Lancaster football shows a lot of promise in its first scrimmage
· Yahoo Sports
COLUMBUS – First scrimmages are always interesting because it is the first time teams get to face someone other than their own team. It gives coaches a chance to make adjustments after seeing players on film.
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First-year Lancaster Jeremy McKinney was glad his team was able to face an opponent, but for him, he treated it like practice as the Golden Gales traveled to Westland on Friday, Aug. 7 in a three-way scrimmage against the Cougars and New Albany.
“I just want to see us compete,” McKinney said. “We treat scrimmages like practices. I told the guys we get to see someone else, but it is still practice, and we are going to try and work on our stuff, and hopefully things go well. We now have film, and we get to see what things we can improve on, and we come back Monday and get to work.”
Lancaster senior linebacker Collin Thomas said the Gales have been putting in the work, but Friday’s scrimmage was a welcome sight to see where the Gales stack up.
“It was amazing to be out here,” Thomas said. “We have been putting in a bunch of work against each other. We haven’t done a lot of heavy stuff, physically wise, so it was great to get out here and finally get the pads popping and hitting people, and I feel like we did a good job of that.
“We weren’t game planning. We are just playing our game, seeing what we can do and what we can get better at and what changes we need to make. I felt like we did a good job of executing what we know we can do.”
Things could have started rough for the Gales because they got there late and only had a few minutes to warm up, but Lancaster handled the adversity well. The Gales scored on their first offensive play when Jahmeir Gordon broke off a long touchdown run. He would add another long touchdown run later in the scrimmage, and the defense was able to get a three-and-out on its first series.
McKinney was pleased with how the players handled things and credited the seniors' leadership for ensuring the team kept their poise.
Overall, the Gales played well on both sides of the ball. Lancaster didn’t show a lot and ran its basic stuff on both sides of the ball.
“In a scrimmage, all we want to see and run is our base stuff,” McKinney said. “Defensively, I want to see how we run to the ball and how we fit on the run and how we cover the pass. Offensively, ran our base stuff. This was just another day of work and see where we can build from there.”
Lancaster will play its final scrimmage on Aug. 13 at St. Charles. The first half will be live and played like game situations. The Gales open the season at home against Hilliard Darby Aug. 21.
“For us, everything we are doing is brand new,” McKinney said. “New offense, new defense and new special teams. A lot of the stuff is terminology. They are learning a lot, so there is a lot more mental stuff, but we are heading in the right direction, and every day, we are getting better.”
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at [email protected] for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @twil2323.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Lancaster football shows a lot of promise in its first scrimmage