Published: September 05, 2006 07:24 pm            

Roos control their own destiny with new schedule

The Weatherford High School Kangaroos football team is hoping to build on the success it had in 2005 by returning to the state playoffs in 2006.

With the University Interscholastic League’s realignment and the addition of some tough non-district opponents, Weatherford’s goal will not be easily reached.

“I think our schedule is a little tougher this year than it has been in the past,” said WHS head coach Mike Sneed. “I’m talking about non-district and our district schedule. We’ve toughened it up. That’s how you can measure where your program is by playing more established schools. We think we’ve got that with Abilene Cooper, Keller and Aledo. We think that’s a pretty solid non-district schedule.

“Of course, our district is tough. We exchanged Boswell, who dropped to 4A, and we picked up the other Mansfield, Mansfield Timberview. So the district up and down looks like it did last year. It’s pretty much up for grabs. The one difference this year is that the UIL has expanded the playoffs so four of the eight schools in our district can go to the playoffs and we’re shooting to be one of those four and maybe, hopefully, the top team in that deal.”

The Roos open the season at Abilene Cooper on Sept. 2 and make their first appearance at home a week later against Keller. Cooper finished the 2005 season with an overall record of 4-6 and a district record of 0-5, while Keller was 3-7, 1-6.

Weatherford rounds out non-district play in game that has been receiving attention since the schedule came out. The Roos travel down Interstate 20 to neighboring Aledo to help the Bearcats [8-6, 3-2] christen their new stadium on Sept. 15.

Weatherford begins its road to the playoffs after the bye week on Sept. 22, which should allow for any needed recovery time or prep work.

The Roos stay home for a couple of weeks to open District 4 5-A play when they take on Mansfield [5-5, 4-3] and Fort Worth Paschal [2-8, 1-6] in Weatherford on Sept. 29 and Oct. 6 respectively. The Roos then travel to Burleson [4-6, 3-4] on Oct. 13 before retuning home on Oct. 20 to play Mansfield Timberview [4-6, 1-4].

Weatherford finishes the regular season with two of its final three district games on the road. The Roos play at Mansfield Summit [9-3,6-1] on Oct. 27, return to Weatherford to face North Crowley [9-2, 6-1] on Nov. 3 and finish on the road with Granbury [1-9, 1-6] on Nov. 10.

“This will be our third year being in this district, per say,” Sneed said. “We pretty much know them and they know us. In scouting and getting ready for someone, you don’t have a lot of changes. Nothing we do will probably surprise them or visa versa.

“I think it goes big to have seniors. We have 13 of our seniors who have been on the varsity for three years. They have been through the good, the bad and the ugly with us and I know that will pay huge dividends for us this year with all those kids that have been in a battle with some of these teams before.”

Sneed said he expects his senior laden team to be evenly matched against many of the teams in the district.

“I think it stacks up very favorably,” Sneed said. “We have a lot of experience. We have 40-plus seniors this year and that’s a huge change from what we’ve had in the past. I think our skill level, I think our line level ... I think everything is set up for us to have a great year this year.”

Because many of the teams in the district are familiar with one another and the element of surprise has been almost completely removed, Sneed said the players and their execution will determine which team wins week in and week out.

“I think it all comes down to execution and effort,” Sneed said. “If they know what you are going to do and you know what they are going to do, whoever executes the best and gets the job done is going to be the one that is going to win.

“It’s just like Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. They were going to run the sweep and they would actually tell the other team they were going to run the sweep, and they still couldn’t stop it.

“We want to be efficient enough that we’re going to make sure that whoever we play against, we are going to be able to what we need to do to move the ball or stop the other team,” Sneed said. “Then it comes down to personnel and the people and we feel like we’ve got as good of personnel as anybody else.”

        

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