In his own words: Elk City High School head coach Jason Scheck
Tuesday, September 5
On positives from the Watonga film:
"There's a lot of things that we did very well. When you win 34-13, there's gotta be things you're doing right. It's not a fluke no matter what level you're playing at. We identified things we need to fix and we've been working on those things.
On playing (3A No. 1) Tuttle this Friday night:
"This should be one of the best football games we've ever been a part of Friday night. It's two pretty evenly matched football teams. I truly feel that. We have some strengths in areas and they have some strengths in areas. Some of our strengths match some of their strengths. It's going to be a dog fight. It's going to come down to who wants it more."
On playing at Tuttle, with all of its tradition:
"I don't even pay attention to that, honestly. It's just another football field. We could play in the pasture as far as I'm concerned. I don't get caught up in playing at this place or playing at that place. It's just not my personality… Even when we went in 2005 or 2006 to OU's stadium, to the kids I'm sure it was a big deal. When you're doing it from this end [as a coach], it's just another place to play football."
On the challenges the ECHS defense faces against a powerful Tuttle offense:
"[Tuttle] scored 40 points against Plainview and one touchdown came on something besides a fade route. If you stop them and they get in a bind, if things aren't going well for them, the things we've seen from the film is they're just going to chuck it up to one of those 6-foot-4 receivers and have them go make a play.
"The quarterback [Cooper Koons] throws a great ball. He's a coach's boy, a guy who really understands the system. We've seen at least three different receivers catch a fade for a touchdown on their team. It's one of those things we'll just have to prepare for — teaching our kids how to go up and come down. When you're 5-foot-8 and [a 6-foot-4 player] jumps over the top of you, don't try to out-jump him. Stick your hand up between his arms and try to rip the ball out as his arms come down.
With Tuttle's bigger receivers, will Luke Lewallen play more cornerback?
"Very possibly. It's one thing we've talked about at certain points, on the field especially, where we know they like the fade down towards the end zone for sure. That's not to say they won't go down [and throw a fade] down the middle of the field. But there will be times we rely on Luke out there just to get a better matchup height-wise."
On having a unique advantage with Lewallen on the team, practicing against a taller receiver:
"That's exactly right. We've been using some of those taller guys and we'll use them again today to get our guys to understand how to play against that taller receiver. It's not one of those things where they try to out jump a guy for the ball."
On the likelihood that Lewallen gets double-teamed sooner rather than later:
"We'll still be able to get him the ball. I'm sure it will frustrate him at first when he sees that stuff but he has to understand… and what we'll coach him up on is if you have two guys on you, that leaves us other options in the box or on the backside of coverages. Our offense is explosive enough that we still have ways to get guys the ball. He's a guy who needs the ball, but we're going to do what it takes for this team to be successful. If [teams] are going to set two guys out there with one of ours, then e'll play with the other 10 [players] against their nine."
On his team's conditioning:
"After watching Clinton and Lawton MacArthur play the other night… We ran probably twice as many snaps in the first half than they did. I really don't feel like we're in that bad of conditioning. I felt like it had more to do with the extreme humidity and heat factor that we ran into that night [at Watonga].
On having a week off next week:
"It's not ideal obviously, but with the bumps and bruises we've had and the injuries we've had, that week off is actually going to end up being a blessing for us. I know the community doesn't want to hear that because Friday nights in the fall are made for football, and I feel the same way. But what people have to understand is it's not that we didn't want a game. We tried to get Texas schools and it doesn't work with the schedule because our calendar rolls and theirs doesn't. It would work one year, but not the next when no one wants to play.
"We searched in Oklahoma and there were some options, but you have to look at the cost-effectiveness of what you're doing. Is it worth doing this? Or can we get this football team better and ready to go into district play by having that week to heal up and take care of our issues, and basically have two weeks to prepare for that team?"
On Colin Feller's play at quarterback last week:
"Again, stellar performance by him stepping in there. We kind of knew what we were going to get with him. Unfortunately for Cole [Rogers], we feel like both of them could have performed like that, but great job by Colin stepping up and taking control of the position. It's going to be a battle now when Cole gets back healthy. It's going to be a battle for him to work himself back into that spot.
"When you have a guy that goes in game one and does what Colin did there, and if he continues that performance into next Friday night, he's kind of solidified himself in that spot at this point in time. That's terrible when that happens because of injury, but we'll give Cole every opportunity to come back from his injury and step back in and reclaim his title as starting quarterback.
How do you go about re-inserting Rogers into that competition?
"Colin is getting his proven game experience, especially if he does it again [plays well] this Friday night. But Cole has 10 games of game experience under his belt [from last season]. We know what we'll get from him in a game situation. He's proven himself in the past. Basically, we tell our guys all the time you don't lose a spot due to injury.
"The only way you lose a spot due to injury is if the guy who steps in that spot basically becomes better than you were when you left. Right now, Cole had games last year where he threw for 250-300 yards, things like that. He's matured a lot mentally and physically over the course of the summer. There's no doubt in my mind Cole could have stepped in last Friday night and had the same type of performance [as Feller], because both of those quarterbacks are capable of slinging the ball. We've seen it in practice. That's why it was such a tight race.
"But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. It will be my job to make sure it doesn't become an issue with the team. We'll make sure it doesn't and we'll do what we need to do to keep this team successful. We'll play it by ear, and when Cole is ready to come back full speed, we'll put him back and when he's ready to go it will be as if he never left as far as I'm concerned. If you treat it any other way, you're short-changing the kid."