By Jeff Johncox
Lance Manning wanted to see more from his team last Friday at Edmond North.
The Norman North coach said his team struggled offensively, though the Timberwolves did find the end zone.
“Edmond North is a strong team, no doubt, but on one hand, our kids had the gumption to go down and score,” Manning said. “On the other hand, we had some letdowns and did some things I wasn’t pleased with.”
Today, at the Pepsi Pigskin Preview in Mustang, he hopes to see a rebound.
“Offensively, we’ve had a really good week of practice,” Manning said. “That’s what we needed. Some of the things we didn’t do right last week we were disappointed in, but I think they’ve been corrected and I expect us to have a really good offense this year.”
The T-Wolves will play a round-robin, rapid-fire set with Lawton Eisenhower and Lawton MacArthur at 4 p.m. Things get really interesting when the lights come on, though. North will take on Midwest City in a simulated half at 9 p.m.
“It’s good for stamina,” Manning said of the scrimmage setup. “You get a lot of good reps with your younger players in the early part … I don’t know about playing late, but I like coming back and playing a half of a game.”
The Bombers and T-Wolves met in the same scrimmage last season, with Midwest City winning the half 14-0 before proving to be the most explosive team in the western half of the state during the regular season.
This year, Manning sees some similarities.
“In my opinion, they’re the best football team on this side of the state right now,” Manning said. “They’re going to give us all we want, and I just want to go out there and get after it and show some improvement over last week.”
NHS, meanwhile, will be off to Putnam City North for the second straight year. The Tigers were supposed to host the Panthers last year, but the new field turf at Harve Collins Field wasn’t ready.
Coach Greg Nation’s squad goes into tonight’s scrimmage riding high with confidence after a dominating performance last week in a scrimmage with Lawton.
“We showed probably as much poise, confidence and eagerness to play that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Nation said. “Then we turned around on Monday and had our worst practice we’ve ever had. Our kids need to learn that you can play like a champion, but you have to practice like a champion, too.”
The Wolverines never had much luck moving the ball against the Tigers, and the NHS offense ran the ball extremely well.
The Tigers hope to bring that kind of success to tonight’s scrimmage against the Panthers.
“I think we have a lot more confidence,” senior Jaime Myers said. “The team’s doing great, we’ve bonded with each other and we just want to go out there and do it like the Tigers of a few years ago did it.”
Both squads are already looking ahead a bit.
After all, the Crosstown Clash is now just a week away. The season-opening rivalry game always draws a nice crowd to Owen Field, and both sides are always pumped up.
“The closer the Clash gets, the more hyped we get,” running back Chris Riley said. “After Midwest City comes Norman High. It’s time to strap on the chinstraps and get to work.”
Myers said this year’s Tigers aren’t the same squad. They’re not likely to go down without a fight. A change in attitude is the difference.
“Last year, we didn’t have everybody going hard every play,” Myers said. “This year, everybody’s going 100 percent.”
Jeff Johncox
366-3535
jjohncox@normantranscript.com
