Scrimmages next for prep teams

With a week and a half of practice under their helmets, area high school football players get a chance to block and tackle someone besides their own teammates this week.

Casa hosts Piner

Casa Grande’s Gauchos will host Piner in a controlled scrimmage Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Prospectors are coached by former Casa assistant coach John Antonio.

Casa capped off its first week of practice with a lively inter-squad scrimmage. “It went well,” Gaucho coach Trent Herzog noted. “There were more penalties than I would have liked, but we didn’t turn the ball over in 100 plays.”

Gaucho coaches used their entire roster, giving everyone a chance to play and the coaches a chance to evaluate the players. “A lot of backs carried the ball and a lot of different people caught passes,” the coach said. “The game-like experience for some of the newer players is huge.”

Herzog said he was pleased with the play of all three quarterback candidates - senior Brent Egger, junior JJ Anderson and sophomore Frank Gawronski.

He also liked what he saw from the defense. “The first-team defense looked really good,” he observed.

On the other hand, he noted that the veteran offensive line looked a bit ragged considering its experience. “I thought the first team offensive line could have played a little better,” he said.

Four-way at Petaluma

Petaluma High’s Trojans will host Montgomery, Maria Carrillo and San Marin for a four-way scrimmage at Steve Ellison Field Friday, starting with the junior varsities at 5 p.m.

Petaluma will scrimmage Montgomery and Maria Carrillo.

Trojan coach Rick Krist said the first week of practice ended on a high note with a spirited inter-squad scrimmage, but the first four days were a little frustrating.

“The kids looked tired,” he said. “We accomplished what we wanted, but they looked tired. They have to get over the hump and remain focused the whole practice.”

Things picked up during the scrimmage.

“It was a good scrimmage,” Krist said. “The JV group did really well, considering their lack of numbers.”

There were some outstanding plays in the varsity scrimmage from both the offense and defense.

“Some kids really stood out,” Krist noted, “but we’re going to need everyone to step up.

“I hope they are ready this week. We have to face two good NBL teams.”

SV scrimmage Friday

St. Vincent will hold its first scrimmage Friday at 5 p.m.

Mustang coach Gary Galloway said his team had a “great” first week of practice.

“We had 28 of our 30 players out every day,” he said, adding that they were all in good shape. “We had a core of about 20 working out every day this summer.”

Galloway is looking forward to getting the season started.

“I’m very excited about this team,” he said. “It could be a pretty good year for us.”

The head coach said there is a bit of a learning curve as the Mustangs adjust to new offensive coordinator Jim Cerf, who is replacing Taylor Galloway. “We’ll still run the same formations, but there are some changes,” the head coach said.

A pleasant change for the Mustangs, is the presence of 13 linemen, meaning not only are there enough players to fill out the line, but there will be enough so that the same players don’t have to play on both sides of scrimmage for the entire game, a luxury some past St. Vincent teams haven’t had.”