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West Side’s speed, Highland’s size make for rewarding rematch
Updated: August 13, 2011 10:48AM
GARY — West Side and Highland came down to the wire in the Class 4A Sectional 9 opener last season, with the Cougars coming away with the 28-22 victory.
So both schools thought it would be a good idea to face off in the Gary O’Rama at West Side Friday night as a warm-up to next week’s first game. Both schools were evenly matched as the Trojans got a chance to go against the Cougars’ speed, while West Side got a chance to face Highland’s big linemen up front.
Both schools have to improve on those weaknesses if each hopes to meet or exceed this year’s expectations.
“On the outside, we’re set. We just have to shore up that line and shore up that quarterback position,” first-year West Side coach Jason Johnson said. “We lost two tackles from last year’s team. One went to a major high school in Texas and another transferred to Morton.
“You saw our skills from the outside. We can (move) with the best of them. We probably have two or three Division I players skill-wise.”
Johnson, who once coached at Lew Wallace, has big shoes to fill as his predecessor Alex Pratt took the Cougars all the way to the sectional championship game where it lost to Morton. It the first time in school history West Side had played in the title game.
On the other sideline, Highland coach Ken Bye liked what he saw from his team in the scrimmage.
“We saw some positives and like everybody we saw some negatives… but they are correctible mistakes,” Bye said. “West Side has got tremendous speed but we had to see it. We can’t simulate that at practice.”
Official stats weren’t kept but Highland and West Side each scored three touchdowns in their eight-minute session from the 10-yard line.
New West Side QB Wynton Jones had a pretty impressive performance, throwing two TD’s in the red zone series and two more in the series that started at the 35-yard line.
Lew Wallace, Roosevelt and new charter school Lighthouse Academy opened the O’Rama facing off against each other in a series of possessions at three different points on the field.
Lighthouse had just 14 players suited up but the new school showed heart scoring its only touchdown on its last play of the scrimmage as junior Muhammad Nicholson broke 10 tackles to score from 20 yards out.
It was the highlight of the O’Rama, according to assistant coach Antonio Taylor.
“I don’t care what happened the previous times,” said Taylor, who was filling in for head coach Anthony Wellere. “That was the highlight of the game. (Gary athletic director) Earl Smith came up and said we have to watch out for you all. I didn’t think you guys would be like that. Practice has to get better and we just have to commit ourselves to the program.
“We’re a new program and we’re building up for next year when we play in our first sectional.”
Lighthouse has seven games on its schedule this year and has 22 players on the roster total. There are no seniors in the school.
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