Counting on experience

May 3, 2006 - National Indoor Football League (NIFL)
Texas Copperheads News Release


KATY - Head coach Bryan Blake has said his team needs to keep the winning streak alive and push toward the playoffs. He's said that his team is good enough to make the Indoor Bowl game this season.

Now, it seems, there's only one thing left for the Copperheads to do - go out and win more games and keep the team's first back to back win streak alive.

The Copperheads now turn their focus on the 2-4 Arkansas Stars. The Stars have recent wins over Lincoln/St. Joseph and Twin Cities in Monroe. In the Monroe game, the Stars racked up a total of 17 first downs and 53 points to the Gators' 12 first downs and 35 points. With Josh Waggle at the helm for most of the game, Chrys Chukwuma added 96 rushing yards to his career with an average of 8.7 yards per carry and 3 touchdowns. Waggle completed 16 of 27 attempts for a total of 204 yards and 3 touchdown passes. Darian Chestnut led the pack in receiving with 8 for 77 yards and 2 touchdowns.

"I think our team came back hungry last week in the second half. " Blake said, looking back to last week's 86-14 blowout win over the Big Sky Thunder. "Maybe at the first of the year they just assumed they were going to win 10 plus games. I think they found out it's not handed to them and they have to earn it. But, you know, ask me in about four or five weeks how much they're prepared and how well we've done."

Last week the Copperheads would rack up 28 points in the third quarter and 23 more in the fourth as everyone saw a lot of playing time. Big Sky was then outscored 51-0 in the second half.

The Copperheads beat their franchise high in points by 30, and set the team record for points allowed with 14 - six points less than last week's 20.

Much of the woe in the early part of the season is placed at the feet of being a first year team. Katy started new players on all sides of the ball and the team is starting to gel at the right time.

"It's part of nature, I guess," defensive coordinator Troy Esprit said. "So yeah, there were a lot of growing pains that took place in the first few months."

Perhaps part of the reason for the pervasive optimism around Katy - and the sense of urgency - is that the excuses of a month ago don't hold water this time around.

"I think we're going to get better, but I've got to see us do it every week," Esprit said. "They've got to prove it. They've got to play themselves into it. But I like our chances."

"I certainly think that adversity made us better," said quarterback Marc Saldana, named the starter last week after a injury in week three that has slowed the Copperhead signal caller.

Throw in a little wisdom on offense and defense, and the Copperheads might just have a recipe good enough to keep on playing into the first of July.



National Indoor Football League Stories from May 3, 2006


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