Prep coaches welcome sweltering heat

CHARLESTON — Every coach at Monday’s team camp welcomed the sudden summer heat that has blanketed the state.

“It’s good on days like this to see the guys that are going to compete and the guys that aren’t,” Lavaca coach Mark Headley said. “Right now, not everybody’s conditioning is where it needs to be. This is good for us.”

Eleven teams continued their summer drills with spirited play in pads and helmets in almost non-stop action for two hours. The temperature was 95 degrees when the camp concluded at about noon.

“We sent out about 20 invites in January,” Charleston coach Ricky May said. “This is our third team camp, and it’s a good group.”

Last week, Charleston hosted a team camp and the temperature was 78 degrees with a slight breeze.

“Really, we’re getting into shape,” Booneville coach Doc Crowley said. “This is the first hot day we’ve had.”

Monday, there was no breeze and the turf at Charleston was sizzling.

“It shows us that we need to get in shape,” Clarksville coach Khris Buckner said. “The heat is an equalizer whether you’re in shape or not. We were here last week and we executed a little better. We’ve got a lot to clean up. We’ve got a bunch of young guys. We rotated a ton. Everybody got in and got a lot of reps. Hopefully, that will benefit us down the line.”

Monday was the third team camp for Charleston to host and the last before the mandatory two-week dead period from June 26 to July 10 when no organized school activities can be held.

“Obviously, we got a lot of reps, and that’s a good thing,” Lincoln coach Reed Mendoza said. “We got some guys experience. We’re missing a lot of guys that are at church camp and other things. Mental toughness, too, got to suck it up and find a way to deal with the heat. The temperatures so far haven’t been bad this summer. This is the first real hot day we’ve had.”

Booneville, Charleston, Clarksville, Danville, Lamar, Lavaca, Lincoln, Ozark, Paris, Two Rivers and Muldrow, Okla., participated on Monday.

“We want to make sure that everybody gets a lot of reps, ones and twos,” Lamar coach Josh Jones said. “There are no real starters today, just getting everybody a lot of reps. Hopefully, some of these guys can step up and we can find some guys that can play.”

Most teams are participating in three or four team camps in June, and Monday’s was the hottest so far.

“Absolutely the hottest,” Jones said. “We talked about it on the way over here to make sure we’re really rotating in, and if somebody gets hot to sit out a little while.”

June is also busy with 7-on-7 tournaments, but team camps with pads, helmets and live scrimmages are more suited for some teams that are more run-oriented than others.

“I think since I’ve been here, we’ve done three or four 7-on-7 tournaments,” Buckner said. “At team camps, we get the most out of it especially when we’ve got young guys like we have with the speed of the game. I thought we did a poor job of wrapping up tackling. A lot of it is I think we got tired. This allows us to be able to do that and be as physical as possible because that’s the way we play.”