Westland

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Cougars seek to maintain

success under new coach
By FRANK DiRENNA
ThisWeek Contributor
Brian Smith faces several challenges
as he prepares for his first season as
coach of the Westland High School
football team.
The Cougars earned their first play-
off appearance last season, but lost 27
players to graduation. Now, Smith and
his staff must attempt to keep West-
land on a winning track.
Smith replaces Jeff Jones, who
stepped down June 21. Smith is a for-
mer assistant at DeSales.
Last season, the Cougars finished
4-1 in the OCC-Ohio Division, sec-
ond to Lancaster (5-0). Westland was
7-4 overall, its first winning season
since 1994 when it was 6-4. It lost its
Division I playoff opener to Upper
Arlington 28-21.
Coincidentally, the Cougars will
open Friday at UA, which also beat
them 41-35 in last year’s opener.
The key loss to graduation was quar-
terback Kasey Wendal, who now plays
for Ashland University. Last season,
Wendal rushed for 1,943 yards and 23
touchdowns on 278 carries and com-
pleted 118 of 213 passes for 1,571
yards and 17 scores. He shared OCC
Player of the Year with Lancaster’s
season, is expected to play both ways.
At a glance “Matt has a real defensive mental-
ity, but we need him on the offensive
WESTLAND COUGARS side of the ball,” Smith said.
Colors: Green and white Other candidates on the offensive
Coach: Brian Smith, first season
Key players: Tyler Entingh, Matt Hoyt, line are senior Darion Williams (G)
DeMarcus Jackson, Mike Jarrell, Scott and junior Scott Moscato (T).
Moscato, Andrew Moore, Charlie Silcott, “We need to step it up as a team,”
Jared South and Darion Williams Williams said. “Our seniors need to
On the Web: swcs.k12.oh.us/west-
land_high_school.html come together and work hard. We need
2007 SCHEDULE
to play smart and play hard, and hope-
Aug. 24 ......Upper Arlington.........Away fully we can get there.”
Aug. 31 ......Walnut Ridge...........Home Senior Charlie Silcott, who played
Sept. 7 .......Dublin Scioto ..........Home quarterback in the opening scrimmage
Sept. 14.....Hilliard Davidson .....Home Aug. 11, should contribute at wide
Sept. 21.....Marion Harding.........Away
Sept. 28.....Gahanna ..................Away receiver. Westland lost its top eight
Oct. 5.........Newark...................Home receivers from to graduation.
Oct. 12.......Groveport ...............Home The Cougars will utilize a 3-4
Oct. 19.......Hilliard Darby............Away scheme on defense. Hoyt and Williams
Oct. 26.......Lancaster ...............Home
should anchor the line, with Hamil-
2006 RESULTS
(7-4 overall, 4-1 OCC-Ohio) ton and Entingh at inside linebacker
Upper Arlington......................L, 41-35 and Moscato and sophomore Randy
Eastmoor .............................W, 35-28 Hall handling outside linebacker duties.
Dublin Scioto .................W, 41-35 (OT) Jackson, a cornerback, should lead
Cincinnati Aiken ......................W, 52-6
Marion Harding ......................L, 38-27 the secondary. Other contributors in
Gahanna ..............................W, 40-28 the defensive backfield should be
Newark.................................W, 40-20 seniors Syvon Keys (CB), Mike Jar-
Groveport .............................W, 48-28 rell (S), Georden Burton (S) and Sil-
Hilliard Darby ........................W, 46-29
Lancaster..............................L, 42-14 cott (S), and junior Sidney Tak (S). By Adam Cairns/ThisWeek
PLAYOFFS
“It’s going to be hard for any team First-year coach Brian Smith was named to replace Jeff Jones, who
Upper Arlington......................L, 28-21 getting a new coach and getting a new resigned after leading Westland to the Division I playoffs last season.
offense and a new defense,” Jarrell
said. “I think we’re on the right track. going to make or break our season. I know Newark has their years where

Georgie Carpenter and was Player of
the Year in the district, first-team all-
state and captain of the ThisWeek
Super 25.
Junior Jared South is the front-run-
ner to replace Wendal. Junior fullback
Tyler Entingh finished second to Wen-
dal in rushing with 432 yards on 122
carries last season. He scored three
touchdowns.
Senior Andrew Moore is expected
to start at tailback, with senior Chris
Hamilton sharing time with Entingh
at fullback. Senior DeMarcus Jack-
son should split time in the backfield
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to get going, but once we get going I
BloodSavesLives.org think we can do something because
we have some good players.”
Sophomore Matt Walker, a mem-
and at wide receiver. ber of the soccer team, will handle the
“DeMarcus is going to be a guy that kicking duties.
we need to try and find a way to get Jarrell will be the punter.
him the ball because he can make “I think we can put a pretty good
things happen,” Smith said. 11 on the field,” Smith said. “The prob-
Smith called the lack of depth on lem is going to be conditioning. We’ve
the offensive line a concern. Junior been pushing conditioning pretty hard.
center Matt Hoyt, who played pre- I think our conditioning is unlike any-
dominantly on the defensive line last thing these guys have ever seen. That’s
don’t think we have the depth to really
get deeper than when we’re going.
We’re probably going to be playing
15 to 20 guys and they just have to be
ready to go both ways without much
of a dropoff. They just can’t get tired.”
Last season, the Cougars finished
ahead of Gahanna (3-2), Hilliard Darby
(2-3), Groveport (1-4) and Newark (0-
5) in the OCC.
“I’m trying to figure out what we
have with our own team,” Smith said.
“I do know that it’s a pretty compet-
itive division. I know that a lot of the
talk is about Lancaster and Darby. I
. . . .
they’re very good, Gahanna likewise.
Groveport finds a year here or there
where they’re competitive. I really
don’t know where we fit into that pic-
ture.”
“We’re not getting too hung up on
wins and losses. We just want to make
sure we’re doing things the right way
and being competitive. The whole
idea is just to compete week in and
week out. Whether things go for the
better or the worst, we just want to
make sure that none of that stuff mat-
ters and we play the same way all the
time.”

OCC-OHIO
Central Ohio High School Football Preview ’07 • August 22, 2007

Continued from page 7

Good Luck
Westland
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