Fairbanks head football coach Patrick Cotter gives instructions to players during a recent scrimmage. The Pantehrs will host Jonathan alder for the Jamboree scrimmage on Friday.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Football coaches are constantly striving to find improvement in their teams.
Fairbanks High school head coach Patrick Cotter is no different.
To that end, Cotter was pleased by what he saw from his squad after Saturday’s preseason scrimmage at Urbana High School.
“We saw improvement in most areas over what we saw last Tuesday against Amanda Clearcreek,” said Cotter.
“The biggest improvement came in our communication on the field and the way we ran to the football on defense,” he said. “We also tackled much better than we did during our first scrimmage when we got to the football.”
Cotter said he liked what he saw from senior linebacker Charlie Scheiderer, who saw his first scrimmage action of the preseason.
“Charlie was out a week with an ankle injury,” said the coach. “Tyler Beam also looked good at defensive end, as did our safeties, Nate Timmons and Josh Day.”
Cotter also saw improvement on the offensive side of the football, especially with the passing game.
“Everything was just a little bit sharper and went along a little more seamlessly,” he said.
That could have been due to what Cotter described as improved offensive line play. He cited Sam Rengert, Billy Bodey, Dakota Key, Ethan Chippas and Matt Bouic for their work in the trenches.
While Cotter saw overall improvement from his team, he knows there are still things that need to be fine-tuned.
“It’s still the same old thing,” he said. “Defensively, we have to become great tacklers and we have to solidify some rotation spots on both offense and defense.”
Cotter said there are still a couple of players being looked at for receiver positions, including Beam, Will Cochrane, Braylon Green and Timmons.
Green and Justin Wolfe are also in the running for a linebacker spot.
The Panthers will return home for their final preseason work on Friday at 7 p.m. when they host neighboring Jonathan Alder for their Jamboree (game conditions) scrimmage.
“There won’t be any coaches on the field for that scrimmage,” said Cotter. “We want to see how well the guys do with what we’ve implemented.
“We want to start fast and be great on both sides of the ball,” he said. “We’re going to make mistakes, but we hope to minimize them.”