GREENWOOD – The Greenwood Rangers unofficially kicked off the season with Midnight Madness last Saturday. Players and coaches ran onto Purser Field at 12:01 a.m. for an intra-squad scrimmage at Greenwood High School.
The Rangers currently boast a roster of 125 players across the three teams (Varsity, Junior Varsity, Freshman).
This number is growing slowly each year as the Rangers have had between 110-115 players each of the last three years. Once school starts, there could be even more talented players come out to join the team. As for the scrimmage, there seemed to be an electricity in the air. “The scrimmage was an exciting way to kick things off,” said Greenwood coach Rusty Purser. “I was very impressed with the numbers of spectators that showed up to watch and support us.”
“Our 9th grade group looked really solid for this early, and they have tremendous numbers. The JV and Varsity both did some good things, but it was obvious that we still have plenty to work on,” added Purser. There have been a handful of Rangers making some noise in practice and during the scrimmage. “At the varsity level, Shawn Kelly really impressed. He is coming off a good Junior year, and he looked like the work he put in through the summer and offseason really paid off,” said Purser. “It was also great to see Aaron Fikes and Tylan Booker back out there at running back. They both suffered season ending injuries last year and have bounced back stronger.” The professional pickers at Dave Campbell’s Football Magazine and the Ranger coaching staff have high expectations for the Rangers in 2022.
“Our expectation is that we will have a very solid unit, capable of competing for a district championship and making a playoff run,’ said Purser. “I believe if we can stay healthy and continue to develop on the offensive and defensive lines we can get back to the level we played at in 2019. Our non-district schedule will test us every week, so we will certainly have multiple opportunities to measure up.”
Coming up on Friday, Aug. 12, will be a scrimmage against Big Spring at Memorial Stadium in Big Spring. An important time update, the freshman and junior varsity teams will start both start at 6 p.m. They will scrimmage at the same time on opposite ends of the field.
The varsity should begin around 7:15 p.m. after the conclusion both the freshman and junior varsity.