Goodbye 9-man football, hello 11-man football.
The Drumright football team started a three-way scrimmage against Chandler and Crooked Oak, a team near Del City. Coach Matt Ryan said, “We need to get more physical.”
“But I believe we will get better every week. We got tired by the second time we went on defense.”
A lot of teams are scrimmaging three total teams. One team will be on offense, while two teams rotate running plays against the defense. Then all three teams will be on defense that way in the scrimmage. Then there was an hourlong, clock-running scrimmage. That was like the scrimmages used to be.
I know Drumright ran 47 plays on offense, so they could have run close to 90 plays. Just guessing.
GarrettWrightandKyptanWardwerethetwoquarterbacks, with both of them running close to the same number of plays. Chandler, in 2A, played very physical (that was expected). Crooked Oak had a bunch of players. They could get excited at any time. They had a lot of speed. Crooked Oak used to be a powerhouse but has fallen on hard times. With over 40 players, good times could return.
Drumright played well at times. They did better against Crooked Oak, yet Crooked Oak seemed to do better against Chandler. Drumright’s tackling in the open field was bad. Coach Ryan said they’ll work on a lot this next week.
Good defensive plays were made by Andrew Dennis, Garrett Wright, Sammy Blackburn, Howard Wright, Keegan Ward, Kypton Ward, Zaidon “Blue” Stewart and Anthony Fisher. Jay Paul Welch got valuable time also.
I don’t know all the names yet, but I will. The House brothers, how could I forget Connal Reed, Aiden Coppelt and BB Barber, who blocked a player for 10 yards downfield. Austin Tull, William Stump, Cane Hollabaugh and Dalton Collins. There were two more names I will get.
Keegan Ward scored Drumright’s touchdown on a 45-yard run. Sammy Blackburn caught four passes, including one for 16 yards. Reed caught two passes, Zaidon “Blue” Stewart had one catch and Cane Hollabaugh had one catch. Peachy carried the ball three times for good yardage.
Chandler scored long touchdowns all night. The Tornadoes ended the game looking like they had been in a huge battle. It was only a scrimmage against Chandler, but the Tornadoes play teams like No. 1 Talihina, Weleetka this week at 7 p.m. Friday — check with the school — Regent Prep, Central Sallisaw, Gore and Barnsdall. Who knows what the other teams will be like?
Drumright coaches are Mark Ryan, head coach; Moses Williams, offensive coordinator; Hunter Kirby, defensive coordinator; Kevin Gooch; and James Osterhout.
Blackburn and Garrett Wright both had interceptions.