DAILY Photo by John Godbey West Morgan senior Andrew Elliott (20) stops running back and fellow senior Walter Jones during practice on Thursday. West Morgan drops to Class 2A this season.

Senior-laden Rebels
look for success in 2A

Fourth in a series.

By Mark Edwards
DAILY Sports Editor
medwards@decaturdaily.com · 340-2461

TRINITY — Don't worry, West Morgan High football fans.

Head coach Pierre Coggins knows you have high expectations for his team this year. But so does he.

DAILY Photo by John Godbey West Morgan's Pierre Coggins enters his fifth year as head coach of the Rebels.

He and his staff are hoping to get the most out of the 17 seniors the Rebels have on their 42-player varsity roster — a bigger-than-normal number of 12th-graders for a Class 2A program.

"People look at us and say, 'With that many seniors, they'll be good this year,' " said Coggins, who has recorded 31 wins in four seasons in charge of the program.

"With 17 seniors, that makes expectations so much higher. But I'm expecting us to be competitive, too."

Coggins said the Rebels are fortunate to have plenty of senior leadership at key spots. On the offensive line, West Morgan has three seniors who are returning starters — Brent Henslee, River Jacobs and Joey Colburn. In addition, senior David Allen — a stalwart in the past at linebacker and on special teams — is slated to start at another guard spot.

Also, Coggins said his senior-dominated wide receiver corps might be the best West Morgan has had in his 13 years at the school.

Before stepping up to head coach, Coggins served as an assistant for nine seasons.

Coggins said seniors Micah Randolph, Brandon Jackson and Anthony Atemon will
help lead the group, and sophomore Quinton Davis will lend depth.

The senior theme doesn't extend to quarterback, however, but junior Josh McAbee is drawing good reviews from his coach.

"We think he can be outstanding," Coggins said.

Also, the place-kicker isn't a senior, but even so, junior Jared
Spooner has started since eighth-grade.

He made 20 of 21 extra points last year and 5 of 7 field goals.

"He works very hard," Coggins said.

"I've told our players that if every one worked as hard as Jared Spooner, we wouldn't lose a game."

West Morgan is coming off a couple of tough seasons by the standards the Rebels have set in the past.

West Morgan made the state playoffs eight straight times from 1996 to 2003, but missed out the last two seasons with consecutive 5-5 marks.

Toward the end of last season, the Rebels went through a tough stretch where they lost to Lauderdale County 9-0 in a game that was 3-0 until the final minute, lost to Elkmont 21-16 and Madison Academy 24-21.

"When we lost that tough game to Lauderdale County, we probably lost some confidence," Coggins said.

West Morgan is going from Class 3A to 2A this year, but
the schedule won't get any easier.

As part of 2A, Region 8, the Rebels will have to compete with traditional powers such as Tanner, Red Bay, Winston County and Addison, the 2005 state champion in 1A. Addison also is moving to 2A.

However, the Rebels' players say that they're ready to face a difficult region, especially with such a large group of seniors ready to lead.

"We've played together for a long time," said senior linebacker Andrew Elliott, who made THE DAILY's all-area first team last year along with Spooner.

"We've done a lot of good things, but we've had some bad times, too.

"We've learned from those bad times, and that will make us a better team."

Randolph said that he and his fellow seniors sometimes talk about how this is their last chance to do something great at West Morgan.

"We'll start talking about it and think about how this is our last year to play," Randolph said.

And as for the expectations? Henslee said he and his teammates have them, too.

Even though West Morgan scored tough wins last year over teams like R.A. Hubbard, Rogers and Sheffield, the 5-5 mark wasn't good enough for him.

"It didn't feel good to go 5-5," he said.

Noteworthy

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