Thursday’s preseason scrimmage will bring a needed change of pace for the Apalachee High School football team.
The Wildcats, who host Archer Thursday at 7 p.m., have been involved in preseason work for some time and coach Shane Davis said the presence of another team will generate some spark.
“It’s always good to get live competition against someone else,” Davis said. “We want to look at a few things. We have some new kids we want to put in so they can experience game speed.”
The scrimmage will also give the backup players, who normally practice the opposition’s schemes, a chance to run their own plays.
The game will feature the varsity players for the first half followed by the junior varsity in the third quarter and the freshman in the final eight minutes.
“Two quarters for our varsity should be plenty,” Davis said. “We have a long season ahead of us with 10 tough games. We didn’t want to make it 11. This will be the same format we’ve used for preseason scrimmages since I’ve been here.”
The AHS coach said his team progressed last week and made the necessary adjustment to afterschool practices.
“It’s more of an adjustment for the players,” Davis said. “Before we had them for a couple of hours in the morning and then they were on their own. Now they are in school all day and then at practice. They don’t get home until supper time. They no longer have as many hours that belong just to them. I thought by the end of the week things got better.”
