Good, but could have been better was Ethel head football coach Dave McCrory’s assessment of his team’s play in jamboree scrimmages with Choctaw Central and Noxapater that concluded spring practice.
“We played well,” he said, but added, ”We didn’t do as well as we wanted. We did play two pretty good teams.”
Choctaw Central is a 3A school. Noxapater, like Ethel, a 1A school, won 10 games last fall.
“Our JV bunch looked good,” he said of a scrimmage with Choctaw Central. “Our varsity guys were able to move the ball. We just weren’t able to finish.”
On defense, McCrory said the Tigers did not do as good a job tackling as he might have wanted, but he added the effort was good.
“From a coaching standpoint, we did not game plan against the teams we played. We just wanted to get out there to play and not worry about the opponent.
“During the season, we would take a couple of films of our opponent to see now they line up to try to prepare. We did not do any of that because it was a spring game. We just showed up and played.”
Jace Dean, a 6-2, 210 pound rising junior, has been moved from linebacker and tight end to quarterback to fill a void created by the graduation of Kendal Dotson. “Jace did a good job,” McCrory said. “He was able to calm our guys down. He was a coach on the field.”
Dean had to leave the Noxapater scrimmage after he was poked in the eye. Scott Walters replaced him.
“He was able to get some valuable experience for the fall.”
Players who impressed include running back Luther Clark, receiver Izik Stewart, linebacker Lanerkes Davis and defensive back Hunter Quick. Stats were not kept, but McCrory said Clark had close to 100 yards on the ground.
Quick was a pleasant surprise. “He was able to come up and make several tackles,” McCrory said.
The Tigers will begin weight work May 28 from 8 to 10 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
There will be seven on seven scrimmages at Winona Christian June 11 and 18, at Winston Academy June 13, at Mississippi State June 15, at French Camp June 25 and at Kosciusko June 26. McCrory does not know who the opponent will be at MSU.
The 2019 season kicks off August 23 with a home game against West Lowndes.
