Marysville’s Chase Kilgore (7) picks up yardage during Saturday morning’s preseason scrimmage against Hilliard Bradley.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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A good many athletes are being looked at to fill spots in the Marysville High School varsity football lineup.
They were on the auditioning stage Saturday morning when the Monarchs hosted Hilliard Darby for their first preseason scrimmage of the 2018 campaign.
“I think we ran the ball pretty well,” said second-year head coach Brent Johnson. “We used 11 different running backs and they all looked good.”
Bodie Eberhart, Mike Powers, Chase Kilgore and Connor Kennedy were among the Monarchs who carried the ball from the line of scrimmage.
“Running back is a very competitive position for us,” said Johnson. “It’s a nice ‘problem’ to have… we have a lot of good backs from which to pick and choose.”
The Monarch boss also felt his defensive unit performed well when the Jaguars kept the ball on the ground.
“Our guys defended the run well,” he said.
The defensive area that still needs work is the secondary.
“We used nine defensive backs,” said Johnson, referring to the other spot on the team that is looking at a number of athletes. “We want to see who can do what.”
Johnson said the Monarchs have a number of younger players among the secondary.
He did say that Eberhart and Michael Bonzak, a pair of seniors, looked strong.
“Bodie was our most consistent in the secondary during the scrimmage and Michael played well at safety,” said Johnson.
“We have to work on defending the pass,” he said. “We gave up four long bombs.
“This was a good first scrimmage because it showed us what we need to work on,” said Johnson. “We need to work on our alignment and be disciplined with our eyes in defending against the pass.
“It was a physical scrimmage and the guys played hard,” he said. “We will continue to progress.”
The Monarchs will travel to Hilliard Bradley on Friday for the 7 p.m. Jamboree scrimmage.
The team will then kick off the regular season on Friday, Aug. 24, when Jonathan Alder invades Monarch Stadium.