In his third year at the helm Justin Cogar believes his Westside team is ready to take the next step to the postseason.
In his first year he won three games, and followed up with a 5-5 record last year. This year’s goal is clear – make the postseason.
“I think when we talked two years ago, I didn’t really mention playoffs,” Cogar said. “That was kind of more of a hope than a goal. And you know, we did what we wanted to do in the first two years in as far as improvement, and now having a lot of the same guys that we had two years ago now as seniors, that’s our goal, and we’re very clear about it with our players.
“Everything that we talk about is holding that standard of treating every day like we’re going to be a playoff team. So from practice to film to games, we have to maintain that standard in everything that we do, and that’s why we were very disappointed with our effort in the scrimmage game against Logan, because I didn’t feel like we were up to the standard that we need to be.”
Leading Westside’s charge is a talented crop of veteran players. Headlining the group is dual-threat QB Kaiden Vance, a two-year starter at the position. Vance threw for 1,703 yards and 23 touchdowns, picking up 557 yards and eight more scores with his legs. He’ll also have some of his top targets back headlined by Kyler Kenneda who led the team in receiving yards with 509 and receptions with 36.
“It makes me feel comfortable as a coach to have a guy that’s gonna be a three-year starter at QB,” Cogar said. “And he’s kind of progressed more each year, just like I have as a coach. And last year, the second half of the season, he really stepped up and carried us in the passing game. We were able to expand our offense in that way, and not just him, but I think our receivers really stepped up too. And that starts with Kyler Kenneda, Coltin Lester, Austin Bishop and Braxton Waldron. Those four guys, which all are back this year, really bought into what we wanted to do offensively, and we’re able to spread it around with four guys out there.
“That’s something that makes us feel good about our offense this year is having all four of those guys back with the way we finished last year. I think our passing game is going to be extremely effective. As long as we can protect and give those guys time to get open, I think we’re going to be hard to defend.”
Cogar feels confident in his team’s ability to protect Vance and allow the receivers to get open.
“I think that’s gonna be a surprise group on our team for a lot of people, because everybody hears about our skill guys and the things that they’re able to do, but I will say that our linemen really worked hard in the off season,” Cogar said. “Guys got stronger, and we have a lot of guys returning that played a lot of snaps last year. So up front this year we’ve got Kameron York, Zach Short and Jace Repass, who were all starters up front last year at some point.
“They played a lot of snaps, and then adding in this year some other guys in the mix, Justin Tolliver, a senior who started on the defensive line last year, and Logan McNeely, who is really our most technical lineman, and he’ll be a junior this year. He’s really kind of earned his spot there on the right side of tackle. So those guys are in the mix along with a few others, but those guys have worked really hard, and they’ve bought in to being an offensive lineman, and they love it.”
Cogar’s put an emphasis on defense in the lead up to the season, knowing he’ll need to depend on that unit to improve and clean up some of the miscues that were apparent last year.
“I think defense has got to be our number one focus, and so far this offseason, in the preseason, it has been,” Cogar said. “We feel with the continuity and chemistry that we have on the offensive side of the ball, we’ve really got to buckle down on finding ways to be more efficient on defense, especially on third down and fourth down, and that’s what got us in bad situations last year.
“Our first and second down defense was strong against the run, and then we get to third and fourth and long, and we get a busted coverage, or we do something, make a mistake mentally where we let third-and-long turn into a first down or touchdown. And those are killers in big games. So we’ve really focused on a lot of mental things about defense – down and distance and making sure we’re aligned properly every play. Defense special teams is going to be the difference in our season this year.”
Westside opens its season Friday, Aug. 30 at home against Wyoming East.
