Andy Close
High school football season is right around the corner, and Eisenhower, Warren, and Sheffield continued their preparation with scrimmages on Saturday.
Eisenhower battled Corry and Reynolds, while Warren worked with Ridgway and Bradford and Sheffield with Cochranton, Maplewood, and Union City.
“I would say it was fair,” Sheffield coach Mike Barr said of his squad’s performance.
The Wolverines will make the long trip to Renovo to take on Bucktail for their first game on Friday.
“We made some mistakes but we were able to move the ball,” Barr added. “The kids’ attitudes were great.”
While Sheffield scrimmaged Cochranton, Eisenhower opens with the Cardinals on the road on Friday.
The Cardinals advanced to the D10 title game in Class 1A before falling to the same Reynolds team that knocked off Eisenhower in the semifinals.
Coach Jim Penley saw plenty to be encouraged about with his team on Saturday.
“It is great to get a chance to play awesome teams who you know will hit,” Penley said. “Corry is always good for us and adding Reynolds just added to the physical play. We feel we competed physically very well with both teams on both sides of the ball. It gives us a good place to start to make corrections to make us a better team this fall.”
As for coach Mark Morelli and the Dragons, the scrimmage was a good chance to see how some position battles that have waged throughout camp are going.
“We went into the scrimmage looking at a few positions to see what we have with some competition going on with some unsettled positions,” Morelli said. “We came out with a clearer picture of where we stand at those positions.”
The Dragons open the season on Friday against Oil City. Last season, the Dragons fell behind the Oilers 18-0 before rallying for a 21-18 victory.
“Overall it was a typical scrimmage,” Morelli added. “We did some good things, some positive things, and found out there are some things we have to work on.”
