Raising the Stakes: West, Lake Highlands rematch has much more on the line

Playoff football usually brings a slate of new opponents.

For Plano West, which is making its first postseason appearance since 2009, the bi-district round will bring a familiar foe as the team draws Lake Highlands at 7:30 p.m. Friday from Coppell.

The Wolves and Wildcats played Sept .7 with Lake Highlands pulling out the 34-19 Week 2 victory.

"Obviously you look back at that game and break down the film," said Mike Hughes, West head coach, "but at the same time we are both much different teams from that first game."

Look no further than quarterback for proof of that.

West senior Travis Korry has been the starter for the majority of the past two seasons, but missed the first game against Lake Highlands after rolling his ankle in practice.

"It seemed like such a slow game because I had to just stand out there," Korry said. "When you can't play it really can be unbearable because you can't get out there and have the opportunity to at least be productive; you just have to watch and you feel kind of helpless."

"Travis is our leader and the offense is designed around him," Hughes added, "so not having him out there that first game was tough."

While Korry is back, whether West is at full strength Friday remains to be seen as junior running back Auston Anderson missed the majority of Friday's regular-season finale win over Plano East with an injury and was on crutches after the game.

Anderson said Friday he would be ready for the playoffs.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if Auston will be able to practice this week," Korry said, "but he keeps telling us he'll be ready to play."

Anderson and Korry, along with sophomore running back Sotanye Jamabo (who has scored at least one touchdown in every one of his varsity games), have provided a destructive running attack during West's three-game winning streak. The Wolves are averaging 574 yards of offense per game the last three weeks and scoring an average of 49 points.

A big part of that success can be attributed to the boys up front.

"Our offensive line is playing really well right now," Korry said. "They are improving every game."

Hughes agreed with that assessment.

"Any time you put up rushing numbers like we have, there has to be something good happening up front," he said. "We have really athletic guys with size on the line and they have been playing very well."

Senior Stephan Randall has helped that cause. Randall played offensive line the past two seasons but moved over to defensive line this year as that is where West anticipated needing him most. While effective on defense, Randall recently moved back to right guard.

"That has definitely helped us," Hughes said.

The rushing statistics reflect that, but West is going up against a Lake Highlands team that can be equally effective on the ground.

That was evident in their 34-19 win over the Wolves as the Wildcats ran the ball 49 times for 370 yards with quarterback Trent Jones and tailback Elbert Landry both passing 100 yards rushing. West intercepted Jones three times in the first half, but the Wolves had difficulty tackling from the second quarter on and Lake Highlands exploited that on the ground.

But the West defense, paced by senior linebacker Jake Wodka, has shown improvements over the past three weeks.

"I think we have gotten better defensively," Hughes said. "And I think the guys are more confident now because of that."

That confidence isn't limited to the defense though.

"That loss to Lake Highlands is definitely motivation for us," Korry said. "We know what we can do and the team that they saw earlier in the season is not the team we are now."

West is seeking to break a five-game playoff losing streak that dates back to 2004, which was also the year of the Wolves' only postseason victory (45-35 over DeSoto). The games have been close during that stretch with four of them decided by four points or less and the other by nine points.

West will seek the program's second playoff victory Friday.

"We all understand what is at stake," Korry said, "and we've been having some great practices."

"The excitement level is high and it should be; you work hard to get to this point and this part of the season should be fun," Hughes said. "But you have to stay focused too because we have an opportunity to go further than we have in the past. We believe that we can beat anyone we play, but as we saw from the Mesquite game we have to play at a high level, play with confidence and not turn the ball over."

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