BIG SPRING – The Greenwood Rangers football teams took on the Big Spring Steers in the first scrimmages of the season last Friday night in Big Spring at memorial Stadium. “Overall, I thought we saw some good things,” said coach Rusty Purser. “The ninth-grade group looked really solid and played well throughout their scrimmage. Several guys made plays and really showed that they are a talented group of kids. Our junior varsity played well on the first couple of possessions but struggled a little bit after we got tired. It will be crucial for them to continue growing as a group and work to be in better shape physically. Our varsity showed some sparks, we forced some turnovers defensively that would have been big in a real football game. I thought our kids played better as the scrimmage wore on, so I believe we are where we need to be as far as our conditioning goes, but we need to lessen our mental mistakes.”
When discussing the varsity’s offense Purser added, “The offense did some good things, it is difficult to utilize our full offense when everything is on set plays instead of continued drives. I thought we performed much better in the live portion of the scrimmage than in the set plays because of our ability to utilize tempo. We are still working to find the right fits on our offensive line, so we need to see marked improvement over the next week.” Greenwood’s defense was lights out getting four interceptions and forcing two fumbles. “The defense honestly played very much as expected,” said Purser. “Our linebackers and secondary were making plays, but the defensive line needs to develop into a bigger factor. I expect significant improvement this week with that unit.” Greenwood will be heading to Denver City on Thursday for its final scrimmage of the season.
Purser said this week’s focus will “learn to be more physical at the point of attack across the fronts and continue our development within the passing game.”