Post 17: Friday, Aug. 15, 2014: Camp visit with McClain; recent scrimmages
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
It has been a busy past few days as we continue to prepare the 2014 First and Ten High School Football Preview, along with mixing in soccer coverage and such in this weekend's print edition of The Highland County Press.
As for the football portion, I had the opportunity to watch the McClain Tigers take part in an afternoon practice earlier this week as they continue get ready for the high school football season.
When I was there, I got the chance to watch them work on some defensive drills before it started raining off and on for a little bit. Like I've said before, you can learn a lot about a team by watching them practice, and this is a season where the Tigers are paying great attention to the details of the game.
[[In-content Ad]]Since then, they've had a scrimmage and will hold another one this Saturday at McClain Field, and that's what I'm really ready to watch as it has been since early November since I've seen the Tigers play against another team.
Speaking of the Tigers from '13, there are just five returning starters from that squad that finished 4-6 overall back for the Tigers this season.
In speaking with head coach Randy Closson before the practice (this is his 10th season), he said about this year's team:
"We are looking for a lot of guys to step up into leadership roles. We've had a lot of battles for starting positions, and we'll see how they finish during our scrimmages."
This scrimmage season is maybe more important than usual as the Tigers are looking to fill a lot of vacancies left by the seniors who graduated from last season. It should be exciting to see who eventually ends up in those spots, and maybe Saturday will go a long way in deciding those positions.
This week, I also had the opportunity to watch the Paint Valley Bearcats scrimmage the Fayetteville Rockets and the Eastern Pike Eagles in a scrimmage at PVHS.
The Bearcats led the pace at the scrimmage, but there were some good things from the Rockets as well as they are becoming accustomed to new head coach Kevin Finch. Eastern Pike also put in some good work as this is their first year with a varsity program.
I will say their QB is one tough player, and as he continues to gain some reps, he and the Eagles will improve. Best of luck to them as they build a football program.
As for PV, they are coming off a Division VII playoff berth and have many players back on the roster this season. Many folks are expecting big things from the Bearcats, and in scrimmage No. 1, the first and second teams for PV put on a good football show and got their work in before the rain came.
I'm really excited to see how this teams improves even more once the scrimmage season is over and the games count for real. PV is a team to watch this season if you are in the Bainbridge or southern Ohio area.
Also on Tuesday, I got to watch the Hillsboro Indians scrimmage the Unioto Shermans, and for the hour or so I watched of their scrimmage, I was very impressed with the first 10-play offense and defensive drives of the Indians in terms of them gaining yards and nearly scoring a touchdown.
In those two series, the Indians showed they have made improvements on both sides of the ball on certain plays, and now they need to continue that trend on a consistent basis, because the offensive drive where Toby Warrington ended a yard or two away from the end zone showed this team can gain yards and make plays.
There will be more scrimmages this weekend, so if you attend any, please let me know what you saw. We are just two weeks away from the regular season.
As for the football portion, I had the opportunity to watch the McClain Tigers take part in an afternoon practice earlier this week as they continue get ready for the high school football season.
When I was there, I got the chance to watch them work on some defensive drills before it started raining off and on for a little bit. Like I've said before, you can learn a lot about a team by watching them practice, and this is a season where the Tigers are paying great attention to the details of the game.
[[In-content Ad]]Since then, they've had a scrimmage and will hold another one this Saturday at McClain Field, and that's what I'm really ready to watch as it has been since early November since I've seen the Tigers play against another team.
Speaking of the Tigers from '13, there are just five returning starters from that squad that finished 4-6 overall back for the Tigers this season.
In speaking with head coach Randy Closson before the practice (this is his 10th season), he said about this year's team:
"We are looking for a lot of guys to step up into leadership roles. We've had a lot of battles for starting positions, and we'll see how they finish during our scrimmages."
This scrimmage season is maybe more important than usual as the Tigers are looking to fill a lot of vacancies left by the seniors who graduated from last season. It should be exciting to see who eventually ends up in those spots, and maybe Saturday will go a long way in deciding those positions.
This week, I also had the opportunity to watch the Paint Valley Bearcats scrimmage the Fayetteville Rockets and the Eastern Pike Eagles in a scrimmage at PVHS.
The Bearcats led the pace at the scrimmage, but there were some good things from the Rockets as well as they are becoming accustomed to new head coach Kevin Finch. Eastern Pike also put in some good work as this is their first year with a varsity program.
I will say their QB is one tough player, and as he continues to gain some reps, he and the Eagles will improve. Best of luck to them as they build a football program.
As for PV, they are coming off a Division VII playoff berth and have many players back on the roster this season. Many folks are expecting big things from the Bearcats, and in scrimmage No. 1, the first and second teams for PV put on a good football show and got their work in before the rain came.
I'm really excited to see how this teams improves even more once the scrimmage season is over and the games count for real. PV is a team to watch this season if you are in the Bainbridge or southern Ohio area.
Also on Tuesday, I got to watch the Hillsboro Indians scrimmage the Unioto Shermans, and for the hour or so I watched of their scrimmage, I was very impressed with the first 10-play offense and defensive drives of the Indians in terms of them gaining yards and nearly scoring a touchdown.
In those two series, the Indians showed they have made improvements on both sides of the ball on certain plays, and now they need to continue that trend on a consistent basis, because the offensive drive where Toby Warrington ended a yard or two away from the end zone showed this team can gain yards and make plays.
There will be more scrimmages this weekend, so if you attend any, please let me know what you saw. We are just two weeks away from the regular season.