Pointing to his improved defense, and high-powered offense, Wren coach Jeff Tate believes his Golden Hurricanes have a chance to compete in Region 1-AAAA, despite last week’s 42-7 loss at Laurens.

Wren plays host to Westside this week in a meeting of teams with identical records (2-5, 0-1).

Tate said Wren was one play-action pass away from taking the Laurens game to 21-14, but instead, following a Laurens 89-yard screen pass for a touchdown, was 28-7.

Tate said he’s encouraged by his team’s defensive improvements, and pointed to holding Laurens to less than 100 rushing yards.

“I think we can compete,” Tate said. “It’s going to up to us to perform, execute, not have penalties. If we can do that, we can have a chance.”

The combination of sophomore quarterback Austin McCaskill and junior receiver Chris Perdomo again had a productive game last week. McCaskill was 13-for-30 for 112 yards and an interception. Perdomo caught six passes for 77 yards.

Both lead the area at their respective positions. Perdomo has 47 catches for 729 yards and three TDs. McCaskill has completed 127-of-259 passes for 1,696 yards, 14 TDs and 10 INTs.

“They understand the concept of what we’re trying to do,” Tate said. “They don’t get rattled, are maturing, let things come to them. We’re just trying to get mismatches, and they’ve done a good job of that in every game so far.”