Scrimmage Season: county teams get first taste of live action in '21

Aug. 16—Several Johnson County football teams squared off against their first live competition of the 2021 season this past weekend with scrimmage action.

Alvarado, Burleson, Godley, Grandview, Keene, Rio Vista and Venus have been practicing since Aug. 2 and each of those teams were in action Friday or Saturday in their first scrimmages. Most of those teams will also be in action later this week with their second scrimmage of the year while Cleburne, Burleson Centennial and Joshua are scheduled for their lone scrimmages this week as well.

The 2021 Texas high school football season officially kicks off with regular-season games Aug. 26.

Here's a look at some of this past weekend's scrimmage action for some county teams:

Grandview

The Zebras scrimmaged Friday at Teague and there were plenty of things to keep an eye on for Grandview, most notably the quarterback situation and what set of players would fill in at defensive line.

The Zebras graduated an accomplished senior group from last season, including all-state quarterback Dane Jentsch. Brycen Davis and move-in Ryder Hayes have been competing for the starting quarterback job and Coach Ryan Ebner said both players have shown some great things. But the story from Friday's scrimmage was Grandview's defense.

"It was a good scrimmage for us," Ebner said. "They didn't really move the ball much until late. The defensive guys up front did a great job of producing some pressure. There are some things we have to keep working on defensively like our angles and tackles. We had a couple busts in our secondary but we were able to get pressure so they couldn't capitalize on it. It was a good first scrimmage defensively."

Ebner said he was also pleased with the number of players who made plays on offense.

"Offensively, both units did a great job moving the ball up and down the field," he said. "Gavin Leftwich made some really good runs. We rolled a bunch of different bodies out there and they all looked like they knew what was going on. Our receivers were getting yards after catch. It was positive to see those guys do some good things. Up front, [Teague] showed us some twists and stuff we haven't seen so that gives us something we can work on. All in all, I though it was a really good first scrimmage for us."

Replacing the defensive front of Dametrious Crownover, Cade Fedor and Jacob Bayer is a key for the Zebras in 2021, and Ebner said Aiden Keever stood out Friday.

"A young kid that got his first action on varsity was Aiden Keever and he looked really good," Ebner said. "You can tell he's worked his butt off in the offseason. He did a great job of dominating. So did Josh Clover on the other end. We graduated two of our three linebackers and I thought the new ones did a great job of making tackles. Even though we had some new faces in there, they did a great job of being aggressive and doing things the right way."

Grandview is scheduled to host Waxahachie Life for a scrimmage at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Godley

The Wildcats played host to the Chinag Spring Cougars in a scrimmage on Friday and Godley Coach Curtis Lowery said it was a typical first scrimmage with some good takeaways but also plenty of areas were exposed to work on.

"I thought our kids competed really hard," Lowery said. "China Spring is a really good team and they were a good test for us. We definitely found exactly what we wanted to see in the scrimmage, which is the things we've got to work on to get better at. Offensively we struggled some moving the ball but we found out things at all positions that we've got to get better at. There's things we could take advantage of but just with our youth on the field, they see it but it's got to come with reps and just playing. We only had one guy on offense that had any varsity experience in that scrimmage."

Even though Godley returns only one starter on the offensive line, Lowery said he liked what he saw from the Wildcats' young trench warriors Friday.

"All in all, the offensive line played well," Lowery said. "That's a really good defensive line they went up against. They weren't perfect by any means but we had three sophomores on our line. Our left tackle is the only one who had experience and I thought they played pretty well."

Now the Wildcats will welcome Brownwood to town for a scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. Thursday before opening the season Aug. 26.

"We're going to have a live half this next scrimmage, so for us defensively, No. 1 is getting lined up and No. 2 I want to see us play fast, react fast and tackle on first contact," Lowery said. "That's our deal is tackling at first contact. Those are the things we've got to see and eliminating big plays, which I thought we did a pretty good job of vs. China Spring.

