By Stephen Henderson
It was an early morning departure for the Patrick County High School football team last Saturday morning, but the Cougars were able to spend almost three hours battling it out with Eastern Montgomery High School and Grayson County High School football teams in a scrimmage hosted by the EMHS Mustangs at Shawsville Middle School field.
Both varsity and junior varsity Cougar teams were able to work on offensive and defensive plays against two teams. In the first round of 10 plays, Patrick County’s offense met Eastern Montgomery. The Cougars moved the ball about 40 yards against the Mustangs.
In the second situation, the Cougars played defense to the Grayson County Blue Devils. The highlight of this segment was Shemar Hill’s pass interception on the 40 yard line where he ran it back for a 60-yard touchdown for the Cougar defense.
Later in the morning, the Grayson County defense held the Cougar offense to just one first down. In the final defensive matchup for the varsity team, the Eastern Montgomery team made a TD run but it was called back because of offensive holding.
The Cougar second team/JV players showed some aggressive offensive play as well as a defense that held all three teams.
The last segment of the scrimmage put the teams in 10-minute game situations with one team starting on the 30 yard line in a first-and-10 situation.
Grayson’s powerful offense moved the ball to the goal line on six plays. The Cougar offense was unable to advance the ball and was forced to punt on fourth-and-seven.
The Cougars played the Mustangs in the second game situation and gave up a TD after six plays. The Cougars were forced to turn over the ball on their possession.
“I was really impressed with the way our defense played throughout the day,” said Head Coach David Morrison. “We played well—better than I thought we would,” he added.
One thing Morrison was happy about the defense was the way several of the guys stepped up. “I was happy with our second team; our JV squad did really well against the three teams,” he added.
Morrison stressed how well the inside linebackers played as well as the secondary defense. “I thought everybody played really well,” he said.
Coach Morrison wasn’t impressed with the offense. “It looks like our timing is off,” he said. “We just need to do some more work and add reps. Typically, a team’s offense trails its defense as far as getting it in early in the year,” he explained. “We need to keep plugging away,” he said.
One thing Morrison and the coaching staff concluded after Saturday’s scrimmage is the need for some personnel changes. “We need to put our guys in the right place where they can be the most successful,” Morrison said.
Morrison was happy with the defensive effort Saturday, especially Shemar Hill’s pass interception. “Our interior defensive line and inside linebackers played really well. We had some younger guys who really stepped up at the outside linebacker positions,” he said. “I thought Bryson Fulcher, Dae’Shawn Penn and A.J. Robertson played well on defense,” he added.
“I think we are ahead of the game defensively, but offensively, we still have some work to do,” he said.
Saturday, the Cougar play at Riverheads High School in their final scrimmage. The first game of the season is Friday, August 25, at home against Carroll County.
(Photos by Stephen Henderson)
