The West Orange Warriors scored on their opening possession and never looked back en route to a 38-14 victory over the Wekiva Mustangs on Friday. 

However, more than outcomes, the goal for Wekiva has been more about learning and growing during the first two contests of the 2025 season, which have been the first two varsity games for some 90% of the Mustangs’ roster. 

“There has been improvement and progress from week to week,” Wekiva coach Doug Gabriel said. “We are building from the ground up right now. Anybody who is successful has to learn ‘why’ first. First, what will happen after committing the mistake is realized. Then the goal becomes learning how to prevent committing the mistake again.” 

Gabriel pointed to fewer penalties as one positive sign. 

“Winning and losing cannot always be the primary manner of how a team building from the ground up is measured,” he said. “Consistent winning requires minimizing the amount of mistakes and then turning opponents’ mistakes into points. At the least, consistently committing mistakes opens the door for creating the situation that the opponent needs to execute plays of big impact to win.” 

West Orange scored most of its points after Mustang mistakes created scoring opportunities. Those conversions started with the execution of quarterback A.J. Chung, who demonstrated the maturity and football intelligence that coach Geno Thompson often cites as key. Chung played only the first half but completed 12 of 18 pass attempts for 201 yards and four touchdowns.

Yuto Kawamura-Johnson hauled in three of the touchdown passes, covering 34, 32 and seven yards. Edison Delgado hauled in the other touchdown pass of 41 yards to provide West Orange with a 7-0 lead after the first possession. 

Perhaps the biggest impact of the mistakes was excellent starting field position for the Warriors, a consistent problem for Wekiva this season. Five of the seven Warriors’ possessions during the first half began on the Mustangs’ side of the field. West Orange began the seven possessions with an average starting field position of Wekiva’s 40-yard line.

Still, Gabriel said he sees improvement.

“Field position and the blocked punts are the biggest areas where improvement occurred between the first two contests though,” he said. “The improvement and progress demonstrated with both when comparing to the previous contest can be used to build on in other aspects. If field position and blocked punts improved, so can the other aspects.”

Blocked punts were reduced from five to two, and Wekiva managed to hold West Orange scoreless both times, despite the excellent starting field position.

Gabriel said another area for improvement is taking advantage of opportunities.

“Three what-we-didn’t-do compared to what-we-did-wrong mistakes were committed,” Gabriel said. “We failed to intercept three passes, two touched the hands or arms. The interceptions change the feel and direction of the contest.”

Charle Chukes’ one-yard rush and a Justin Sessler to Ameir Prince 34-yard pass accounted for the Mustangs’ points, marking a new season high. 

“Scoring the two touchdowns is a sign of improvement too,” Gabriel said. “We moved the ball and gained some first downs during the second half. Like the previous contest, the difference was the experience of playing the first half. The poor starts need to improve. Yet, understanding how to manage what playing in a regular season game feels like and entails during the second half progressed for a second contest. Even if during only one half, we can build on the possessions moving forward.”            

Wekiva will have its next opportunity for improvement 7 p.m. Friday at Horizon.