Fountain-Fort Carson and Pine Creek battle for a fumble during a scrimmage Thursday, July 31, 2014, at Brickman Stadium. Photo by Spotlight Sports Photography.
Finally. Almost-real football.
Class 4A defending state champion Pine Creek and Class 5A perennial playoff qualifier Fountain-Fort Carson went head to head on Thursday in a scrimmage at Fountain-Fort Carson.
This reporter’s diagnosis: Both teams like to hit.
The pads for both sides could be heard across the field as players slammed into each other.
Watch video of Pine Creek’s offense
No surprise, some of the early play was sloppy, but both coaches liked how their teams responded.
“We got punched in the mouth a little bit,” Pine Creek coach Todd Miller said. “I didn’t like the way we reacted our first 12 plays. I thought we settled down after that.”
Both teams open the season in Week Zero. Official practices for football start on Aug. 11. That gives both teams just 11 days of practice before the games become real.
Watch video of Fountain-Fort Carson’s offense
“When you’re playing Zero Week you have one less week to prepare,” Trojans coach Mitch Johnson said. “So we’ve been going during the summer with the offseason and our camp, and we wanted to make sure it was a good, intense day for us. Any time we have Pine Creek down it’s going to be an intense game.”
F-FC opens Aug. 22 against Columbine.
Pine Creek opens by hosting Pueblo Centennial the same night. The Eagles had 11 new players on offense for the scrimmage. (Starting quarterback Tommy Lazzaro was held out.) So getting them some work against another varsity squad was important.
“Just to get out here and go against someone else,” Miller said, “kind of get that going in the air of competing against a great team, fast team, very athletic, well coached, it brings your level up. We believe we get better going against teams that we think we’re outmatched a little bit athletically.”
The Trojans went 4-6 last season and are changing a few things this year, including lining up Stock Chenault under center.
“Both programs took a good step toward playing in Zero Week,” Johnson said. “That was the goal tonight, make sure it was full speed, full contact, getting after it.”
And the hitting part? Everyone could see how much the players enjoyed it.
“Oh, yeah, I know these guys are tired of their guys and we’re tired of our guys,” Johnson said. “It was great just to go against another program. The intensity was higher. Kids were more in the game spirit tonight than in the practice spirit at six in the morning.”
