Every local team hopes to come out of its preseason scrimmage injury free. It’s the first opportunity for football teams to hit someone other than a teammate, and the only tuneup before the start of the regular season.
And the long-awaited regular season starts tonight. Most of the area coaches believed their teams performed adequately, although every positive was mitigated by something that needs improvement.
In Norwich last weekend, Sherburne-Earlville and Bainbridge-Guilford joined the four-way scrimmage that also included Whitney Point. Some area teams have year-to-year rivalries such as Greene vs. Oxford and Bainbridge-Guilford vs. Oxford. Sherburne-Earlville, who is entering its tenth season in Section III, has not played any local teams other than UV-Edmeston since its shift to conference play up north. One could see the intensity lift when the Marauders exchanged blows with B-G, and especially Norwich. “There was some pretty good hitting,” said S-E coach Mike Jasper. “(Norwich) got us for one play early in their series, but after that, we did pretty well. We had the ball for a short series on offense, but weren’t able to do much.”
Norwich coach John Martinson asked just one thing of his team: To play physical. Did the Norwich team please its coach? “We had great intensity, and the coaching staff was pretty pleased with how hard the kids played,” Martinson said. “The scrimmage was helpful for us.”
Bainbridge-Guilford, the smallest school at the scrimmage, had varying amounts of success. “I was pretty pleased with the way it went,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly. “Our first series against Norwich, I though their defense smacked us in the mouth pretty good. Then we did okay. We were working on our basic stuff, and just trying to get better at that.”
Oxford had perhaps the toughest test matching up against Chenango Forks and Vestal. None of the teams flashed anything deeper than the first few pages of their playbook, and the Oxford defense met the challenge of the physically bigger Golden Bears and Blue Devils. “They hit us (Vestal and Chenango Forks) with a couple of things we haven’t seen before, but overall, the defense played pretty well,” said Oxford first-year coach, Ray Dayton. “The defense will probably be our strong suit, at least early in the year.”
A couple of changes in the schedule were made from when Section IV originally released the 2011 schedules earlier this year. Unadilla Valley-Edmeston was supposed to host Bainbridge-Guilford tonight. Instead, the game was moved to B-G. Also, Oxford’s home game against Unatego tonight was shifted to the Spartans’ home site.
Below are previews of this week’s opening slate of games
UV-Edmeston at Bainbridge-Guilford, Friday, 7 p.m.
The Storm come into the a season as somewhat of an unknown quantity. These days, it is the norm for opposing team scouts to take in scrimmages. UV-E, due to a scheduling problem, did not play in a scrimmage last weekend. “I do know that they have good numbers out for the team, and they have some good size,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly. “I also know their new coach is a Walton grad, so we’re expecting some Walton stuff on offense and defense.”
The Bobcats sealed last year’s opening-game victory with a late score from Billy Holden. Holden figures to be the offensive workhorse for the Bobcats at running back. Too, quarterback Corbin Palmer has already shown a fine rapport with 6-foot-4 receiver Ryan Porter.
Oxford at Unatego, Friday 7 p.m.
From last week’s scouting, Oxford coach Ray Dayton ascertained that the Spartans will attempt to utilize starting quarterback Tyler Butler in every possible way. “He runs it, he throws it,” Dayton said. “Everything the do on offense they try to run through him.”
