Evan Masters is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Centennial High School for AZPreps365.com

A team can have all the talent in the world, but penalties can hinder success and turn wins into losses.

While that has yet to be be the case for the Centennial Coyotes (4-1), 42 penalty flags thrown over the past three games has disturbed coach Richard Taylor, who is trying to change that narrative.

“We can’t have pre-snap and post whistle penalties,” said Taylor. “Those are the types of penalties that hurt us the most.”

Some penalties, like an unsportsmanlike conduct can alter the complexion of a drive and lead to a key player’s ejection from the game.

Junior linebacker Bryson Thomas said the team needs to avoid mental mistakes. “We have to try to not get sucked into what the other team wants us to do,” said Thomas. “If they see we are winning on the scoreboard they are going to try in get in our heads and win that way.”

Over the past couple of weeks Taylor and the rest of his coaching staff have put an emphasis on discipline during games and it has slowly begun to resonate with the team.

“I just heard when they were warming up today,” Taylor said, “one of the players went up front and went, ‘Hey bro we got to cut out the penalties,’ so they are beginning to say the right things.”

“We are talking about it together because overall it hurts us as a team,” said senior guard and defensive tackle Andy Belmontez. “All the yards we lose, all the touchdowns called back on, we are going to work on it, and we are going to get it done.

The Coyotes have seen slight improvement in their number of penalties over the past three weeks. Sixteen were committed against Cienega, 15 in their home win over Ironwood Ridge and 11 last week’s road victory over Millennium.

“We are heading in the right direction,” said Taylor. “Because if we don’t take care of this, it’s going to raise its ugly head and come and bite us.”

The Coyotes look to continue to decrease penalties and increase their win streak as they go on the road to Glendale to take on the Apollo Hawks (1-4) Friday.