Proving their skills, the Warriors divided into groups based on their proficiency and position, each with a full officiating crew that executed with little to no penalties. On Thursday, April 27 the teams played one of the three scrimmages against one another to kickstart spring ball.

Spring football scrimmages are mock games to simulate game experience by placing the players in different situations. For example, backing the defensive players up inside the five-yard line and giving them a quick turnover where they must now defend their end zone. The purpose of doing this is to give the players situations that are seen in regular season football games.

“I’ve got different scenarios that I’m going to put our team through to see how we respond in order to correct those mistakes now so when we have those in the fall,” athletic coordinator coach Anthony Wood said. “We will be able to execute them and we’ll already have been experienced in those types of situations.”

By dividing the players based on skill level, there is a pecking order like any other sport. There are ‘ones’ who are classified as starters, ‘twos’ who are backups of the starters, and the JV team that scrimmages as their own group with the varsity kids. On scrimmage day, everyone gets a chance to rep so they have an opportunity to be seen and evaluated by the coaching staff, but they’re also given this in order to learn where they need improvement

“We will play the ones for a little bit, then twos, then JV, and back to the ones,” Coach Wood said. “And sometimes I may holler for a team that isn’t expecting to go and that simulates a turnover. This is so they’re not expecting to go ‘hey you gotta go’ and to see how they are going to respond to such a quick change.”

Understanding the game the way it was supposed to be played, this particular group of players played well. The kids forced to step up due to a few of the starters attending the 4.0 GPA ceremony this morning, were able to prove their stability by playing in higher groups than what they were used to. This simulated that if this were a real game and someone were to get injured during a game, at any point in time they must be ready to step up and play.

“I felt those guys that got reps with the ones today that normally would not have, played well,” Coach Wood said. “I thought our defense came out and played exceptionally well early on by getting off the field and getting the offense back the ball.”

To highlight the morning, defense received a turnover and scored seven points, and varsity kicker Kaden Roberts ‘18 kicked a 42 -yard field goal. But towards the end, they were getting tired, showing that they aren’t equipped with the stamina yet to play in a full football game.

“Since it’s spring football, we’re not worried about being conditioned to play a football game right now,” Coach Wood said. “What we’re trying to do right now is learn our execution in order to get better.”

The Warriors will play in their second spring scrimmage on Friday, May 5. Go Wood.