Westfield's football season has already been filled with dizzying highs and crushing lows.
The Wolverines (1-2) will look for one of the former when they host the Falconer Golden Falcons tonight at 7:30 p.m. in a Class C South battle.
"I've watched them a couple times," Westfield head coach Bob North said of tonight's opponent. "They can be a scary team if we don't come focused."
Focus has been a major issue for the Wolverines this year.
They opened the season with a 34-6 loss to Allegany-Limestone, but came out the next week and shocked Southwestern, 27-0. The loss was Southwestern's first at home since 2006.
Last week, Westfield came back down to Earth with a humbling 26-18 non-league defeat at the hands of Sherman.
"Taking nothing away from Sherman," North said, "they have a very nice team, but during the week, you could tell that we had a couple kids who were overconfident. You're not going to beat a good football team when you do that.
"Last week was good for us," he continued. "You hate to say that a loss was good, but it was a non-division game and we were overconfident. This week was totally different. The kids got on each other, the coaches didn't even have to. This week our practice was much more focused."
Falconer (1-2) is coming off a 21-0 defeat at the hands of Cassadaga Valley, but North knows they aren't your typical high school football team.
"In the two films I've seen, they're not afraid to throw the ball," he stated. "They run a nice slant play. Our corners will have to take that away.
"Their quarterback (Devon Cameron) is very athletic," North added. "After watching us last week, you'd think they would want to throw the ball after we gave up over 200 yards in the air."
One way to stop Falconer from throwing the ball is to keep its offense on the sideline with a steady dose of running back Mike Okerlund, who scored three touchdowns in Westfield's win over the Trojans.
"Mike will get plenty of touches," North admitted. "We're not sure on the quarterback position. Dylan McCubbin got banged up a little bit last week so we're not sure which direction we'll go. We'll have to rely heavier on the running game."
While it seems like the season just started, North has his team thinking playoffs with an important league game on tap.
"After films I told our kids that playoffs start this week," he said. "This week and next week are huge for us. We have to beat Falconer and Cassadaga Valley if we want to even think about playoffs. These are huge games for us."
A home game may be just what the doctor ordered for a Westfield team that struggled on the road last week.
"I have to believe that we'll play better at home than we do on the road," North added. "Hopefully we'll come out with the emotion that we had against Soutwestern.
"We need all of our guys to do their jobs," he concluded. "All 11 guys have to do their assignments on offense, defense and special teams and we'll be fine."
