Pioneers tangle with Blue Devils: Spring practice concludes with Thursday scrimmage
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The key words? ?Hard-fought.?
The intensity of full-contact play between the Pioneers and Blue Devils led to a few instances of post-play rough-housing, and although head coach Chris Madewell wasn?t too happy about any of his players losing their cool, he was proud to see his squad wasn?t intimidated by their visiting foes.
?Sometimes, in the past, we?ve had teams come in here that like to get excited, and like to talk a little bit,? he said. ?And some Warren County teams in the past have let that get their heads down, and have let those other teams run over them.
?But we stood up to them (Thursday), and I was proud of the way we reacted in a positive way and weren?t afraid to take it to them.?
With two members of the team?s quarterback corps on the baseball diamond this spring, Warren County?s offense wasn?t firing on every possible cylinder. But Casey Dunn and Ryan Daniel handled QB duties over the spring, while the offensive unit focused mainly on its ground game.
?Offensively we don?t have a lot of breakaway speed, but we play physical, and that?s what really impressed me about this team. This year, that?s the way we?re going to play, very physically, and we came out and pounded the ball against them (Thursday).
?On the defensive side we tackled well, and I was proud of the way we played. We got beat through the air a few times, but we have a few guys out (with other sports) that will help our defensive secondary in the fall, so we didn?t expect to be at full speed there.
?But our guys are scrappy, and they showed they?re not going to lay down against anybody. That?s something that really excites me about this team, and about next season.?
The Pioneers will continue to work in the weight room during the rest of the school year and summer months leading up to preseason drills, and have their annual ?Lift-a-thon? fundraiser scheduled for May 12 at the Charlie Dalton Gym.