Tyler Johnson
[email protected]
ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING (September 24, 2020) – The Rock Springs High School Tigers football team travel to Casper on Friday to take on the Natrona County High School Mustangs at 6 p.m.
Rock Springs head coach Mark Lenhardt said the Mustangs sport the most athletic quarterback and the most lethal running attacks in the state, so slowing them down will be a challenge.
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“They got a big o-line and probably the most athletic quarterback in the state that they basically use as a running back. They let him carry it 20 to 25 times a game. Then they got a good back as well. They got a good one-two punch. They’ll run a regular counter, QB counter, zones and QB zones. Every run the back runs, the QB runs too and that leaves them even numbers in the box. I think they’re doing exactly what they should be doing with their personnel,” he said.
“These last two weeks, they’ve really ran the football very, very well. They ran for over 400 yards against Kelly Walsh. We’re definitely going to have our hands full. The kid can throw too, so it’s not like we can just totally sell out and stop the run. That’s obviously where we got to get better.”
Offensively, the Tigers need to put up points to contend with the state’s best teams.
“We moved the ball pretty well last week, but we stalled out on two drives. Against these really top-notch teams, we got to be able to get up to about 30 points to give ourselves a chance to win. Hopefully, we can find a way to do that,” Lenhardt said.
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He said the Tigers have played some really good teams early on in the season and that it’s important for the team to stay patient and continue to compete and get better.
“Things have kind of gone according to form in terms of where I feel our talent level is at and who we’re playing. We just need to just focus on getting better,” Lenhardt said.
“It may not look like it, but we played better last week than we did the week before. We need to make another stride and play better this week. Right now, after injuries and kids replacing other guys, we’re basically playing six seniors right now. We’re a young team and we just need to keep playing and getting better through the course of the year as we continue to build for this season and next.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we can find a way to be competitive and win some games and give ourselves a chance against the good teams. We just have a really small margin for error and sometimes, that’s when you make your greatest growths as a team.”
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The Tigers have lost two straight going into Friday’s matchup with the Mustangs, who currently have a 2-2 record. Lenhardt said the Tigers are continuing to stay the course and doing what it takes to stay competitive during practices.
“On Mondays, we spend the first hour on nothing but fundamentals like blocking, tackling, catching and really trying to hone some of our skills before we really install our game plan. Tuesday is kind of our grinder practice with full pads. It’s a long two- to three-hour practice. Wednesday is a little shorter and Thursday’s pregame. That’s the routine we try to stick to,” he said.
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