix the little mistakes that proved costly against the Braves.
While the score was a 20-point loss for the Cougars, the game remained close for most of the night with Iraan leading 14-7 at the half and 21-14 at the end of the third quarter.
A 13-point fourth quarter ended up being enough for the Braves (2-0) to get past Compass Academy as the Cougars sit at 0-2.
“Really, we just get back to the grind, get back to work, more than anything else,” Compass Academy head coach Boe Smith said. “After watching the film, it was more us shooting ourselves in the foot and not playing assignment football and doing the little things right. Really, we’re just looking at our mistakes and getting better each week and focusing on ourselves.”
Special teams were a mixed bag for the Cougars.
On one hand, Compass Academy gave up a 100-yard touchdown return by Aiden Mendoza in the first quarter.
On the other hand, the Cougars managed to get a blocked field goal on the last play of the second quarter.
“We take 20 to 30 minutes each day in practice to emphasize special teams more than any other thing,” Smith said. “We had some new kids in some new places and I think after a score, you get a little hyped up and sometimes you just don’t do assignment football. It was just another instance of us shooting ourselves in the foot more than anything else … we emphasize special teams. We take each day, whether we’re doing field goal, PAT or block and then we’re working on that aspect each day. For us, it’s a big part of the game and it proved vital for us the other night.”
Compass Academy will be back on the road to face Reagan County (2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday in Big Lake.
For Smith, Reagan County’s speed is what stands out the most to him.
“All across the field, they’re fast,” Smith said. “Kason Brown, their quarterback is fast. He’s a stud basketball and stud quarterback. He stands out … They’re big kids, good football players. They’re really sound on assignment play. … We have to keep ourselves on our toes and defensively, they fly around to the football. They use their team speed very efficiently. You think you have holes or windows to throw to and they cover that up really quick. For us, it’ll be a big test to improve in spots where we’ve lacked in the last two weeks.”
>> CANYON WITH ANOTHER WIN: Once again, the Andrews football team couldn’t get past Canyon.
After making the long drive up north to the Panhandle, the Mustangs were dealt a 32-16 loss to the Eagles in a nondistrict contest last Friday at Happy State Bank Stadium.
For Andrews, it was the fourth consecutive loss to Canyon with the last victory coming back in 2019.
Both teams sit at 1-1 early in the season.
“We did a lot of things right but we had trouble with their size, defensively,” Andrews head coach Tom Harvey said. “Offensively, we had no turnovers but we had inopportune penalties in bad situations that created bad field positions for us. “We were ahead 16-15 at the half and created problems for us in the second half.”
The Eagles’ ground attack produced two 110-yard rushers with Colt Cruth leading the way with his 130 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries while Ryan Rivera added 106 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
“We started out having a little problem with their size,” Harvey said. “They got a couple of touchdowns on us early and then we adjusted. But then when we came out in the second half, they were doing some unbalanced things and put us into some situations where our size worked against us. You hate to be in that position. That was the first thing we attacked at practice this week. Try to limit those kinds of opportunities for the opponent.”
It was the second consecutive road trip for the Mustangs this season.
Andrews will play its home opener at 7 p.m. Friday against Midland Greenwood, another team that comes in 1-1, having lost to Sweetwater 29-25 last week.
“They’re a well-coached team,” Harvey said. “They’re young but they’re much improved. They have a lot of size and a lot of athleticism on both sides of the ball. It’s going to be a challenge. They’re not like Canyon but at the same time, they’ve been getting better every week as young teams do. You can see their improvement and the impact their coach is having on them, week to week. We have two scrimmages and two game films on them and they’ve improved every week. They lost to a good team so we expect to see a better in week 3 than in week 2.”
>> LOOKING FOR WIN NUMBER ONE: What a difference a year makes.
The Monahans Loboes, having to try and replace All-State quarterback Cheno Navarrette, have struggled to find their rhythm on offense this season and currently sit at 0-2.
Only 14 points from each of the last two games have been scored by Monahans.
The team fell to Shallowater 17-14 before losing to Canyon Randall 43-14 last week.
It’s a night-and-day difference for the Loboes when compared to last year’s squad that averaged 47.6 points per game.
Monahans will try again to crack the win column this week against Lubbock-Cooper Liberty (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Estes Memorial Stadium.
