Wolves kickoff Friday

It's less than two days till the Green River High School football team takes to the field to kickoff the 2014 season.

After opening last season at home, the Wolves will take to the road for their opener this year with a game Friday night at 7 p.m. against Riverton.

After the first two weeks of practice, it's so far so good for the 2014 team.

According to head coach Don Maggi, the first week plus of practice has been going well, although the team has had to face the challenge of starting practice on the same day they started school.

He said while some other schools in Class 3A had the chance to have some two-a-days, Green River made the best of their schedule.

"We made some good progress during the week," Maggi said.

As the team gets ready for their Friday matchup on the road against Riverton, Maggi said a lot of the positions are solidified as who they are projecting as starters, but they still like to keep competition open as long as possible.

"Some kids will grow and develop a little bit slower than others," he said. "So the starters at the beginning of the year are not necessarily that starters at the end of the year."

Coming off a 1-8 season in 2013, Maggi said that developing depth is a big issue for the 2014 squad.

"You don't want to be in a bad spot if the number one goes down. You need to have a guy that's ready to step up, be the next man up and do the job required," he said.

Prior to a scrimmage last week against Douglas, Maggi stressed the importance of getting better with every practice and every game of the regular season.

"You want to see some improvement. You want to see some guys grasp concepts with speed and technique and just to grow as football players," he said.

Green River will open their home season Sept. 12 against Rawlins. Following a Sept. 29 road matchup against Torrington, Green River will return home for two games, Sept. 26 against defending state champion Powell and Oct. 3 versus Jackson.

The team will take to the road again the following week against Star Valley, followed by an Oct. 17 road matchup against Cody.

The Wolves will conclude the regular season at home Oct. 24 versus Worland.