Winning doesn’t come easy on Friday nights. Coppell football coach Antonio Wiley hopes the Cowboys learned this lesson heading into its first road test. 

The Coppell football team faces South Grand Prairie at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Gopher-Warrior Bowl in Grand Prairie for its second game of the season. 

“There is no such thing as an easy game and last Friday is evidence of that,” Wiley said. “Our kids expected to go out and get after Sachse, but Sachse had a different plan and we had to fight for that win.”

According to Wiley, the team missed many tackles during Friday night’s game, so the Cowboys have been working on being more physical at the point of attack. 

“We also showed that when the chips are down and we had to get a stop, we found a way to get a stop,” Wiley said. “So now we just have to put that together over a consecutive series to see what our best game is. But like I told my boys, we don’t have to play our best football in August, we need to play our best in November and December if we are blessed to play that long.”

Wiley expects the Warriors to be very disciplined on defense, but anticipates a challenge posed by the South Grand Prairie offense as well. 

“Their quarterback, Jaden Stanley, played against us last year and is a very talented young man,” Wiley said. “He was really explosive, dangerous and shifty with the ball outside the pocket when he pulls the ball down and runs it so this year.”

Wiley said this year the Cowboys need to contain Stanley and keep him in the pocket, forcing him to use his arm rather than running the ball. 

“We’re going to have to fight for our win again, but our kids are built for it,” Wiley said. “When the chips are down and the water gets deep, our kids know how to tread water and find a way out.” 

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