Down and dirty: Lancaster has quality first scrimmage against Watterson and Grove City

COLUMBUS – Just like every first scrimmage, the Lancaster football team looked good in certain areas and struggled at times in others. However, the fact the Golden Gales were able to go against someone else after two weeks of practicing against each other was a welcome sight.

Lancaster traveled to Watterson Saturday morning for a three-way scrimmage against the Eagles and Grove City, and overall, the Gales got exactly what they wanted out of it. Watterson reached the Division III state title game a year ago, and Grove City is one of the top passing teams in Central Ohio, so in that regard, they went against two quality teams.

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“For me personally, I was really excited to go out and put some guys on the ground,” senior linebacker Cody McCoy said. “This was our first opportunity to compete against another team, full-go, tackling, and I think as a team, we were all excited to get out here and compete. It got a little chippy, but we are a competitive team, and we are not going to go and lose easily, we are going to fight.”

Plays were scripted, and coaches were on the field, so it wasn’t played like game situations. The offense and defense took turns on the field for a certain amount of time, and more than anything, the Gales made it a point to rotate in a lot of different players.

“Schematically, for us, we just wanted to get as many reps in as we could for a lot of different guys. We didn’t move the ball as well as we wanted to, but we really focused on getting our reps and focused on things we wanted to get better at because we knew we were going be able to line up and punch the ball when we want to, but today was all about getting as many reps as we could.”

For the coaches, it gave them a better idea of who can play on Friday nights and who can’t. The objective was to play as many guys as they could and see how they would react under the gun.

“We are rotating guys every couple of plays because we have to figure out who can play and who fits and who doesn’t,” Lancaster coach Bryan Schoonover said. “I thought the guys that were in and got reps, there is a distinct difference of who knows what is going on and who doesn’t right now. For me, I just wanted to see how we could be challenged, mentally. In scrimmages like this, we will script plays and do what we do.

“I just want to see when we line up, are we executing? When we had our true ones in, I thought we executed well, but once we started rotations, you could see where there was a depth issue and confusion set in.”

Up Next

The Gales will hit the road again in the final scrimmage as they make a long trip to West Holmes next Friday night. It will be played, at least for a half, like real game situations.

Lancaster was scheduled to host a Meet the Team night at Fulton Field Saturday night.

Lancaster, which has six home games this season, will start the year by hosting Akron North on Aug. 23, and have another home game against Wayne Valley (NJ) in Week Two before hitting the road at Marysville on Sept. 6.

There are only three nonconference games this season, thanks to Logan and Teays Valley joining the Ohio Capital Conference-Buckeye Division to bring the league total of teams to eight.

Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or via email at twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @twil2323.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Down and dirty: Lancaster has quality first scrimmage against Watterson and Grove City