Kosciusko held its intra squad scrimmage last Friday in place of a preseason jamboree after a late Cleveland Central cancellation.
Despite not playing against a different opponent, Kosciusko coach Kelly Causey said his team was still able to receive valuable work and reps during the live game simulation.
“I think we got a lot out of it,” Causey said. “I was very pleased with the way the kids bounced around and got after it. We went full live, and I thought they did a good job. I definitely think we got a lot out of it, and I was pleasantly pleased about that.”
Causey said quarterback Ethan Wood flashed good chemistry with Kosciusko wide receivers, and offensive linemen Paul Wood and Lucas Price were solid up front. Defensive tackle Davonta Turner capped a good week of practice with an impressive showing on Friday. Collectively, the Whippets received praise for their efforts.
“It was more of a group effort than anything,” Causey said of scrimmage standouts. “As a group, we showed good progress more than just somebody jumping out at me.”
This week, Kosciusko enters full game mode as the Whippets host Yazoo County on Thursday. The lack of a preseason scrimmage opponent puts Kosciusko behind the Panthers in terms of preparation, which Causey and his coaching staff will work on addressing this week at practice.
“Being that we haven’t had the game situations, it’s going to be a big transition for us since we didn’t get a chance with the cancellation of the jamboree,” Causey said. “I think it’s really going to be a learning curve there early. We feel like we have people in the right situations, but you never know until you actually go against somebody in a different color jersey.”
Causey expects to battle the typical first-game struggles with penalties and turnovers but said he and his coaches have worked with the team to limit those possibilities during the summer and at fall camp.
“We’ve done a good job with our evaluation of our kids and what position they should be in so, so we won’t have as much as that, but we do expect that the first game,” Causey said.
Yazoo County went 5-6 last year and finished with a 3-2 record in Region 3-3A contests. The Panthers were defeated 34-6 by Water Valley in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. They added wide receiver Corey Rucker in the offseason. Rucker has verbally committed to South Alabama.
“They have some weapons over there,” Causey said. “They have a running back who they moved to receiver, I think he had 1,200 or 1,300 rushing yards last year. They lost a lot of lineman from the previous year, but overall, they looked like they were a solid team.”
