2004 Cedar Park Timberwolf Football

Game-by-Game Narratives - 2004

Week One: at Harker Heights
Friday, September 3rd

When 2004 opened, the Cedar Park Timberwolves returned to the scene of their impressive opening 2002 win over Heights – Killeen’s Buckley Stadium – with a new team laden with senior players who were those freshmen in the stands that cold night in Waller. This class of 2005 had nearly run the table their first three years playing together in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. Now, after a couple of seasons where the class had been divided between varsity and JV, they were all reunited and expected great things of themselves and their talented underclassmen teammates. Dave Campbell’s esteemed “Texas Football” magazine took note of this returning quality, and gave a studied prediction of a third place 15-5A finish that presaged a return to the playoffs for Cedar Park.

Head Coach Mark Weaver and his staff were anxious to test drive their revamped – make that unvamped – defense. Taking a look at the defensive rankings from the previous two seasons, Weaver noticed the T’wolf defense had been seventh of eight teams defensively in their district. The only reason they hadn’t been in the cellar had been their second ranked pass defense. “But that passing rank was deceptive,” he said, “because no one threw on us. They could run too easily.” Indeed, the run defense had been ranked dead last.

Weaver devised a renovation strategy based on two initiatives- simplifying the defense and its schemes and getting his best overall football players onto that side of the ball. The latter idea caused quite a shakeup in personnel, and was immediately noticeable. Respected wideout Trevor Myogeto, for example, was converted to a defensive back. Albert Johnson, who’d had some very effective carries as a fullback in previous seasons, was to become a linebacker exclusively. The coaches kept quarterback Korey Washington off that list, but those next eleven were the defense, all through the spring drills and deep into the fall. Only near the end of fall drills was stellar running back Rupert Edwards supplanted at linebacker by Nick Davis. Edwards had been scheduled to play both ways. Davis’ stepping up probably meant more to the Timberwolf offensive attack later in the season than could ever have been calculated at the time, freeing Edwards to concentrate on what would become a standout season running the ball.

The defense completely phased out the complex stunting they had practiced in earlier, less successful seasons. Weaver and his coaches focused the defense on technique, speed, and improving their pursuit angles and tackling skills.

Much offensive experience returned, and a healthy Washington, who’d played the last eight games of 2003 with a severely bruised and strained left shoulder, was counted on to spark the offense in 2004, making a two-pronged ground attack featuring both Edwards and Washington.

But a series of long touchdowns surrendered to the Knights on opening night and a slew of Timberwolf turnovers saw the team retreat from Killeen contemplating a frustrating 38-17 loss.

There were bright spots, to be sure; a nice long TD drive, a 120-yard rushing night for Edwards, a 100-yard passing night for Washington, a school-record 66-yard touchdown fumble return for Zac Landry, a pair of interceptions by Myogeto, and another by linebacker Evan Cretini. The Timberwolves hung close, down just 24-17 with six minutes left in the game, but they gave up two long touchdown plays within two minutes of each other, allowing the Knights to inflate the final margin.

Despite some nice moments, the evening had been a bust overall, with a slew of turnovers and important defensive lapses that led to four very long touchdowns for Heights. These four plays accounted for over 240 yards – more than half – of the Knights’ 468 total. Tackles made at the line on just those four plays alone would have resulted in a 17-10 Cedar Park win if everything else stayed equal. On the strength of those plays, Heights averaged double digit yardage on both rushing and passing attempts for the game; the first time that had happened to Cedar Park since a 42-0 loss to Copperas Cove early in 2001. The coaching staff was left to try to build on the bright spots – and there were many – while correcting the blemishes in order to recover from the 0-1 start.

Game Stats | Drive Chart

NEXT - Week Two: Hays
Back to the 2004 Narrative Main Page

CPHS Athletic Booster Club Home Page | About the author | Comments or Correction