By Matthew Hickman
Orem”s semi-pro football team, the Wasatch Wildcats, chalked up its first win of the preseason with a 45-19 road victory over the Metropolitan Wolverines Saturday, May 8.
The Cougar-type offense, ran by head coach Eric Drage, sputtered in the first quarter, but turned around and put up all 45 of its points in the remaining three quarters. The offense accounted for 324 yards, including 240 through the air.
“A lot of the offensive plays are the same stuff I learned at BYU, and then I have put our own little wrinkles in it,” Drage said, who starred at BYU from 1990-1993.
Despite putting up 45 points, the offense has a few areas to work on. The offense is new, and many of the players are, too.
At the helm of the offense, the quarterbacks are vital in learning the style of coach Drage.
“The offense put some points up, but we still have a ways to go,” starting quarterback Stan Parrish said. “Give us a while, the offense will start to click the way it should.”
Coach Drage also said his offense isn”t where he wants it to be.
“The biggest thing that we need to work on is our penalties,” Drage said. “We had eight personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct-type penalties which killed a few drives. We really need to improve on it if we want to be a decent team.”
On the other side of the ball, things went as expected. Despite the Wolverines striking early, the Wildcat defense didn”t break as they controlled the tempo.
“The defense stepped up, but they have always done that,” defensive coordinator Everestt Matagi said. “Historically, the defense has always been the better part of the team.”
In 2002, the Wildcats led the West in total team defense under Matagi”s direction in his first year as the Wildcats” defensive coordinator.
Even though Matagi was a three-year starter at the University of Utah, his defense is patterned after BYU.
“This defense is patterned after Kyle and Fred Whittingham, the old BYU, when they dominated at defense,” he said.
Matagi said that half of their roster is new this year, which means a lot of guys to teach and learn during these first few preseason games.
The Wildcats take their 1-1 preseason record on the road as they travel to San Francisco this weekend in a rematch game with The Daly City Renegades, who beat Wasatch the first week of the preseason, 22-20.
