Culver faces a big challenge at Pioneer

Courtesy of The Pilot News

CULVER — In a season that has been about as up and down as it can be, Culver head coach Austin Foust continues to push his team to be their best.
“Roller coaster is a good analogy,” said Foust. “For the most part, we played well (against Caston). We didn’t make enough plays and made a few too many mistakes. That’s what we tried to get through to our guys. We’ve got 17-18 guys and you’re playing both ways it’s easy to think ‘Maybe I can take this playoff’ or not focus as much and those are the plays that can cost you.”
“There are a lot of plays you can look at. We’re trying to get our guys to not play the ‘what if?’ game, but to look at the why,” said Foust. “Why did that happen, why did this happen? It’s the process of trying to instill a winning culture, doing what it takes to win, and not being satisfied with being close.”
“We could easily be 4-2, and with the numbers we have, that would be a pretty special thing,” said Foust. “Because I care about the kids, it’s sad for me that that’s not where we are. We have improved, we’ve gotten better. We just have to keep getting better so we can be playing our best ball at ‘win or go home’ time.”
Foust continues to try to bring the spark in practice that will help his team get over the top.
“We are going to try to change some things up at practice to put a little more pressure on, like ending practices with perfect plays or we sprint, to get to that mentality that we have to be perfect every single play,” said Foust. “We have a really good group of kids who want to get better and are very coachable.”
This week the Cavs will face the poster child of what a successful program looks like as they head to Pioneer.
“They are the epitome of what the word program means. It doesn’t matter who the head coach is, or who is playing, they run their stuff incredibly well,” said Foust. “They are going to run Wing T. That’s what they do and they are going to do it well, high intensity and fast-paced.”
“Defensively they are going to be a 4-3, cover 4. They are not going to get beat deep, and their linebackers are going to come downhill, their linemen are going to get off the ball. They execute. They don’t beat themselves.”
To take a win from the Panthers it will require perfect execution of the game plan.
“We are going to have to eliminate the turnovers and mental mistakes,” said Foust. “We are going to try to get the ball out to our athletes in space.”
“Defensively we have to take away their quarterback and force somebody else to beat us and we have to stop the trap play. They run it incredibly well and they do it on any down.”