Published: August 31, 2007 10:46 am            

Weatherford taking it one game at a time

First-year Weatherford Kangaroos head coach Kenny Wheaton is taking a simple, yet affective approach to the 2007 schedule that lies in front of his team — one game at a time.

“What we talk about with the kids is our goal is to be district champions,” Wheaton said. “How you do that is you win one game a week and that’s what you focus on is one game a week.

“You can’t overlook anybody. anybody can beat anybody, obviously. We talk to them about what costs you ballgames, obviously, are turnovers and missed assignments. Again, those are two things you can control. Play great defense not beat ourselves by turning the football over and we work very hard coaching our kids up on their assignments and the mental part of the ballgame.

“That is the essence of coaching actually, is making sure your kids know what to do and you give them a chance to be successful.”

While the goal for Roos is to become district champs, Wheaton admits that goal is not determined by how many wins and losses the team has at the end of the non-district schedule.

“As long as you get better every week, that’s the important thing,” he said. “I know my first head coaching job, it was my second year, in ‘95, at Arkadelphia, we lost our three opening games to some very great opponents. Then, we went on a roll and won six in a row in a very tough district.

“The main thing is that you get better. The non-district games don’t count, but keep your attitude right. That’s huge if you struggle a little bit early and continue to get better. We’ve got sell our kids on that and hopefully, we can win those ballgames, but we’ve just got to get better every day.”

The Roos open the season with a home game against Abilene Cooper, a road game against the Keller Indians and finally a home game against the Aledo Bearcats to wrap up non-district play.

“No question about it, I think that’s a plus for us,” Wheaton said about opening the season at home. “The way we do things is a little different, so we tried to do a dress rehearsal [against Stephenville]. We work very hard and its very important to get into a routine with the kids.

“I’m glad we’re opening at the house.”

Weatherford takes their bye in Week 3 of the season before opening District 4-5A play at Mansfield. The Roos follow Mansfield with a trip to Paschal, before returning home to meet Burleson. Weatherford wraps up district play at Timberview, hosting Summit, at North Crowley and hosting Granbury.

Despite the difficult non-district schedule and the tough district schedule, Wheaton said his team will only concentrate on the aspects of the game the Roos can control.

“The thing that we talk to the kids about every day, and the coaches, after unity and discipline and character, is worrying about the things we can control,” he said. “Right now, it’s us getting better every day, being fundamentally sound and working on the kids’ technique, and they’re doing that. We’ve had a great camp.

“We don’t worry about if we’re playing the Dallas Cowboys because there’s not much we can do about that, but we can control us getting better every day and that’s what we’re focusing on.”

Weatherford begins the season at home against Abilene Cooper at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

        

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