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'Hounds get to hit others
After nearly two weeks of hitting teammates, Fort Scott Community College's football players relished the chance to run into, over and through other players in a scrimmage with Baker University Saturday afternoon at Frary Field.
"It gets kind of stale playing against each other during camp," Greyhound head coach Rion Rhoades said. "We felt that the guys were ready to play somebody else. And they were excited. I was excited to hear them supporting each other, offense and defense. That's encouraging.
"We do have some strong leaders on our team even though we're young. I'm excited about that we have some guys who know what it takes and willing to get after each other when they're not performing well and hold each other accountable."
After warming up individually, the teams mixed together for seven-on-seven and line drills. The scrimmage began with several series in which each team ran plays from the same situation repeatedly.
First, each team ran a four-down series starting from their own 30 seeing how efficiently they could get a first down. Even when they made a first down, they'd go back to the 30 and start again.
After that, there were several series where each team began at their own 5 to see how well they could get out from under the shadow of their own goal posts. The ball went back to the 5 after each play, regardless of the result of the previous play.
After that, it was several series starting from their own 40. Several series from each teams' own 20 capped this part of the scrimmage.
On the last few series, the teams played to advance and score, with no resets back to the 20 on first downs.
"We had scripted out four situations," Rhoades said. "We had first-and-10 situations. We practiced third-and-long. Then we had the last three series where we moved the chains.
"It's a little easier to control the scrimmage that way. When I talked to (Baker's coach), I thought that was the way to do it and he agreed. He's got a classy bunch of young men, too, and he's a super guy."
Since there were no rosters -- and even at that rate, the players were wearing practice uniforms, so the number they were wearing might not match up to what they will wear in the regular season, anyway -- we left it up to Rhoades to say who he thought had good days.
"The last long (touchdown) run was Chas Powell, a tailback from Florida," Rhoades said. "He's had kind of an average camp, so it was good to see him perform well today."
Powell, if you were at the stadium, was wearing No. 1. The No. 23 who had two interceptions was Todd Atkins from Kansas City-Turner. He's a backup cornerback.
The backup quarterback, No. 11, Justin Ahms, was noted for doing well in his series.
Travis Albright from Galena, wearing No. 41, had an interception and nearly had a second one.
"I was excited to see him play well today," Rhoades noted. "He's had a good camp and just continues to get better. He and his teammate from high school, Matt Glades, both have a chance to be a big help to us this year. Matt's going to be the starting 'Sam' linebacker."
Tim Brown, No. 52, who just came back from an injury, also had a good day on defense, according to Rhoades.
There were players in the trenches who were also doing well, but a day of looking at film is needed to sort out who and how well.
"Once you look at the film, you'll know they graded out well," Rhoades said. "They're they guys who make it possible for the others to make good plays."
One thing that came across is that there are a few growing pains to be experienced before the season opener Saturday at Navarro (Texas). This is going to be a team dominated by freshmen and there were some occasions where it showed.
"I was happy overall," Rhoades noted. "I'd like to see see us continue to grow up and mature and learn how to play every down hard. I feel like we're not quite there yet but we have potential and we'll have a couple of strong tests right off the bat."