PREVIEW: No. 10-ranked Warriors look to start 2-0 in district play

After picking up its first win of the season over then-ranked Millard South 21-13, Westside (1-2) is back in the Class A top 10 ahead of its district matchup with Lincoln Northeast (2-1) tonight.

The Lincoln Northeast Rockets are coming in off of a 31-13 district loss to Columbus (which moved up from Class B this year), and the pass-heavy team (195.3 pass yards per game compared to 86.3 rush yards per game) could be without its starting quarterback and star player Trevor Petersen, who averaged 244.5 yards passing in the first two games of the season before going down with an ankle injury.

“Not sure if [Petersen]’s going to be ready tomorrow,” Lincoln Northeast head coach Lawrence Christensen said.

“We kind of lose a dimension to our offense when Trevor’s out that some of our backups just can’t seem to bring to the table. Sometimes Trevor makes us coaches look good when we don’t necessarily make a great play call.”

If Petersen doesn’t play, Lincoln Northeast will start junior Braly Keller. Christensen said Keller is a pocket passer, which contrasts with Petersen’s ability to scramble and use his feet to buy time.

For Westside, this is the second time they have faced a pass-heavy team, with the first time coming in a 41-0 week-one loss against No. 2-ranked Bellevue West. Whether Petersen starts or not, Westside head coach Brett Froendt said Lincoln Northeast is “more limited” than Bellevue West in terms of speed in the passing game.

“We’re just going to scheme so it makes it difficult for them to throw their pass patterns that they like to throw,” Froendt said. “We’ll have a rush end coming off the edge and putting a little more pressure on their quarterback, and just try to confuse them with coverages a little bit more”

On the offensive side of the ball for Westside, the key to this week will be blocking more effectively up front.

“One man per play seems to miss an assignment, and that’s why we get stalled,” Froendt said. “As soon as we clean that up and we get more consistent on assignments, we’re going to be in great shape, because we have some good, hard working kids up front, but right now they’re just missing some assignments.”

Lincoln Northeast’s 3-4 defense, meanwhile, will be charged with stopping Westside’s versatile offense, which is averaging 145 yards per game on the ground and over 160 yards per game through the air.

“We’re going to try to do some run blitzes [and] try to fill some gaps with linebackers,” Christensen said. “We might reduce down a little bit with one of our outside backers and play a little heavier front at times. But by the same token, I think Westside, they like play action, so if you commit too much down to the run they’re going to play action, get you to bite and hit a home run on you.”

The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be played at Phelps Field. Westside Wired will have a LiveWired stream of the game along with tweets, photos and videos @westsidewired on Twitter and Instagram.

The theme for the game is neon. DECA students are selling T-shirts for the game in the landing for $15. Make sure to watch WTV’s Jay Bridgeman and KETV weatherman Kyle Gravlin give you the scoop on what to wear and expect from the weather.

Check back on Monday for a recap of the game.