**CORRECTED to reflect actual location of tonight’s scrimmage**

PORT NECHES — Brandon Faircloth knows who his opponent was last week and does not fault his Port Neches-Groves Indians too much for the mistakes made against the West Orange-Stark Mustangs.

The Mustangs do have one of the best defenses in any classifications and are expected by many to repeat as Class 4A Division II state champions.

While he doesn’t blame his team fully, he does expect to see some improvements tonight against West Brook. Tonight’s scrimmage starts at 7 at the Thomas Center in Beaumont, aka “The Butch.”

“We turned the ball over too many times last week,” Faircloth said of his team’s four turnovers against WOS. “We worked a lot this week on ball security.”

Faircloth said his team has also put work on tackling and blocking.

“Really, we put in time on the fundamentals,” he added. “I would like to see the improvements on the field after a good week of work.”

West Brook brings in both speed and size this year under coach Kevin Flanigan.

The speed comes in the form of running back Joel Denley, who rushed for 1,260 yards and 18 touchdowns last year.

West Brook’s size starts with lineman Dan Moore, who stands 6-5 and weighs 330 pounds.

“Coach Flanigan does a great job over at West Brook,” Faircloth said. “The Bruins will only make us better. I know we will not be perfect after Friday but I do want to see some improvement. We aren’t worried about the score Friday night. I just want us to be better than the Friday before and keep getting better.”

The Indians defense was pushed against the Mustangs first-string offense last Friday. WOS led 19-0 at the half after quarterback Jack Dallas threw three touchdown passes.

The lone stop against the Mustangs in the first half came off an interception by Cameron Wommack.

PNG picked up its first, first down of the WOS scrimmage midway through the second quarter.

“We wanted to play tough teams,” Faircloth said. “West Orange-Stark and West Brook are two of the top teams in our area. We figure we have four weeks to get ready for Lumberton. We want to make sure we go into Lumberton as the best team we can be.”

The Indians open the regular season at home Aug. 26 against Silsbee. The Tribe then heads to Goose Creek Memorial for PNG’s last non-district game before opening District 22-5A play on Sept. 9 at Lumberton.