Football holds scrimmage

The Comanche Indians got to put on the pads and do a little hitting last Friday in the annual Red-White scrimmage.

“I was happy with it,” said coach Casy Rowell. “I thought everybody played pretty well. The young guys surprised me a lot. I thought they stepped in and did a good job. You can never really tell sometimes in junior high how they are going to develop.”

The coach thought the freshmen mixed in well with the seniors.

“They all held their own pretty well and did a pretty good job,” Rowell said. “That was good to see, especially for next year and the years to come. They’re a good little group that can keep it moving. Our veterans looked pretty solid for only a few days of practice.”

Rowell said the challenge for coaches was trying to find the balance on how quickly to bring the players along.

“We really couldn’t go too slow, but we really couldn’t go too fast either,” Rowell said. “We were figuring out how to show up Friday and function and I thought they all did pretty well.”

Looking for that balance will continue this week as the Indians prepare to take on a couple of teams at a scrimmage in Duncan.

“We’ve got to be ready to perform, but I don’t want to rush everything before the season,” Rowell said. “We need to keep improving, keep getting better without overwhelming them with too much information.”

The eighth and ninth graders will play at 5 p.m., followed by the junior varsity and then the varsity.

“I think the schedule has us playing Pauls Valley first and then Cache. At the end, we’ll do a regular quarter. I’m not too sure who we will play against, but I think it will be Pauls Valley.”

Rowell said the attitude of the players has been good in the early going.

“It’s been great so far,” Rowell said. “Everyone’s been doing what they need to do, working hard and the coaches are all in good spirits and they’re showing up and working hard.”

The junior high also got to scrimmage though they had not been out long enough to get in pads for their scrimmage.

“We really wanted to showcase for our fans and parents,” said Jack Francis, junior high coach. “These kids were excited all week to get to perform in front of their parents. Like I told the kids today, we’re very proud of what they overcame with the heat this past week and to learn a lot. We still have plenty of kids that are on vacation and everything but the kids that came out today did well.”