With a new year comes a new core for the football team, one that is working hard to improve from last year’s 6-2 district record. The spring scrimmage which won’t be much more than a practice, will be held on Friday at 6 p.m., giving players as well as the coaches the ability to simulate real game scenarios and prepare for the upcoming fall season.

“The first offense will go against the first defense,” sophomore Luke Mayfield said. “It’ll be a like game essentially, so you’ll play like four downs ‘till you get a first down and keep doing that until you get a turnover on downs or score. The second strings go against each other then the third string.”  

Head football coach Todd Ford explained how the scrimmage allows the coaches to simulate  game-like situations.

“Anytime we’re able to set a ball down and say ‘hey it’s 1st and 10, offense, it’s your job to score and defense, it’s your job to stop them,’ those bring pressure situations onto players,” Ford said. “It’s our job as coaches to get them as comfortable as possible in those situations, and that’s why we’ll do a lot throughout our spring practices to where they are comfortable in those scrimmage situations.”

Slated to take over at quarterback, sophomore Ralph Rucker will use the spring scrimmage as a time to get used to plays being relayed from coach to the field.

“We’ll practice for around two and a half weeks, and then we’ll have a scrimmage just to implement,” Rucker said. “Coaches will go up in the press box, and relay the play to the head coach, and the head coach will give us hand signals, and I’ll feed them to everyone else. Just getting used to it and ready for the fall season is what matters.”

The spring season not only helps players prepare for game situations, but also allows the boys to become comfortable with their new teammates.

“It allows us to get extra reps in before the upcoming year,” Rucker said. “It allows us to just see where we’re at since all the seniors are gone and what we have to expect.”

Heading into the fall season, Ford believes it’s crucial to give the younger players experience to get them comfortable while playing.

“We need to get some of our young players experience,” Ford said. “We have a lot of good quality young players who have been behind some good seniors that have played for a while. We just need to get them experience.”

Ford highlighted the importance of focusing on the new team and letting go of the past.

“I think every team is different,” Ford said. “We really are a blank script and we’ll control the narrative and themes that go through the 2019 season. If you spend too much time worrying about the past, the future will catch up with you, and so that’s how we choose to do it.”