Wolves pick up pace in final preseason scrimmage

PEARCY — Lake Hamilton showed up able-bodied and tenacious for its final preseason scrimmage Tuesday night as the Wolves went up against the Cabot Panthers and the Hope Bobcats.

“I thought that our kids were excited to hit somebody other than ourselves for the first time, but also I felt like our kids were executing our offense better than last year, and I feel like we’re moving in the direction we want to go offensively,” said Wolves head coach Tommy Gilleran.

Throughout the night, the three varsity lineups swapped out every 12 plays, allowing the players some hands-on preliminary groundwork in preparation for the season’s official kickoff.

Lake Hamilton junior Braden Braughton racked up 10 yards on back-to-back reverse runs for the Wolves. Junior running back Malik Brewer broke out a 60-yard touchdown to conclude one of the rounds.

The Wolves’ offense demonstrated a variety of options to run the ball with all four running backs contributing big gains.

Junior fullback Dealond Lewis powered down the field for 20 yards into the end zone to score. Sophomore back Carlos Brewer contributed in shifting focus to the backfield and rushing the ball in multiple running plays as well.

“We’re excited,” Gilleran said. “Defensively I thought we played well. We didn’t let anybody score on us defensively, and I think offensively we got better as time went on.”

Senior quarterback Cayden Napier started off the night with multiple misdirections and various running plays. Sophomore quarterback Layne Warrick later mixed the offense up by switching to a spread and completing numerous passes.

“I think we’re just really working on things every day,” noted Gilleran. “You know the big thing is on offense, I lost 10 kids so we replaced 10 kids off last year’s team. We knew we were going to be a little behind a curve on that, but I think our kids have really executed lately. So, that’s been a good process, and then, defensively, we’ll have eight kids back.

“Those kids really played well yesterday and the kids that replaced the ones that we lost really have played well, so we feel like we’re progressing where we need to be going into the first game.”

The Lake Hamilton Wolves will kick off their season against the Lakeside Rams for the first time in 19 years on Aug. 31 at Chick Austin Stadium.