Scotland football hosts four-team scrimmage at SHS

LAURINBURG —Scotland football hosted their rescheduled four-team scrimmage on Wednesday night at Pate Stadium. The event was originally supposed to be held last Friday but ended up being moved due to flooding from Tropical Storm Debby and not having enough practices under North Carolina state rules.

The Fighting Scots competed against the Cape Fear Colts, East Bladen Eagles and Union Spartans. Unlike prior seven on seven practices held earlier this summer, there were officials, full pads and contact with 11 players competing against 11.

The field was split in half with two schools matched up from their 40-yard line to the endzone while the other two scrimmaged simultaneously on the other side of the field for a 15-minute running clock. Each team played against the other three at some point. After that portion of the scrimmage, it was East Bladen vs Union followed by Scotland and Cape Fear using the full field for a true game situation with the clock stopping among other things.

The Scots started the night against Cape Fear, the best of the teams according to Head Coach Richard Bailey. Both teams scored touchdowns on their first offensive possession before later drives stalled out. Junior Jesse Clifton made a few plays as the starting tight end with Wyatt Locklear out due to an injury suffered in practice. Spreading the ball around to everyone is something Bailey is aware will be beneficial for the offense moving forward.

“We try to spread it out a little bit, we have a lot of good players,” Bailey said. “We don’t want to be a one trick pony, we need to spread it around and get the ball in a lot of people’s hands.”

Bailey however wasn’t too happy with how they performed against the Colts in the true game situation later in the night. They didn’t pick up a first down until the fourth series which Bailey gave credit to Cape Fear’s defense but knows there’s some fundamentals that need improvement.

“Cape Fear did a pretty good job of stymying us especially in that game situation,” Bailey said. “We had some problems with pass protection and route running, there’s some basic things we got to get better at and we have a lot of coaching to do.”

Against the other teams, Scotland had plenty of success on offense with quarterback Ji’san Mcphatter connecting with Quatavius Everette for multiple touchdowns throughout the night and hitting his other playmakers for several big plays. The rushing attack also had some big runs against Union. Bailey admitted that they were focusing on their passing game but knows the need to have balance if they want to have a good offense.

“I think we have the capability to be an explosive offense, we hit some big plays and had some good moments,” Bailey said. “We didn’t run the ball a whole lot but at the end of the day we’re going to have to run the football to get that balance.”

On the defensive side of the ball, Scotland played with a lot of physicality. That being said, Bailey said there was a lot of work to do with tackling being an area he was particularly concerned with.

“It’s good to play against somebody else but we got a long way to go defensively,” Bailey said. “We got to do a much better job tackling and still have to get a lot tougher.”

Heading into the season Bailey is still searching for an answer at inside linebacker after Malcom Mcgirt’s graduation left a big hole in the middle of his defense and Tytan Mccallum’s injury further complicating matters. Bailey gave some credit to Sonny Baker and Keyshaun Mcqueen for some of the plays they made that ultimately prevented more big plays and touchdowns against.

The Scots’ defense typically struggled at first before settling in and making stops against their various opponents. It was a mix of some big plays against but a lot of nice run stops as well. That inconsistency is some Bailey said was due to not being prepared and a lack of film.

“It’s more a lack of preparation than anything else,” Bailey said. “We didn’t have a lot of film on anybody, so we were kind of winging it a little bit and with some young guys playing new positions that’s not easy to do.”

Bailey ultimately kept an even keeled “it’s never as good as you think and it’s never as bad as you think,” mindset as his team moves ahead. His team will have a short turnaround as they head to Dillon for another scrimmage with Hartsville on Friday night. Their season opener is next Friday, Aug. 23 back in Dillon against the Wildcats.