From the Warriors’ 21-0 win in Temple a year ago to their status as a perennial District 14-5A contender to District 13-5A’s struggles against 14-5A in the last two years, many factors point to another Westwood victory.
But Temple (1-2) has been nothing if not interesting in its first three games - coming up with key plays to edge South Garland, letting a second-half lead slip away in a high-scoring home loss to Round Rock McNeil, and seeing their second-half comeback fall just short at Abilene Cooper.
However their meeting with the Warriors shapes up, the Wildcats are giving themselves a shot to prevail in their non-district finale and build some positive momentum for the start of 13-5A competition next week at home against Bryan.
“We feel like we’re real close to knocking the door down,” Temple coach Bryce Monsen said. “We expect to win every game we play, and our immediate goal is to go down there and play good football for 48 minutes.”
Even though his squad controlled Temple on both sides last year at Wildcat Stadium, Westwood third-year coach Anthony Wood joked that his opinion of the Wildcats after watching their three games is “that I don’t want to play them.”
“I’ve seen them in person twice and I think they’re the fastest team we’ll play,” said Wood, whose team routed Austin Stephen F. Austin in its opener but was hurt by two lost fumbles on punt returns in an 18-10 loss at Class 4A Austin Lake Travis a week ago.
“On offense they’re doing some real good things. They’re running downhill, right at you, and when you do that you’re always in position to make first downs. With the type of players they have and the size and speed of their offense, it’s hard to do much.”
Wood said the Warriors are especially wary of senior fullback Adrian Reaves-Brown (283 rushing yards, two touchdowns) - whose 100 second-half yards fueled Temple’s rally at Cooper - and sophomore running back Lache Seastrunk (380, five) in the Wildcats’ Wing-T.
Junior linebackers Chase Griesbach and Taylor Domangue are the top talents on a 3-4 defense whose goal is to at least contain Reaves-Brown and Seastrunk and make Temple prove it can throw effectively - something Monsen says remains a large priority for the Wildcats.
In 2006 the Warriors’ spread offense possessed the potent senior combination of quarterback Chase Rich and running back Andy Stockberger as they went 9-3 and went two rounds deep in the Class 5A Division I playoffs. Stockberger rushed for 210 yards and Rich threw for 156 against Temple.
Talented junior Tyler Grabarkewitz has succeeded Rich and passed for 354 yards on 33-of-48 accuracy, and sophomore running back Princeton Collins will get his first start tonight.
Wood said left guard Trevor Marrongelli (6-4, 290 pounds) has received 13 scholarship offers from NCAA Division I programs.
“Westwood is very well-coached, big and very physical,” Monsen said. “They’re as big as any team we’ve played. They’re comparable to McNeil, but they execute even better.”
Speaking of execution, Monsen’s in favor of doing it better on both sides as his Wildcats strive to grab a victory at Westwood.
“We want to build on the positives, but we also need to correct some things,” he said. “The very encouraging thing is that we’ve shown so many signs of breaking out.”
gwille@temple-telegram.com
