Bye week a chance to heal, adjust for area teams

The Southlake Carroll, Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage football teams take their breathers this week, as each is on a bye week.

This is the week where teams can relax a little bit on the intensity of their practices but still find a way to continue repetitions for what they want to accomplish. Grapevine comes into the break at 3-0. Carroll is 2-1. Colleyville Heritage is 1-2.

All three teams begin district play on Sept. 15-16. Grapevine plays Fort Worth Poly on Sept. 15. Carroll visits Flower Mound and Colleyville Heritage is at Fort Worth Dunbar on Sept. 16.

“Really, for us it’s pretty standard for what we want to do,” Jackson said. “We’re going to go hard on Tuesday and Wednesday, go a little lighter on Thursday and then put the shoulder pads back on Friday. We want to treat the week as normal. But we want to get something out of it.”

Wasson wants to rotate the intensity. Tuesday and Thursday practices will be demanding. Wednesday will be a lighter day. The Dragons get the weekend off starting Friday. For the Panthers, they are addressing their heavy workload between Tuesday and Thursday. Monday and Friday are mental days.

Really, there is no wrong way to approach this. It’s about a philosophy, believing in it and the coaching staff making sure the players are buying into it.

Of course, healing injuries is going to be a part of the week. Grapevine doesn’t have anything too concerning, Jackson said. Colleyville Heritage junior defensive back Marcus Moseley (undisclosed) hasn’t played in the last two games. There is hope he will be ready for the District 8-5A opener against Dunbar.

However, Carroll is trying to put things back together. Defensive lineman/offensive lineman Ryan Miller has played through an ankle injury. Both outside linebackers Ryan Thompson (undisclosed) and Jacob Copeland (hamstring) have combined to play only one half. That was Thompson in the opener against Tulsa Union. Defensive end Jackson Cantor (undisclosed), wide receiver Hudson Taylor (hamstring), offensive lineman Justin Lee (undisclosed) and Denton Guyer wide receiver transfer Colton Phillips (undisclosed) have been dealing with their own setbacks.

While it’s unlikely that Thompson and Phillips will be available anytime soon, Wasson is hoping Copeland, Cantor, Taylor and Lee will be able to play within the next three weeks.

“What you have to do is identify things in all three phases,” Wasson said. “It’s a lot of Football 101 situational, like how your linebackers drop in passing lanes. There’s always a way to get better.”

Of course, the timing of the bye week can be viewed differently. All three schools are going through the traditional way of separating non-district from district play.

“The way we’re doing is important because you fix the things you feel need the most attention,” Colleyville Heritage coach Joe Willis said. “It’s not the first three games that tell you where you are. It’s the last seven that will determine your season. It’s developing that mindset of what it’s going to take to win and get to the playoffs.”

Other districts like to split the season. They play the first five games between district and non-district and then move on to the second half of the season. There’s also some academic benefits involved. District 8-5A examined that idea back in February when the University Interscholastic League formed the district. However, logistics couldn’t make the move work.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Bye week a chance to heal, adjust for area teams."