Preparation for every game is key to the success of the team. And for the Coppell football team, the preparation was there. However, the preparation was not good enough.

“We prepared but we didn’t prepare well,” Coppell coach Michael DeWitt said. “We didn’t show up everyday really fully ready to play our best football and [the loss] is a good lesson. Certainly everyone knows how good [next week’s opponent] Highland Park is and I sure hope that we show up Monday and have a really good practice and that we build on that so we are ready for Friday.”

Coppell fell, 55-41, to Prestonwood Christian Academy last night at Buddy Echols Field in its home opener.

Despite Prestonwood (2-0) scoring first, Coppell (1-1) had control throughout the first half, primarily through the running game of junior running back Blake Robbins, with Robbins scoring all three of the touchdowns giving the Cowboys a 21-7 lead into halftime. 

“It’s only the second week and we’ll have many more games to come so we’ll be ready,” Robbins said. “Sachse was more of a pass game and tonight was more of a run game so we need to combine those to conquer the field.” 

The third quarter, however, is where the game went south for the Cowboys. Coppell was out scored 24-7 in the third quarter, with Prestonwood cashing in on two, back-to-back interceptions by Coppell junior quarterback Jack Fishpaw. The Cowboys came out of halftime like themselves and quickly got going, getting Robbins his fourth touchdown of the night. The Lions 24-0 run after that, however, swung the energy in the game.

The fourth quarter saw a more run heavy Prestonwood offense to limit the possibility of a throwing mistake and the Cowboys were only able to play the quarter to a stalemate, with each team scoring two touchdowns. 

Fishpaw ended the night with 213 yards passing, two total touchdowns and three interceptions while Robbins added four scores and 143 yards rushing. Prestonwood junior quarterback Maguire Martin had 381 yards passing, five touchdowns and an interception while senior wide receiver Nate Stafford and junior wide receiver Derek Eusebio combined for five touchdowns and 253 yards receiving. 

The one type of play that hurt the Cowboys were throws over the top of the secondary, courtesy of a couple busted coverages, in last night’s game. 

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively with getting off the field; there were a lot of long drives that were extended with some penalties and by some big plays by them,” DeWitt said. “And for the explosive plays, when you can reel off big chunks of yardage in one play, it makes [our job] really hard and that’s on us defensively. We have to get better and we’re going to learn from it.” 

Going into next week, the Cowboys will work on protecting the football on offense and limiting the explosive plays on defense.

“I do take this loss personally because we didn’t prepare as well as we could have, we just thought that they’re a private school so they were going to roll over but they were better than we thought they were and we need to prepare better, especially for Highland Park because Highland Park does the same stuff as [Prestonwood], only better,” Coppell senior linebacker Jack McAdams said.

After losing to Highland Park in last year’s final preseason game, Coppell hosts its revenge game against Highland Park next Friday at Buddy Echols Field, with kickoff at 7 p.m.

“We need to lock in and treat this [upcoming] practice like no other practice and treat it like a game every single day,” Coppell junior cornerback Braxton Myers said. “We need to take it one week at a time, put the mistakes we made to the side and just come stronger next week.”

Follow Meer (@mahfuz_meer) and @SidekickSports on Twitter.