The Redmond High football team will have its hands full when it looks to derail 4A Kingco power Bothell, also known as the Blue Train, at 7 p.m. Friday night at Pop Keeney Stadium.

The Mustangs (0-2) are looking for their first win of the season after falling 19-6 in its home opener to Juanita in a nonleague game last Friday, while the Cougars are off to a 2-0 start.

Unlike last season, when Bothell started the year 0-2, the Cougars have dismantled their opponents so far in nonleague play, including an 25-0 win against O’Dea, a 3A Metro League power.

In order to right the ship, Redmond coach Mike Pluschke knows his Mustangs will have to play a near-perfect brand of football against the Cougars, who are big, strong and talented.

The Mustangs will have to try to contain 6-foot-6, 240-pound University of Washington recruit Michael Hartvigson, a defensive end who came up big for Bothell in the postseason last year, and speedy running back Luke Proulx, who gained 153 yards on 25 carries in the Cougars’ 36-14 win over Issaquah during week one.

Pluschke said the Mustangs can’t dwell on Friday’s loss and must focus on slowing down the Cougars.

“We gotta mend from this one quickly and get back after it, because they’re going to bring in one of the best lines they’ve ever had,” Pluschke said of Bothell. “We’ve got to be able to stop the run, and react to the pass.”

THEIR OWN WORST ENEMY

The story behind the Mustangs’ loss on Friday night was that Mustangs shot themselves in the foot, according to Pluschke.

The Mustangs gave up a number of unnecessary penalties and had a couple of crucial defensive breakdowns in third-and-long situations that allowed Juanita junior quarterback Derek Kaufman to escape and run the ball to a first down.

“You gotta give (Juanita) credit, they were patient with their running game at times,” Pluschke noted. “We had them in a couple of long situations and we thought we had them, but we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit.”

Neither team passed the football very much, but when Juanita decided to let the pigskin fly, they made it count.

Early in the second quarter, Kaufman’s 31-yard pass to Kris Otterholt, who missed nearly all of last year with a broken ankle, set up the Rebels first score. Two plays later, Alex Minerich scored a touchdown on an 8-yard run. The extra point gave Juanita a 7-0 lead. Later in the quarter, Kaufman hit Otterholt with a 12-yard touchdown pass, capping off a 15-play, 67-yard drive.

Nico Shewey’s 5-yard run cut the lead to 13-6 in the third quarter before Kauffman and Otterholt hooked up again in fourth quarter for a six-yard touchdown pass to seal the victory. Shewey finished with 35 yards rushing on seven carries.

“We’re working our tails off on open-field tackling,” said Pluschke. “We just need to solidify some of the things that we’ve done tonight to get in our own way.”

COVERING CONFORTO

The key for the Rebels was, unmistakably, to limit the effectiveness of Mustangs quarterback Michael Conforto, and they were quite successful.

With Juanita’s line covering Conforto like a comforter, the 6-1, 185-pound junior was hardly able to get any good looks to pass, going 1-for-7 with 19 yards. Conforto was able to find some running room with 17 carries for 105 yards, his second straight 100-yard rushing game. Conforto ran for 125 yards in Redmond’s season-opening loss at Prosser Sept. 4.

“(Conforto) is a great player, and our defense has done an outstanding job, as a unit we’ve given up 16 points in two games,” said Juanita head coach Shaun Tarantola. “Our defense is really playing well and we knew that would be a strength of our team… but he was a tough task, and our guys did a good job overall slowing him down.”

Despite his team’s rough start to the season, Pluschke is optimistic that improvement, and some wins, are on the way for the Mustangs.

“We’re not going to hang our heads on this one, all I want to do with this young team is improve every week,” Pluschke admitted. “Last week we weren’t competitive, this week we were. If we can get those mistakes out of the way and become more disciplined as a team, grow and mature, you’ll see us take off.”