Beavers wrap up spring drills with annual Red-white scrimmage
GLEN ROSE — The mighty Glen Rose Beavers wrapped up their spring football training Monday in their annual Red-white scrimmage at Beaver Stadium.
For two halves of a 20 minute continuous running clock, the Beavers displayed their powerhouse aggression for the Beaver Stadium fans now under the direction of head coach Steven Kehner. In a competitive bout on the gridiron, the Beavers’ White team defeated the Red team 32-21.
Kehner was pleased by how both unit squads competed and kept their focus to ignite an outing on the gridiron with excitement to come for the fall season.
Overall, spring training went well and most importantly, injury free heading into their summer campaign. “Overall I think it went really well,” Kehner said. “We came out of the spring healthy and injury free so that’s huge.”
Kehner added, “We were fortunate enough to have both new coaches come in and be here for spring ball as well so the kids were able to establish that relationship early. With quite a few old guys/returning starters coming back it was good to get their feet wet again and back into the swing of things, but we were also able to get young guys a ton of reps and things on tape going into the summer.”
The Beavers kept the intensity intact with several returning players and newcomers making the transition to the varsity level to execute big playmaking for trips into the end zone.
In first half action, the Red team struck blood first with the defense coming up big with Lane Franks picking off a pass for an interception taking over offensive possession at the 23:05 mark. This set up Cruz Gaytan soaring across the goal line for the scrimmage’s first end zone trip and touchdown run—giving the Red team a 7-0 lead.
The White team answered back with key yardage in the ground attack from workhorse running back Heath Ballance. The set up a passing touchdown reception from Gage Chaney that tied the contest up at 7-7 at the 16:45 mark.
Then, the White team sparked for two more scoring drives to extend their lead to a 20-7 advantage. Carson Dhane scored on a running play, then quarterback Gage Hood launched a touchdown reception to Draven Mcspadden for the final scoring drive of the first half.
With the Red team trailing at the break, quarterback Weston Stanley completed key pass receptions to John Curtis and Mccoy Clark to spark the offense in the first half. At halftime, the White team led the Red team 20-7.
In the second half, the Red team sparked first to cut their deficit for a scoring drive. Paxton Long came up with a key interception at the 20:05 mark to regain offensive possession for the Red team. Then, quarterback Rein Bland went to work and completed pass receptions to Charlie Reasons and Parker Davis. At 14:46, Bland completed a touchdown pass to Long that made it a one touchdown game with the White team leading the Red team 20-14.
The White team answered the call again and Mcspadden exploded to the end zone for a touchdown run at the 11:08— giving them a 26-14 lead.
In a four minute possession held by the Red team, they executed plays that resulted in a scoring drive. Gaytan got things rolling with a first down run to utilize the ground attack. Then quarterback Bland completed a pass reception to Curtis to bring the Red team inside the red zone at the 1:32 mark.
With time running off, Bland scored on a QB keeper with 19.8 seconds and the Red team trailed the White team 26-21.
For a final play of the scrimmage, the White team sparked with a well executed passing play. Quarterback Hood launched a spiral bullet pass reception to Chaney for the touchdown to display one last highlight for the 2023 spring scrimmage game at Beaver Stadium.