Football: Westerners try to get back on track

Lubbock High coach Mike Speck didn't wait for the video of Friday's game between Odessa High and El Paso Montwood to begin preparations for Thursday's District 2-5A opener between the Westerners and OHS at Lowrey Field.

No, Speck and several coaches traveled to Ratliff Stadium to witness first-hand the Bronchos' 42-14 victory against the Rams.

Speck, who had watched his team fall to Wolfforth Frenship on Thursday, came away with two distinct notions:

"I saw that Odessa High is a very good, very well-coached football team," Speck said. "And I expected that from Ron King because he's a very good coach and I have a lot of respect for what he's done there.

"I also saw that we probably won't be playing a lot of man defense."

Speck knows that his team will have to play defense from sideline to sideline and end zone to end zone as the Bronchos appear to have a high-powered offense.

But Speck knows the Bronchos are going to have their hands full with the Westerners as well.

Lubbock High has several key players back at skill positions with the type of speed that can match the Bronchos on both sides of the football.

Quarterback Dvonic Freeman and wide receivers Jabree Gibson, Nathan Slaughter and Matthew Hester can put Lubbock High in scoring position anywhere on the field. And with eight returning starters on defense, the Westerners have the capabilities of shutting teams down.

"Lubbock is a very talented football team," said OHS coach Ron King, who coached with Speck at Permian in the mid-1990s under Randy Mayes.

"Their skill positions are very good and if they get their offensive line together, it's going to be tough to stop them. We are in for a real battle."

This will be the first meeting between the schools since a 14-14 tie in 1967. OHS holds a slim 13-12-2 margin of victory, but there is nothing more than the Westerners would love to do than even the series, and the Bronchos' 2008 record, with a victory.

For that to happen, though, Speck knows his team is going to have to bring a much better effort than the one against Wolfforth Frenship.

"I thought that was a game that we should have won -- we had good preparation going into it," Speck said. "We got caught out of position a few times and that comes with the first game and we had some bad snaps and bad field position.

"But I thought our running backs, Reggie Williams and Michael Penn, did a fabulous job for us. But the best thing for us on Thursday will be to go four yards at a time down the field and keep Odessa's offense off the field because they can score in a hurry."