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Albany outscores Hawley in first scrimmage

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By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lion varsity football squad made a good first showing last Thursday during a scrimmage against the Bearcats in Hawley.

The Lions scored three times to one during the controlled portion of the scrimmage, and they outscored the Bearcats 21-6 in the live quarter.

Albany will open the regular season on Friday at Robert Nail Stadium against the visiting Colorado City Wolves. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.

Albany fans will not have to worry much about gaining entrance to the stadium even though attendance is limited to 50 percent of capacity, which will set the allowed number of fans on the home side at 1,000 and 270 on the visitors’ side.

Admission fees have been waived for all home games this season as part of an effort to limit person-to-person contact at the ticket window. However, a donation bucket will be at the gate to help the school pay for the expenses of the game, such as paying for referees and utilities.

 “We aren’t taping off seats on the home side since it is so large,” superintendent Jonathan Scott said. “There is plenty of room for people to spread out and observe social distancing.”

Masks will not be required since there are fewer than 20 active cases in the county, but school officials are urging fans to be responsible and limit contact with others and wear masks, especially in crowed areas such as the restrooms and concession stand.

Blocks of seats will be taped off on the visitors side to promote social distancing.

C-City to Visit

The season is once again starting with a non-district bout against Colorado City. The Wolves dropped to Class 2A-Div. I, while the Lions remained in Class 2A-Div. II.

“They have a young team this year,” head football coach Denney Faith said. “We don’t know much about them yet, but they will be different from teams we have seen in the past.”

The coach said the Wolves will be running a spread offense rather than the option game. He expects the defense to be the same aggressive style as in prior years.

“In the past, this has been a very good team to open our season against, and we are expecting another good game this time,” Faith said. 

The JV Lions will travel to Colorado City for a 6:00 p.m. game on Thursday (today). Due to size of their stadium, no limitations have been placed on the capacity, and tickets will be available at the gate.

Faith Happy 

with Scrimmage

The coach said that he was very pleased overall with the way the Lions performed in Hawley last week.

“This was our first live action of the season, and we were a little slow in the first set,” he said. “But we were able to catch up with the speed of the game quickly. The kids responded well.”

The coach said that the team played with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement on the field.

“After three long weeks of practice, it was good to finally have an opponent,” he said. “The guys were really excited to get on the field again.”

The coach said the Lions still have things to work on.

“There is plenty to still work on,” he said. “We didn’t tackle like we needed to. We played hard, but we have to finish on defense too.”

Offensively, the coach said the Lions need to stay with blocks longer, along with working on the ball exchange between the center and quarterback.

“We had some bad snaps and our timing was off, but overall, I was pleased,” he said.

The Albany JV also brought back an unofficial victory, outscoring their opponents three touchdowns to one.