Wolverines prepare for Tuesday scrimmage

Bentonville West won’t have to wait much longer to take on somebody else as the Wolverines host Fort Smith Northside in a scrimmage game Tuesday night.

“I can remember having three or four weeks of practice before you actually got to go against someone,” West coach Bryan Pratt said. “Now you’re talking 10 days and you’re already getting ready for somebody. We’re excited about that and excited about starting another season.

“This is year four now, so nobody has said anything about ‘new’ or ‘first.’ It feels like we’re getting a little tradition going here, and it’s a lot more fun.”

Pratt said things have become more serious in workouts now that there is an opponent to prepare for and that school is in session, so practices are being held in the afternoon and are more structured.

“Once school starts, everything changes,” Pratt said. “It gets everything back into a schedule, and that’s the best thing for the head coach. The kids have to come to school, so you have them here. It’s not a deal where ‘I couldn’t get a ride.’ There’s more structure and more things we can do.”

The players that Pratt has expected to step forward have done just that in preseason workouts. He likes what he sees from an offensive line where all five players return, while Jaden Muskrat and Trenton Davis have shown promise on both the offensive and defensive lines.

Jonas Higson and Nick Whitatch continue to perform well at linebacker and running back. Carlos Hall has shown improvement at tailback and could get a chance to play with the first string if he continues, while Stephen Dyson has bounced back from the injury he suffered last fall.

“Everything is a little slower now for him,” Pratt said of Dyson. “He started as a sophomore last year, and that was an eye-opener for him. He understands things a whole lot more and now the leader of our receiver group.”