Published: August 14, 2008 11:54 pm            

Coaches looking for execution in scrimmage

TERRE HAUTE — Most high school football fans in Indiana can see their 2008 teams in action for the first time tonight in a controlled scrimmage format.

And if those fans are happy about seeing a new version of their favorite team, they’re probably no happier than the players who get to see a new face across the line of scrimmage.

“We’d like to see [the Knights] show some enthusiasm and emotion … some excitement about playing against another opponent,” said coach George Gettle of Northview, for example.

Gettle’s Knights will be traveling to Vigo County today to face Terre Haute South in the only home competition in the bi-county area. Terre Haute North and West Vigo are on the road at Decatur Central and North Montgomery, respectively.

All three scrimmages begin at 7 p.m.

South, after a 2-8 season last year in Mark Raetz’s first season as head coach, will be using this evening as an evaluation period.

“There are some spots still up for grabs,” Raetz said this week, “so we want to see who will emerge.

“And we’re playing a lot of young guys. For some of our sophomores, it will be their first varsity experience and we want to see how they respond,” the coach continued.

“We also have guys in new spots [notably among them junior quarterback Bryn Schwartz], so we want to see how they do.”

“This is kind of the culmination of the two-a-day [practices],” said Gettle, whose team finished 6-4 last year and won the Western Indiana Conference championship. “We’d like to come out and see our kids execute what they’ve been working on.”

Fans planning to attend the Northview-South scrimmage are also invited to a Jonah fish fry at South that will be served from 3:30 to 6:30. Cost is $7 for adults, $4 for children 10 or younger.

Both the Patriots and Vikings will be warming up for the season tonight against potential sectional opponents — and sectional opponents who fared better in tournament play a year ago.

It was Decatur Central, in fact, that ended North’s 3-8 season in the sectional semifinals last year. The Hawks’ win at that time was their eighth in a row after an 0-3 start, although they lost the following week to top-10 team and sectional winner Columbus North.

“The main things I want to see [tonight] are No. 1, our defensive line — that’s where we have the most question marks, and we need to solidify who will be starting there — and No. 2, depth,” said coach Chris Barrett of the Patriots. “Who is backing up who, and finding new people to step up.

“We need to develop some confidence,” Barrett continued, “and you get that by competing against other people … other than that I just want to see the execution of our offense and defense.”

West Vigo lost to another Montgomery County team, Crawfordsville, to end a 4-6 campaign last year, while North Montgomery beat Southmont in the first round before losing a two-point game to Brebeuf for a final record of 6-5.

“Year-in, year-old [the Chargin’ Chargers] are a good program,” coach Jeff Cobb of the Vikings said this week. “We always know we’ll get a nice test [against them].”

The Vikings will line up one of the most experienced teams Cobb has enjoyed in his tenure there, but are hoping to find some additional depth in tonight’s action.

“We just want to see as many kids as we can in a game-time situation,” he said, “and play against somebody else.”

All four teams begin regular-season play on Aug. 22. Northview has the only home game among the four that night, meeting Franklin, while North will be at Castle, South at Bloomington South and West Vigo at Beech Grove.

        

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