Cardinal puts new looks to test in scrimmage

Both Cardinal and Wickliffe will be opening new chapters this football season.

Chris Perotti, an assistant for several years at Cardinal and other local schools, has assumed the reins as Huskies’ head coach this season.

Wickliffe, which graduated an outstanding senior class and has reached the OHSAA playoffs four of the last five seasons, is in re-start mode with one returning starter from last season and a slew of new faces, most of them underclassmen. Both schools participated in a four-team scrimmage at Cardinal on August 7 along with Edgewood and Manchester, and the excitement of a new season with new circumstances and new faces was palpable, despite the 82-degree heat.

Each school faced each of the other three, alternating 10-play offensive possessions. Scrimmages were held simultaneously, with two teams facing off on one side of midfield and the other two going the other direction on the opposite side.

Perotti, who said that the Huskies are returning “about half” of last year’s starters, was upbeat when the scrimmage about noon.

“It was a really good scrimmage, and good to get some work in against some awesome teams,” Perotti said. “Seeing different offenses and different players, it was good to come out and hit against someone other than ourselves today.”

The Huskies turned heads with a few big gains on QB sweeps to the right side behind a pair of sizable linemen.

“Our quarterbacks are pretty mobile, and that’s not something we’ve been known for in the past,” Perotti said. “It really helps having some beef up front. We have some pretty awesome linemen who are getting finished better every day.”

Perotti has a familiarity with his players that stems from serving as a Huskies’ assistant under George Gresko and Eric Cardinal the past four seasons. He thought communication on defense stood out as a positive that could help Cardinal improve on a 2-8 season last year.

“I wasn’t sure how the defense was going to look. But I thought we did a really good job communicating, and that’s something I’ve been harping on,” Perotti said. “Typically last year we would communicate during practice during the week, but in games kind of ‘quiet up’ a little bit.”

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