Go Friday Night

Reporter-News Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich

The Abilene High Eagles will have nine first-time starters on offense when they host Fort Worth Dunbar in tonight's season opener.

That means a defense that returns seven starters -- including last year's Associated Press Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year, linebacker Chris Williams -- is charged with keeping the Dunbar offense under wraps.

Easier said than done, thanks to the Wildcats' explosive speed.

"They've got great speed at a lot of skill positions on both sides of the football," AHS coach Steve Warren said. "If you don't take care of your business and you're not in the right spots early on, that type of athleticism gets you beat.

"Then there are things like special teams that we haven't gotten to rep as much. Those are huge early in the season. Things like that worry you a little bit. We've looked good at that in practice, but under the lights sometimes kids change a little bit."

Despite the number of new players, the Eagle offense has some experience. Quarterback Stephen Warren (48 of 74 passing for 580 yards) and running back Zach Bass (81-483, eight TDs rushing) both played as backups last season.

Dunbar, a Class 4A playoff team last year, was a late replacement on the schedule for Glades Central of Florida.

"With the late change like it was, it made it a little bit difficult to scrap a lot of things we talked about," Steve Warren said. "I think we've adapted really well and the coaches have done a great job of catching the kids up.

"We don't spend a lot of time specifically doing things for a specific team. We spend a lot more time trying to get our guys as good as they can get because we can control that."

Sam Waller's pick: AHS 34-14

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