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Saturday Morning Fever: Plano West looking to finally make an impact on Day 2
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
Plano West is no stranger to the Division I FOX Sports Southwest 7-on-7 State Championship Tournament.
But heading into the 15th incarnation of the event, which takes place Friday and Saturday at Texas A&M's Penberthy Intramural Fields, West has a very defined goal it has never achieved in College Station: win on Day 2.
"We've made no secret about the fact that we want to win games on Saturday," said Kelly Mercer, West offensive coordinator. "And the kids are really confident this year. They believe in what they are doing and who is playing alongside them. So even if we don't match up with all the teams athletically, we feel we can outplay and outhustle them."
Led by quarterback Travis Korry and the wide receiver trio of Austin Copeland, Zac Gideo and Will Baldridge on offense as well as Tim Okposin, John Rind and Davis Roeschke on defense, West will have its work cut out if it hopes to remain undefeated through pool play let alone the weekend.
West is in Pool I with Tyler Lee, Port Arthur Memorial and Waco.
"The pools are always hard to gauge going in because there really is no specific set of seeding," Mercer said. "So usually you only know the basics about some of these teams, such as how they have looked in the fall and who they beat to qualify for 7-on-7 state."
West won't have to worry about that with all of Friday's pool play games though as West beat Tyler Lee, 43-20, three weeks ago in the champions pool at the Rockwall SQT.
"It was an amazing day for us; we played good defense and were able to consistently keep them from scoring," Mercer said. "But at the same time, Tyler Lee had already qualified for state, so you might have to take that win with a grain of salt because they might not have had all their players out there.
"Plus they have been to state something like 14 years in a row, so you know they are very adept at 7-on-7."
West closes pool play at 6 p.m. Friday on Field A against Lee with games at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Field B versus Waco and Memorial, respectively.
"I'm from the Waco area and they are usually filled with athletes, but I'm not sure how that will translate to 7-on-7," Mercer said. "Now Memorial, the feeling is this could be the most talented 7-on-7 team we have faced in a long, long time. They have some ferocious defensive backs."
That scouting report aside, Mercer is not ready to concede any game.
"I expect all our pool play games to be close at halftime," he said. "But we believe our conditioning will be key and can carry us through in the second half."
Conditioning is just one of the aspects West will focus on Friday.
"This is another chance to compete and beat the guy across from you, which is the goal 60-70 times every Friday night," Mercer said. "And it's another chance to run what is basically the same offense and defense we will use in the fall against offenses and defenses we've never seen before.
"It'll be fun to watch the kids adjust."
The adjustments will continue off the field.
"Being able to travel and deal with a different schedule is good for these kids to experience," Mercer said. "And we have some team building activities scheduled as well, so I think this is going to be a great experience and hopefully one that helps us respond in the fall."
The ultimate goal is to improve for the start of the varsity season, but this weekend is big for the Wolves as well.
All teams will play Saturday with the top two from each pool participating in the Championship Bracket and the bottom two going to the Consolation Bracket. It will take four wins to get to the finals of either 32-team field, which culminate at Kyle Field, but West is focused on starting with at least one win Saturday.
"There have been a couple times where we felt like we could win some games on Saturday and then came out and just didn't play as well as we could," Mercer said. "We feel this group is ready to do that; these guys are ready to take that next step."
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