Breydan Lewis breaks away from a tackler during Tuesday’s Blue-White scrimmage. The Monarchs have been working this week toward Saturday’s preseason scrimmage at Hilliard Bradley.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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The preseason is the time for football coaches to evaluate talent, put in new offensive and defensive packages/schemes and correct mistakes heading toward the regular campaign.
The Marysville High School gridiron staff got a good look at its team Tuesday during the Blue-White scrimmage.
The results were predictable for the preseason. The coaches saw some good things and others that need work.
“The scrimmage went pretty well,” said head coach Brent Johnson. “The kids battled each other and played fast.”
The teams were picked by the coaching staff prior to the start of camp.
“We tried to split the lettermen and seniors and make the teams as even as possible,” said Johnson. “Our only goal was to make sure both teams were fair.
“I feel they were evenly matched and no one should read anything into which team a particular player was on.”
Johnson said he was pleased with both teams’ offense.
“Both teams were able to sustain drives and get the ball into the red zone,” he said. “We never want to see negative-yardage plays and we want to consistently move the sticks.
“We got the ball in a lot of kids’ hands today,” said Johnson. “No one player really stood out.
“One thing that jumped out to me, however, was the fact that we have to learn to finish (drives) once we get into the red zone.”
Johnson said the defense for both teams gave up a few long runs, but responded well once the opposing offense moved inside the 20-yard-line.
“I was happy to see our offense move the ball, but I don’t want our defense to give up long runs,” he said. “In a scrimmage type of situation, there is some give-and-take. It’s like ‘who am I rooting for?’”
While there are still areas that need to be tweaked, Johnson feels the Monarchs are making progress.
“I told the coaches that we are so much better than we were last week,” he said. “The guys are starting to pick up on their assignments and are beginning to understand the big picture and our concepts.
“We made some mistakes, but we will get those corrected,” said Johnson. “We wanted to go into the scrimmage and play fast and hard. That’s what we did.”
The Monarchs will get their first test against someone other than themselves when they travel to Hilliard Bradley for a 10 a.m. scrimmage on Saturday.
What will Johnson be looking for at that time?
The answer can be summed up in one simple word… physicality.
“Hilliard Bradley is a very good team with a lot of veterans,” said Johnson. “I want to see and know that our kids will be willing to go out and smack them.
“I want to see a lot of effort and I want to see the kids be physical.”