Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

WORLAND – Football is finally back. First up on the schedule for the Worland Warriors is a familiar opponent – the Lander Tigers.

The two teams used to be conference rivals in the 3A West for a number of years until the Tigers moved to the 3A East 2011. The two teams didn't face from 2011-13, but saw each other once again last year in a game that saw Worland prevail 36-14 to the tune of 453 yards on the ground.

But first-year head coach Todd Weber has it in his mind that the Tigers are not to be underestimated. And he's made sure each and every one of his players knows it too.

"I looked at their tape from last week and they're a good football team. We can't go in thinking we can do this and do that because they looked really good on tape," Weber said of the Tigers who are coming off of a 0-8 season in 2014. "They're throwing the ball around and they were pretty effective against Green River and Mountain View (in Zero Week) with how they were attacking things.

"Like I told our team, we can't overlook Lander because they're going to come to play."

Weber saw Lander many times during his time as an assistant in Douglas. And from what he saw on tape, they seem to be running a new offense.

The Tigers have incorporated a spread package, a shotgun-based offense with multiple receiver sets. The spread is usually a quick-hitting offense, meant to challenge defenses down the field to open up seams in both the passing and running game.

Weber knows the difficulty of defending against the spread, especially with an inexperienced defense still picking up on a new system. He's been preaching to his team not to give up big plays and give up large chunks of yardage at once because of blown assignments.

Mentally, they're going to have to be ready to play.

Weber plans on dialing up the pressure as well, sending five or six guys at the quarterback at times in hopes to force some kind of error.

"They're a throwing team and the quarterback looks pretty good, he looks like he has pretty good awareness back there. So I'm going to try to quicken up his decision process a little bit and make him uncomfortable.

"We're going to play aggressive defense. That's the only way I know how."

On offense, the game plan is very simple.

Weber has a pair of strong running backs in returning All-State selection senior Mauricio Caballero and junior Daniel Araiza and he plans to use them.

Behind a big, athletic offensive line, the one-two punch of Caballero and Araiza should be a hard tandem for defenses to stop.

The Tigers couldn't stop it last year as Caballero rushed for 180 yards and Araiza added 49 on the ground as well as the third option out of the backfield.

But don't leave out the passing game as Weber has been impressed with newcomer Talon Lloyd and the way he's commanded the offense so far.

If the Warriors need to go to the air, Weber is confident Lloyd will be able to get the job done.

"I've been impressed with Talon; he's doing a good job. It's a new offense for him. We're not running what he's used to running where he came from. But he's taken to the offense well and he's making some good decisions and throwing the ball where we need to," Weber said of his junior quarterback. "I'll think we'll be ok throwing the ball. We'll be able to incorporate that into our game plan."

And Weber seemed to have a pretty good idea of what it's going to take to come away with a victory.

"We're going to have to execute. We have to execute and not blow our assignments," he said Thursday. "Execute, be patient and stick to the game plan. Defensively, we're going to have to tackle well and play our assignments."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Lander.