The clock is ticking for the season opener Aug. 29 against Mesquite, which means Friday’s scrimmage against South Garland is crucial preparation for the Lake Highlands football team.
The varsity scrimmage will start at 10:30 a.m. at Garland’s Homer B. Johnson Stadium. The freshmen and JV will scrimmage at 9 a.m.
LH coach Scott Smith said the varsity scrimmage will last about two hours, with most of that conducted as a controlled scrimmage. There will be a quarter of "live" scrimmaging at the end.
During that time, the coaching staff will be looking to fine-tune some things, but much of the focus will be on younger players. The youngsters in backup roles, in particular, will get a chance to perform for the first time in game-like conditions.
"The big area that we’ve all been worried about, and won’t know until they get some playing time, is our young kids," Smith said. "When game situations come up in the scrimmage, they’ll be thrown into the fire."
Click on the jump for more.
Smith said the youngest units are at receiver and in the backups to the offensive and defensive lines.
LH is also extremely young, by 5A varsity standards, at backup quarterback. Freshmen Trent Jones and Michael Ketchmark have been tabbed to play behind Ricky Zorn. Both should see action in the scrimmage.
"Theyre both special athletes," Smith said. "You hate to judge them by what they do as eighth graders, but they both had outstanding seasons. With what they did in the summer with our 7-and-7 team and summer conditioning, they’ve shown that they can physically play with our older guys, but they can also handle the mental aspect."
Smith said he’s spoken with South Garland coach Keith Wright about the fight that disrupted last year’s scrimmage with the Colonels. The teams met again last year in the playoffs without incident, but both coaches plan to speak to their teams about maintaining composure and focus before the scrimmage.
"We’re not going to put it aside and act like it never happened," Smith said. "We’re trying to take something that was a negative last year and teach our kids and make it a positive."
