Pepperell holds Midnight Madness scrimmage
Burning the midnight oil can be associated with studying hard the night before an exam.
When the Pepperell Dragons took the field at midnight earlier this week, they felt pretty positive about how they might do on the tests they’ll confront each Friday night this fall. Monday morning at 12:01 a.m. marked the earliest high school football teams could work out in full pads, and for the second year in a row Pepperell made sure to take advantage of it as soon as possible.
A large crowd of students and fans filed into Dragon Stadium in Lindale late Sunday night for the Dragons’ Midnight Madness intra-squad scrimmage.
It was a chance to get together before the start of the school year and catch a glimpse of the team as it enters its second season under head coach Rick Hurst.
“We’ve had a great summer and it showed tonight,” Hurst said after the nearly hour-anda-half session. “We’ve got some things to get better at, but we had a lot of positive things tonight.”
Returning running back Tae Hammond showed some quick moves a few times and was able to reach the end zone twice, each on long runs of 50 yards or more.
Trevor Thomas and Tyler White both took snaps with the first team offense.
Thomas completed what became a nearly 70-yard pass to TJ Watkins that the junior took down the sideline before making one final move inside the 10 and getting into the end zone.
The first team offense devel- oped a rhythm by the end, and the defense kept their pressure on the quarterback.
“That’s the thing. Right now you would think the defense would be ahead of the offense, and they were,” Hurst said. “I still think we’re a little bit better defensively than we were this time last year. As a matter of fact I think we’re a lot better.
“We’ve just got to focus on the little things and get our special teams ready to go and then we’ll be ready.”
The Dragons face two preseason scrimmage opponents this year. Pepperell will travel to Paulding County on Aug. 12 before hosting Cass on Aug. 19. The first game of the regular season on Aug. 29 will see the Dragons host Ridgeland.