Two weeks of fall practice down, two more to go for the Siloam Springs football team.
The Panthers wrapped up their 10th practice of the summer Friday with a intrasquad scrimmage, and players and coached liked what they saw.
"It was fun," senior linebacker Dylan Land. "It was preparing us for what we're going to see. Let us know what we've got to change, what we've got to fix, what we're good at and what we're weak at."
Head coach Bryan Ross said he choose to hold a scrimmage on Friday to end the week with something fun for his players.
"To me, this is how you get in shape," Ross said of the scrimmage. "I don't think you can get in shape going through drill work and all that. I think you get in shape playing football."
Ross said the varsity offense played 30 straight snaps at one point before receiving a break.
"I thought that we looked pretty good really," Ross said. "Offense had a few plays and defense had some stops. Probably the only real negative was we had a few penalties. But that's to be expected, too. That's not to excuse it. We've got to limit that. That will come with more time. All in all I've been pretty pleased."
The Panthers, who practiced in the afternoon all last week, return to school on Monday and will move to their normal school schedule.
"It's a shorter practice than we've been doing, but it's more intense," said senior wide receiver Zane Washington. "At the end of the school day, it's a great way to finish."
Washington said he's looking forward to getting back into the school routine.
"When you're sitting at home not doing anything, you're going to be sluggish at practice," he said. "When you're in (school), you're going to be busy."
Ross said he's looking forward to the routine the start of school brings.
"You want to get in a routine," he said. "Our kids, they come to practice. We don't have too many that have missed a lot. The ones that have missed, they're way behind and I'll talk to them on Monday. We have our football team as far as I'm concerned. We're just ready to get the new year kicked off.
The Panthers will have one more week of practice before they get to play another team. On Aug. 25, Siloam Springs will travel to Fort Smith Northside for its preseason scrimmage. A two-quarter junior varsity scrimmage is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. followed by a two-quarter varsity scrimmage.
"It won't be too long before we get to play somebody else," Ross said.
Land said the Panthers will be ready.
"When it comes closer to the scrimmage, we'll be getting more pumped once it comes to game time," he said.
Following the scrimmage, the Panthers will have four more days of practice before the beginning of the first game week against Rogers.
Ross said he expects the Panthers to wrap up fall camp with around 78 players.
"Somewhere in there," he said. "That's a good number. We're pleased with that for sure."
Sports on 08/17/2014