Thursday, Sept. 26, 2002 | 9:16 a.m.
For Cheyenne's triple-threat backfield of Travonte Darby, Ramone Cooper and David Peeples, Friday night's home game against Desert Pines presents a chance to right a simmering wrong.
Judging from the trio's comments earlier this week, the Desert Shields (3-0) are more than prepared to do so when they face the high-powered offense of the Jaguars (3-0).
"We call this the revenge game," Darby said. "They're not going to be ready for what we're giving them."
What about the Desert Pines offensive line that has sprung strong Jaguars running back Cornell Johnson for more than 400 yards in three games?
"Their (offensive) line, they're good, but ours is better," Darby said.
Any concerns about stopping Johnson out of the backfield?
"We're gonna make Cornell tired of seeing those 11 jerseys," Darby said.
Last season, a hard-fought 19-14 loss to Desert Pines on Sept. 15 marked the beginning of upheaval for the Shields. Coach Marcus Sherman resigned three days later, and Dave Snyder took over in the middle of the season.
This year, the Shields exude confidence in an offense averaging 32.3 points per game and in their ability to get over the hump against the Jaguars.
"They barely beat us last year," Cooper said. "I think our offense is much better this year."
With eight combined rushing touchdowns from Darby, Cooper, and Peeples in the first three weeks, Cheyenne brings enough offensive firepower to back some of its tough talk. The backs also boast five combined 100-yard rushing efforts.
Peeples said the Shields' backfield-by-committee approach works because Snyder exploits each back's strengths.
"He knows what we're best at," Peeples said.
Snyder, however, is still looking for his squad to round out a bit more before he shares his players' strong sentiments.
"Our ground attack was very effective, but we need to be our best in all facets of our offense," Snyder said.
That means involving quarterback Davian Bingham with more than the one pass attempt he put up in last week's 34-6 win over Western.
Snyder also cautioned: "I don't think they're as disciplined as they need to be. I think they've improved a great deal since the beginning of the year. We've got a lot of inexperienced talent."
Desert Pines, a 49-13 victor over Cimarron-Memorial last week, is flourishing in the early going as well, with senior running back Cornell Johnson and quarterback Marcel Johnson leading the way as expected. Jaguars coach Leon Evans said his team's speed and athleticism reminds him a lot of Cheyenne.
Evans is keenly aware of the abilities of Cheyenne's big three running backs, and he is telling his Jaguars to bend and not break on defense.
"We've got to be physical up front with these guys," Evans said. "Any of these backs can go at any time. We've been preaching to our kids all week to eliminate the big play."
More so than most weeks, both coaches feel turnovers will be the deciding factor with two evenly matched teams.
"Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes will probably come out on top," Snyder said.
For the Cheyenne running backs, mistakes do not mean nearly as much as respect right now, with last year's five-point loss still a motivating factor.
"Their team is underestimating us," Darby said.
The truth in that statement comes Friday night.
archive
