Ryan Ladika
ASU Student Journalist

Repetition is key for Jaguars looking to bounce back

September 27, 2017 by Ryan Ladika, Arizona State University


The fifth week was a wake-up call for the South Mountain High School Jaguars.

After letting a 19-7 halftime lead against the Central High School Bobcats slip away, the Jaguars (4-1) are looking to get back in the win column Friday night against the Camelback High School Spartans (2-4).

“As a team, I think with us having so much more success than we’ve normally had in the past, I think that we were reading our own Twitter feeds and press clippings and we’ve kind of lost sight of how we got to where we’re at,” head coach Mark Carter said. “This week off just put things back in perspective as far as why we’re here.”

The Jaguars haven’t changed up anything in practice to prepare for the Spartans. Their goal was to reinforce the fundamentals that got them to their dominant 4-0 start.

“Nothing’s changed,” senior wide receiver Jacori Murphy said. “We’re just preparing our game plan for Camelback, and just staying focused and motivated during practice.”

“We’ve been doing everything the same; we’re just working even harder and harder,” senior wide receiver Gavin Hak added. “Just putting more effort into everything we do.”

The Jaguars are also getting reinforcements. Starting QB Jeremiah Williams and RB Marlon Noralez are recovering well from injuries that knocked them out of the game two weeks ago.

“They’re fine. They’re good to go,” Carter said. “Thank God for that bye week. It gave us some time to heal. It gave us some time to install some stuff that we’ve been waiting to install. It was a blessing; Marlon’s fine. Jeremiah, he’s a warrior.”

Looking ahead to Friday , stopping big plays from Spartans junior wide receiver Shawn Charles and senior running back Abukar Abdi will be key for South Mountain to stay in the game.

“[Charles] is a really good player, really good wide receiver, so we have to stop him,” coach Marcus Carter said. “And [Abdi], he a good running back, really fast and really shifty. They’re really good players, and we have to respect them. The guys that don’t respect them, they eat them up.”

Mark Carter isn’t daunted by the challenge.

“I’m always confident,” he said. “You can ask me if we’re playing the Raiders, and I’m taking my boys. Cocky is talking about yourself when you haven’t really done anything. If we’re sitting here 1-4 and I’m talking about how ‘we’re going this’ and ‘we’re doing that,’ that’s cocky. But we have the stuff to back it up.”