This past Monday’s GHS scrimmage at Fayetteville was quite revealing, but not in a good way. According to Bulldogs' Head Coach Rick Jones, his team performed poorly, though they played better toward the end against probably the best 7A team in the state.
Despite an abrupt and unexpected coaching change late last spring, the Fayetteville Purple Dogs are picked #1 in 7A by Hooten's Arkansas Football, and are favored to repeat as state champions again this year under new head coach Bill Blankenship. From Oklahoma, Blankenship and Jones have known each other for 25 years.
"It's a practice situation with the clock running and game officials," said Jones. "You hope to have opportunities to do [things] you might not get to [do] in regular [practice], like getting a holding penalty and facing first down and 20, or having the defense go out there after a quick three-and-out or a turnover. We had three turnovers in the first half. It was ridiculous. We had two fumbles and an interception."
According to Jones, both teams committed five turnovers during the scrimmage. "Both of us were a little bit sloppy. Their first offense was really sharp. We gave up first downs. We couldn't get them off the field and [our offense] couldn't stay on the field. It was the nightmare scenario when you're in the hurry-up, no-huddle offense, when you can't make first downs.
"When you can't make first downs, it's ugly, because all you do is put your defense under horrible pressure. We went three-and-out probably six times in a row. It was just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and they're right back on the field.
"To me, the positive of the whole scrimmage was our defense just kept firing. They actually played better toward the end than they did at the beginning. [Fayetteville's] quarterback is really good, and they have some really good receivers, and they hit some stuff on us. But our guys just kept battling and kept fighting."
Jones also referred to the youth of his team. "At one time I looked out there and we had four sophomores on offense and four sophomores on defense," he said. "We just played a lot of kids and tried to keep them as fresh as possible."
As for the overall offensive performance, Jones was not happy. "It was ugly. It was not good at all. We didn't block, we didn't execute, we didn't throw to the right guy. It was a total team effort, and as a result we were hurting the other 11 guys on defense who were fighting their guts out. It was very disappointing to go out there offensively and start the way we did," said Jones.
The format allowed for two quarters of varsity play, followed by a junior varsity quarter, then a third varsity quarter, finishing up with another JV quarter. The Bulldogs regrouped offensively during the final varsity period, outscoring Fayetteville, though no official score was kept.
"We had some good drives," said Jones. "We threw some balls and caught some balls. Pass protection was better. But I was [most] pleased with the [defense]. We weren't afraid.
"My expectations were that we would play extremely hard and finish every play. We weren't perfect, but I thought that effort-wise our countenance didn't really change when things were going badly, and that's important. They seemed to have enough confidence in what they were doing.
"But we're going to figure it out, get better, and play a great game against Northside," said Jones of the season opener on September 2nd." Taking care of the football, working on fundamentals and technique, especially on the offensive line, are points of emphasis going forward.
Jones was also pleased to report that the Bulldogs came out of the scrimmage without any significant injuries.