"Offensively, we've got to take care of the ball. We had three interceptions and three fumbles in the last scrimmage. As far as running game, we've got to be on the same page in the backfield and up front with our protections. We've just all got to be on the same page and that comes with playing and gaining experience and seeing it on film. Passing game-wise we've got to make plays, not drop balls when you've got a chance to make a play and the quarterbacks have to stick with their reads and sit in the pocket."

Rio Vista

The Eagles squared off against Hubbard in their first scrimmage last week and Kasey Black, now in his third year as Rio Vista's head coach, was pleased with what he saw defensively.

"I think our whole defense stood out," Black said. "They really flew to the ball. Wesley Hudson had three or four tackles behind the line of scrimmage. [Hubbard] probably didn't have positive yards on offense at all for the entire scrimmage. We got after them pretty good on defense."

Black said the offense did some positive things as well — and they could've done more but he wanted to see how things would work in certain situations.

"Offensively there's certain plays we could've ran over and over but in a scrimmage you're trying to work on certain things, especially when you have four of five offensive linemen, two out of four receivers and a different running back you're trying to work in as newcomers," Black said. "So you're trying to work on certain things and it may not look as clean as possible."

Even with such inexperience on the offensive line, Black said he was encouraged by what the Eagles' young linemen showed.

"If you go back and watch film, it's very little things; things like keeping our eyes up or taking the right steps," Black said. "It's all stuff that is very fixable."

Now Rio Vista will host Millsap for its second scrimmage Thursday.

"It's about taking that next step forward and try not to make the same mistakes we made in the first scrimmage," Black said. "We had a couple bad snaps, dropped passes and one fumble. I'd like to look a little cleaner on that side."

Keene

History was made Friday night at the Cleburne Sports Complex as the Keene Chargers faced off against an opponent on the football field for the first time ever in a scrimmage against Johnson County Sports Association (homeschool).

Keene is joining the Texas high school football scene in 2021 as a six-man program playing an outlaw schedule as they try to slowly build their way up to being an 11-man UIL varsity team in a few years.

Keene Coach John McFarlin said after a slow start, the Chargers did some good things.

"The general consensus from the coaching staff is it went better than expected," McFarlin said. "We started off slow and a little hesitant to block and make tackles but as the scrimmage went on you could tell our guys were more comfortable and adjusted and their confidence grew, which allowed us to play more physical and at a faster pace, which is what we're looking for."

What stood out to McFarlin is how quickly the Chargers progressed just during the scrimmage.

"Just the growth from the beginning of the scrimmage to the end," he said. "Everyone mentioned it was a noticeable improvement with getting reps. What I took the most from was how well our kids handled adjustments that the coaches made."

For six-man football, especially with what the Chargers are wanting to do offensively, timing is so crucial and McFarlin said his players learned that quickly facing live competition.

"One of the main things that was exposed was our quick our exchanges from our center to QB to spread back have to be in order for the timing of those plays to work," McFarlin said. "JCSA was on us quick and were getting in the backfield before we were able to execute those exchanges. So just for them to realize the speed that's necessary for this to work is big as well as downfield blocking in order for us to take advantage of our speed and try to get guys in space.

"It's all little things and technique stuff. The biggest thing for these kids is, it was the first time putting pads on against somebody else so just getting that confidence of it's OK to get hit and make a tackle; just getting over that fear of the contact part was huge for all of our kids."

Even though the Chargers certainly learned some lessons the hard way, there were plenty of positives. McFarlin said seeing the players' celebrate big plays or touchdowns gave him the confidence that Keene ISD did the right thing starting football this year.

"I told our staff going into it that this was a big day for us and even though it's a scrimmage, we're going to see a little bit more excitement over a TD in a scrimmage then we normally would and I told our staff to let them enjoy it because it is a thrill for those kids because it is their first time," he said. "Seeing them find ways to make a big play and get in the end zone and seeing how much their teammates enjoyed it and loved it, that was great. These kids have been looking forward to this for a long time. It was fun to see those kids playing football and having a blast."