Shepherd looking for a bright new football year

By Charles Ballard
SJNT correspondent

HARDIN — The Shepherd Pirates found their way to Hardin to scrimmage the Hornets, in the first of two scrimmages for the new year. The scrimmage started with a 10-10 plan, 10 plays offense and then 10 plays defense. No Kickoff and no direct tackle of the QB. 

Landen Dellinger found himself under the center again this year to lead the Shepherd Pirates. Again, His passing was on target and the running backs were deadly, finding the running lanes and hitting the openings on key. 

Head Coach and Athletic Director Miles Robison said, “I thought overall it went well. Like most teams after their first scrimmage, we have a lot of things to correct. There were a few mental mistakes and a few plays that needed to be corrected, but overall, they looked very sharp and in shape for the new season.”

Robison also said, “I was really proud of our kids’ effort, and I thought our defense played great and our offense got rolling in the live quarters.” 

The first scrimmage of the new year always posts new problems and a new playbook to try and figure out before the new season starts. Robison said, “Our Coaching staff will work the kinks out and figure out what it will take to make it better next week.” 

The Shepherd Pirates are on the right trick to enter a new District, a new Division this year. It is not going to be easy as the teams they will be facing are very good but the Pirates are looking forward to the new challenge. 

Coldspring-Livingston scrimmage

Thursday’s Livingston-Coldspring football scrimmage at Livingston was highly anticipated, and highly contested. 

It did not take long for the Trojans to put 6 points on the scoreboard. Only 2 minutes had expired, and a rushing touchdown was posted. 

Coach Ken Stanley, AD for Coldspring, said, “I was proud of the effort we made, but the mental mistakes we made have to be corrected.” 

The hustle the Trojans had on offense and defense was very good. Stanley also said that, “If the mental mistakes were not there, it would have been a different story in the scoring.”

Coldspring has never been without speed on the field, and Thursday was no different. The Trojans matched the Lions the rushing speed, and the receivers were able to break free from the Lions defense so David Row could connect for more yardage. 

The downfall was simple fatigue.