Pioneers wrap spring with storm-shortened scrimmage vs. Raiders
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Taking on Cleveland High School’s Raiders in a scrimmage to mark the end of their two-weeks of spring drills, the Pioneers were trailing by a touchdown at Nunley Stadium when thunderstorms moved into the area, forcing players off the field and ending their night early.
Despite the quick halt to their session, head coach Chris Madewell said he was pleased with what he saw out of the Pioneers Friday night.
‘I felt like they looked pretty good,’ he said. ‘I was proud of the way they played. We looked solid on defense, especially up front, and offensively we were able to move the ball.’
The scrimmage consisted of each team’s first-string offensive units beginning at the 30-yard line and running plays in a normal down-and-distance mode. The Pioneers stopped Cleveland on its opening set, stuffing three running plays behind the line of scrimmage and batting away a pass to force a turnover on downs.
Taking over on offense with Bradley Steg under center, Warren County debuted its new veer offensive set, and a combination of runs by Caleb Northcutt, Morgan Wilcher and some key completions by Steg helped them move downfield. Northcutt got the call on fourth-and-1, and scored the game’s first touchdown on an 11-yard run.
Madewell said he was happy with the way his backfield performed.
‘We’ve got some guys in the backfield that can hit the holes quick, and moving some things around in our formations helped them get their even quicker,’ he said. ‘Both quarterbacks (Steg and Michael Thrower) did real good jobs making their reads, and they showed a lot of promise.’
The Pioneer defense made several big plays throughout the remainder of the scrimmage, including quarterback sacks by Casey Dunn and Kyrie Harris and an interception by Thrower. But big plays proved to be successful for the Raiders, who scored on a 73-yard reverse and later hit for another touchdown on a 47-yard running play.
Warren County had taken back over on offense, and Steg had just completed a pass for a first down, when lightning along the horizon forced an early end to the scrimmage.
The Pioneers will continue off-season conditioning from now to the July dead period, and will return to the field to begin preparation for the 2008 season.