Lions face Coleman in first scrimmage
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions wrap up their second week of preseason football practice with their first look at outside competition.
The Lions will scrimmage the Coleman Bluecats Friday, Aug. 11 at Coleman. The junior varsity portion will begin at 6:00 p.m. with the varsity to follow.
Lions head coach Denney Faith said the team had a productive first week of workouts, donning shells on Wednesday-Thursday, Aug. 2-3 and full pads for Friday, Aug. 4. The first week consisted of five days of noncontact drills and conditioning work. Faith said things pretty much went according to plan as players worked to get in shape.
“We got to see some things we were looking for,” he said.
Monday, Aug. 7 was the first day for contact work.
“It went well, although we didn’t go full contact,” Faith said. “We’re not doing anything live right now because we don’t want to take a chance on getting anybody injured early.”
The addition of contact was just one change from the opening week of practice to this week.
“Last week was just getting acclimated to the weather,” Faith said. “This week, we actually started to prepare for an opponent – not so much game situations, but looking at some things Coleman might try to do.”
Weather has been a key part of the first two weeks with temperatures well into the 90s during morning workouts. Heat becomes more of a factor with practices shifting to the afternoon on Wednesday, Aug. 9, as coaches attended in-service.
“We’re just getting players plenty of water and letting them take breaks when they need to,” Faith said.
Scrimmage
Faith said players and coaches are eager to take the field against an opponent.
“I think the guys are just excited to see something different,” he said. “We’re ready to see an opponent instead of each other.”
The JV portion of the scrimmage will see each team run 10 offensive plays with starters and 10 with backups. The varsities will run 15 plays with starters and 10 with reserves. Faith said coaches may extend the varsity segment depending on the conditions.
Possessions will start at the offense’s 30-yard line. Teams will have three plays to get a first down or restart at the 30. Drives that reach the opponent’s 30-yard line will be allowed to continue.
Coming Up
Faith announced the second scrimmage will be conducted Thursday, Aug. 17 at Early.
The Lions open the season Friday, Aug. 25 at Lubbock Trinity Christian. The first home game will be Friday, Sept. 1 against Dublin.
Faith said he is still looking for a JV opponent for the first week. He said if one cannot be found, the backup plan is to schedule a game for the week of Sept. 29, which is Albany’s open date.
