Four points kept the Coppell football team from victory in its season opener last year against Sachse at Williams Stadium. 

With the 33-30 loss still in mind, the Cowboys (1-0) will take on Sachse again tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Buddy Echols Field – their first home game of the year. 

“This is a really big chip on our shoulder,” Coppell senior center Febechi Nwaiwu said. “All of us are going in with the mindset of ‘we have to win.’ After our upset last year, we all basically wanted revenge.”

For Nwaiwu, tomorrow’s game marks an opportunity to display his personal growth.  

“Last year, I felt like I had a bad game against Sachse,” Nwaiwu said. “That game, I was really nervous. I wasn’t following what my coaches wanted me to do, I was just off in another world. This game, I’m way more focused, I’ll bring way more intensity. I’m a lot stronger, a lot faster and bring a lot more power. I’m hoping to lead my offensive line group to victory.”

Coming off a 36-21 win over Mesquite on Friday, Coppell spent the week working on precision, according to Nwaiwu.

“As a team, we needed to work on physicality,” Nwaiwu said. “We need to work at staying calm during the game, we need to work at making sure we don’t get too jumpy, don’t get too excited –  making sure we understand what we have to do and understand our rules.”

Tomorrow is the first football game to be played at Buddy Echols Field since Nov. 8 against Irving Nimitz. With COVID-19 precautions limiting stadium capacity to 40%, the crowds will seem more different than any other year. 

“It might seem weird because more people will be spread out,” Nwaiwu said. “As long as people still come out and support us, I’m not really worried about it.”

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