WESTLAKE — The Westlake football team has had a season unlike any other, and not always in the best of ways.
A player on the team, junior Julius Poppinga, died in late August due to an asthma-related incident. Then, in mid-September, Westlake dismissed head coach Mark Servé and most of the Warriors’ offensive coaching staff left, too. A quarterback left the program. Westlake is 1-6 overall and 0-2 in Marmonte League play.
“I’ve never experienced another season like this,” junior linebacker Lawson Grace said. “It’s definitely distracting. Obviously, the goal of the football season is to play football and having so many situations impede, it’s a little overwhelming sometimes. But we’re just trying to enjoy football and play.”
The Warriors host Oaks Christian (5-2, 2-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. in their biggest rivalry matchup of the season. The game provides a singular idea for Westlake to focus its energy amid all of the changes this season.
“We want to give everything we’ve got,” quarterback Dominic Hunt said. “We’re not letting anyone get to us. All this noise that we’ve been hearing outside of our program — it’s not affecting us. We’re just trying to make sure we’re all on the same page in being prepared for Oaks Christian.”
Hunt took over as starting quarterback when Tagg Harrison, who shared time with him at the position, left the program. Hunt has thrown for 591 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in the last two games.
The senior said he’s been working with interim head coach Ellis Green to expand Westlake’s playbook. Running back Jai Bell is day-to-day, Green said, after sustaining an injury in the game against Notre Dame on Sept. 14.
Ideally, Green would like to have a balanced offense between the run and pass.
Green first coached at Westlake in 2006 under Jim Benkert and followed him to Oaks Christian in 2014. Green went with Benkert to Simi Valley in 2018 for a season and then returned to…
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