Fairbanks High School head football coach Patrick Cotter was like a pilot flying blind in a fog without instruments when he talked about this Friday’s season-opening opponent.
“I don’t have any clues about Springfield Catholic Central,” said Cotter. “They didn’t scrimmage on Friday, so I don’t have any film on them.”
The Panthers will kick off the COVID-19 abbreviated regular season on the road at SCC.
The Irish have a new head coach and Cotter said the Panthers are going into the action with no scouting report.
“We’re going into this game blind and that’s what every football coach hates,” he said.
A look at a limited SCC roster from the Internet revealed that one of the seniors on the Irish squad is Shauntre Hoefer (running back-outside linebacker).
Other than that, not much could be garnered on the Irish squad.
Cotter, however, is confident in the ability of his own team.
“We have a very good offensive and defensive line play during the preseason and both of our quarterbacks (Ethan Kise and AJ Landon) have looked very good,” he said.
The Panther boss said he liked, for the most part, what he saw during Friday evening’s home scrimmage against neighboring Jonathan Alder.
“We were very physical and we forced them into some punts,” said Cotter.
“It was our first scrimmage together,” he said. “As such, we made some mistakes with our blocking and tackling.
“However, those are mistakes we can correct this week in practice.”
With so little known about the Irish, the Panthers will have to rely on what they do best.
“We’re just going to have to follow our rules and fundamentals,” said Cotter. “The guys have to trust in our system.
“If everyone does their job on offense, defense and special teams, we can compete with anyone on our schedule.”