Davis County prep football notes: Woods Cross faces challenge in Region 6 opener

Looking back at a 2-1 record in preseason play with both wins coming against 5A teams, the Woods Cross football team and coach Fred Fernandes are happy with their play going into the Region 6 schedule.

But with those two victories coming from opponents with a combined record of 0-6, the pending region opener against undefeated Olympus doesn't look like a cakewalk.

Woods Cross will have to face a daunting task in trying to knock off Olympus, a team that has been bulling over each squad in preseason. But Fernandes isn't trying to play outside of his team's element.

"It starts with us, we need to take care of what we do. We're pretty balanced run and pass wise, and we're going to take what defenses give us. We're

not going to reinvent the wheel, we're just going to go out and try to execute and go from there. "

What Woods Cross does is give he opposing defense a healthy does of C.J. Corry, the Wildcats tailback who has averaged 81 yards per game with five touchdowns. They also look to mix it up in the air, with Darchon Taggart scoring two touchdowns in a win against West.

Syracuse

Syracuse has had little to complain through the first quarter of the season, and most of that can be pinned on what the Titans been able to do on the defensive side of the ball. Their defense has been stout during their undefeated start, only giving up 9.3 points per game to start out the season, and in their last 28-14 victory

over Viewmont, they were able to force five interceptions.

Offensively, the Titans haven't had much to lament over either, with stellar play from quarterback Tanner Russell, who threw for four touchdowns against Viewmont. The Titans will face their toughest challenge of the season, with co-region leader Davis bringing its buses to Syracuse. Other than shutting down Darts tailback Tanner Hinds, Syracuse coach Russ Jones has no anxieties.

"We just need to take it one game at a time, just go out, execute, block and tackle. Hinds is a heck of a running back, we got to control him," said Jones, "We need a good week of practice and go out and get after it and stay focused."

Clearfield

Other teams haven't been so lucky to start off the region season this early, with Clearfield feeling the stubborn offseason cobwebs affecting their region play.

Clearfield, which moved to 0-2 in Region 1 an 1-2 overall after a 22-7 loss to Fremont, has slowly been brushing off the rust and assimilating to first-year coach Jeff Bingham's game plan. Although he hasn't had the ideal for his first two weeks, coach Bingham is trying to work around the short preseason schedule.

"It's hard getting right into region. Everybody is in the same boat, but its tough 'cuz we're still making a lot of preseason mistakes. They're starting to get it, but we're making so many mistakes, it just costs you. We wish we had a preseason to do it, but we're in region play now. I hate it," said Bingham.

One look of optimism is the consistent running of Austin Ford, who was the only one to be able to put it in the end zone, scoring a 79-yard touchdown run on the Falcons' first series of the game.