High school football: Fearless Wildcats feel they can contend

Note: Woods Cross finished with a 7-4 overall record in 2009 and went 4-2 in Region 6. The Wildcats lost to Springville in the 4A quarterfinals.

WOODS CROSS — One good season is not enough at Woods Cross.

Making the 4A playoffs last season after spending countless Novembers sitting home during the postseason felt good for the once downtrodden Wildcat program. Such a feat will mean little, though, if the team can't deliver an even better encore.

"The expectations are a lot higher than previous years because of what we did last year," senior quarterback Tyler Parson said. "And they should be because we have a good team and we can do some good things."

Woods Cross certainly owns the attitude of a team on the rise after breaking a lengthy playoff drought last fall. Now that the Wildcats have proven to themselves they can reach the postseason, they are focused on achieving an even loftier goal this time around.

Winning a Region 6 championship and making a run at a 4A title are part of the overall plan for Woods Cross these days.

Wildcats coach Fred Fernandes — who coached three state title winning teams at Northridge — believes his current team has found the mental edge it needs to make good things occur.

"They're fearless and they're confident," Fernandes said. "They're not in awe of anybody. They just want to show up and play. They don't care who it is that they're playing against."

One reason for Woods Cross to feel confident is an offense that offers plenty of scoring punch.

It starts with senior quarterback Tyler Parson. As a junior last fall, Parson passed for 1,421 yards and 11 touchdowns while completing 100 of 198 passes. He'll have a reliable target in Darchon Taggart — who looks to build on a junior season where he caught 26 passes for 437 yards and four touchdowns to lead all Wildcat receivers.

Woods Cross may have also found suitable replacements in the backfield after graduating top backs C.J. Corry and Parker Rose. Fernandes has been impressed with the performance of Sean Gallagher and Chandler Judd — both freshmen — in summer practices.

The duo will see plenty of minutes and Fernandes expects them to challenge for a starting position in the backfield.