North Sand Mountain (4-1, 3-0) at West End (0-5, 0-3)
Series record: West End 2, NSM 0
Last meeting: 2009
West End 13, NSM 12
Last week: Cleveland 35, West End 6; Sylvania 35, North Sand Mountain 20
By Gene Stanley/Messenger Sports Correspondent
When Randy Hallmark was head coach at West End from 1990-96, he ran the Wing-T offense. That same system was taught throughout West End’s various levels of football.
Since then, other coaches have been using other offenses.
Instead of just trying to rebuild the varsity team, Hallmark now is trying to reestablish the Wing-T throughout the system.
“It’s tough to show a lot of improvement when you’re in such a tough region,” he said. “But I can see us making a little progress. Down the road, I think we’ll be all right.”
“All right” might be an understatement if Hallmark has the same magic as he did in his earlier eight seasons.
During that span, the Patriots had a 64-26 record and went to the playoffs six times. And remember that in Hallmark’s very first season in Walnut Grove, the team went 3-7.
This week, West End hosts a team that is on the way up from mediocrity. Not many years ago, the Bison were everyone’s patsy.
No more. Until this week, the Thundering Herd was ranked in the top 10.
“They’ve got good athletes and a good coach,” Hallmark said. “The quarterback (Tyler Vann) is one of the best I’ve seen. We have our work cut out for us.”
