Many football coaches say they see the most improvement in their teams from Week 1 of the season to Week 2. That was definitely a theme for the three prep football coaches in the Rail City as they all commented Thursday about being pleased with their team’s practice preparations in recent days.

Last week’s season openers are now under their belts and Sparks, Spanish Springs and Reed are gearing up for new challenges in their second games. Here’s a closer look at the three gridiron games involving Sparks-area high schools this weekend.

Wooster at Spanish Springs, tonight 7:30 p.m.

The Cougars are coming off an impressive 33-14 road win at Carson seven days ago. They’d like nothing more than to continue to impress when the Colts come calling for the SSHS home debut.

Spanish Springs put up 19 unanswered points in the second half last week to blow open a game that was deadlocked 14-14 at the break. Cougars coach Scott Hare liked his team’s final two quarters, but he also knows his club played far from a clean game. Five turnovers were proof of that. The giveaways kept Spanish Springs from taking control in the first half against the Senators.

“We can’t turn the ball over five times, no way,” Hare said. “You’re not going to win many games doing that. Our defense helped us out by getting four turnovers back, but in league, against the teams we play, we cannot turn the ball over.”

The Cougars’ third-year coach is chalking up his offense’s generosity with the football to early season rust and he hopes the problem gets cleaned up with more game and practice repititions. He was happy that when his team gave away the piskin or made an error, it seemed to come up with a big play or two to turn the tide back in its favor.

“That’s a mind-set change and that’s different from the first two years I’ve been here,” Hare said. “Instead of going ‘Oh, look what’s going against us,’ we said, ‘Let’s go make something happen.’”

Spanish Springs has beaten Wooster in both of the previous two meetings between the schools. However, the past means little after kickoff and the Colts are coming in with some confidence after getting by 3A Lowry at home last Friday, 14-0. Wooster features a pair of big, bruising running backs, a reason Hare said his team must be sound when it comes to tackling.

“They have two big guys at fullback and tailback. If you hit them high, they probably are not going to go down,” Hare said. “Those guys are big backs. We’re not going to be able to 1-on-1 tackle. They can run over people if you take them lightly.”

Spanish Springs played two quarterbacks in its opener last week. Hare said that won’t change that approach tonight, as both Richie Hernandez and Andrew Hodgkins made positive strides under center.

“Andrew needs to run it a little more and Richie needs to throw it a little more, but in terms of what we asked of them, they did a good job,” Hare said. “Both give us a different dimension and they both need to work on the dimension that they are weaker in. If they do that, we’ll be a better football team. We’ll work to press them into doing what they’re less comfortable doing.”

Fallon at Sparks,

tonight 7 p.m.

The Greenwave and Railroaders are riding different emotions this week. Fallon stumbled in its opener, falling to North Valleys 15-0. On the flip side, Sparks came-from-behind to win at South Tahoe, 34-27.

Railroaders coach Rob Kittrell was ecstactic to see his team overcome some adversity last week and find a way to win, but he added the players were pretty well spent after the victory. He’s liked the way they have rebounded.

“The kids have responded well. After that first win sometimes you can have a letdown,” the veteran SHS skipper said. “The kids were emotionally drained after that win, but we’ve had a good week of practice and bounced back with a lot of fire. That was good to see.”

Sparks hosts the Greenwave this week and has a bye next week before opening 3A North League play against Dayton on Sept. 19. He believes the 4A Greenwave will provide a stiff test for his squad as it gears up for a conference opponent. Kittrell said the biggest difference between the 4A foes and the smaller 3A schools is the number of athletes.

“Most 3A teams have one or two kids that you know if you keep them from making big plays, you’ll be OK. Fallon has a lot of good guys,” Kittrell said. “We can’t have the turnovers and special teams breakdowns we had last week happen again. We’re not going to be able to move the ball like we did against South Tahoe. We’ll have to sustain drives, and defensively, it will need to be a team effort.

Sparks quarterback Joe Puccinelli suffered a hand injury in preseason camp. Going into last week’s opener, it was unclear how effective he’d be. But Sparks coaches liked what they saw from their signal caller. The injury seemed to be healed with no lasting effects. Kittrell said that could be key tonight.

“We’ll have to throw a little more this week than we did last week. We’re not going to be able to run it 42 times and have any success,” he said. “We’ll have to execute, take what they give us and be more balanced.

“I think this will be a great test to see where we’re at. I think this is two pretty even football teams. We’re seeing a 4A team and I’m excited to see what our kids can do against this team. It’s a good measuring stick for us in Week 2.”

Canyon Springs at Reed,

11 a.m. Saturday

It will be a different day and an odd start time for Reed when it kicks off against Canyon Springs of Las Vegas Saturday morning. Some teams struggle with change, but Raiders coach Ernie Howren said he’s not worried.

“This will be out of our normal routine, but I never worry about stuff like that,” Howren said. “You have to assume that it’s game day and your kids will be ready to play. It shouldn’t matter if it’s 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. You go through game-day rituals to get you prepared to play. That shouldn’t be a factor.”

What will be a factor is Reed’s quarterback play. Tyler Pine, the Raiders’ starting field general, left last week’s 26-14 season-opening losss to Manogue with a concussion in the first quarter. Pine has yet to be cleared, so Brandon Mondragon will get the nod. Mondragon took over under center last week and completed 9-of-12 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown but the usually potent RHS offense still struggled to find much continuity in the final three quarters.

Still, Howren had nothing but rave reviews for Mondragon.

“He brings a very balanced attack to our offense. He can run and throw,” Howren said. “He’s been practicing all year with the second-team offense and pushing for repititions. He’s a starting safety, so he’d been focusing on defense. To be thrown in like that last week, I thought he did a great job.”

Reed’s two-touchdown defeat last Friday was a surprise to many around northern Nevada. Howren was quick to give Manogue all the credit. He said his team must be better at the basics if it wants to wind up on the winning side.

“Blocking and tackling, it’s so simple for us,” Howren stressed. “Those two things have to get better. It’s a team thing. Everyone can share in the blame. ... If those two things don’t get better, we won’t get better.”

Canyon Springs is expected to bring an athletic team to Reed for the brunch-time affair. The Pioneers averaged more than 40 points per game last fall and were a Sunrise Region semifinalist. They return one of the state’s top talents in DeShaun Stewart, who will line up in the slot and at running back.

With that said, the Pioneers are a bit of a wild card. Canyon Springs graduated a lot of the talent that bolstered its 9-2 squad last fall. In addition, it has not had a tune-up yet. The Pioneers were in uniform and set to play Spring Valley last weekend, but with a band and fans in the stands, no officials showed up to work the game, due to a scheduling snafu.

“We know that they’re athletic and last year they had a very explosive offense. They lost a few of those guys but Stewart is an absolute stud,” Howren said. “When your opponent has a guy like that, you cannot stop your feet to tackle. He’ll break tackles. We must swarm to this guy and get a lot of hats on him.

“I feel we’re a good football team, but we’re not playing good football right now. I’m hoping this weekend will be our chance to bounce back and prove what kind of football team we are.”