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Tigers scrimmage, coaches evaluate
Fort Scott High School's informal scrimmage, held at the practice field Saturday morning, gave Tiger head coach Bob Campbell and his staff an idea of which players are taking what they're being taught and using it on the field.
"We're going to watch film, which will give us a chance to evaluate technique, who's doing their job, who's blocking the right people, who's not," Campbell said after the scrimmage.
Week one of practice has been used to work on base offense and defense and on fundamentals. Saturday's scrimmage gave the players a chance to show what they've been taught at game speed.
"What we're trying to get across to the kids is: when you're on the field, you've got to play at game speed," Campbell said. "I thought we did a lot of good things but we also saw stuff we need to work on. We just have to get faster to the ball, whether it's on offense or defense. We just have to be a little more aggressive on both sides of the football, whether it's finishing blocks or getting to people and making the tackle."
The Tigers' running game appeared to be in good shape as the backs had good-sized holes in front of them made by their offensive linemen. The No. 1 defensive unit also appeared to be sound. Some of the younger players had some struggles.
"We have a lot of sophomores playing," Campbell noted. "We've got to do a lot of polishing between now and next Friday night. I think the biggest thing is that we have to play faster."
The Tigers will perform at the Red & White Scrimmage Friday night at Frary Field. The freshmen will take the field first at 6 p.m. followed by the varsity/junior varsity between 7 and 7:15.
Since the Tigers didn't have much of an opportunity to have two-a-days, Campbell said offensive and defensive work will be split in each practice leading up to the scrimmage.
"One day will be offensive emphasis with a little D and then flip them the next day and try to finish up blitz packages on defense, short-yardage, two-minute offense. Finish our passing game. And just try to get everything in before the Red and White next Friday, even though we may not show it all. We would like to get it in before next Friday so we have prep time for Labette County the week after."
Fort Scott opens the season at home against Labette County on Sept. 2.
NOTES -- One oddity of the scrimmage will be that it will be held the night after Fort Scott Community College's season opener versus Blinn on Thursday night. This will very likely make the field rougher than it usually is when the Tigers hold their scrimmage....