One of the main priorities for most coaches is to get out of the Week 0 scrimmages healthy.
At the same time, new Bloomington North coach Andy Harding wanted to get as many reps as possible for freshman quarterback Fisher Pugh and avoid any chances of injury. He got a few more than he was planning on at Dennis O. Martin Field on Friday, Aug. 14 in a two-hour controlled workout against Southport.
Pugh had to finish up the scrimmage with some of the backups after Tristan Stogdill rolled out to throw a pass, which fluttered well off target and ended his evening with an apparent injury. Pugh took a good lick in the final set of plays but bounced right back up.
"We knew we wanted to get him a lot of reps," Harding said. "We were also getting Tristan Stogsdill some reps. I don't exactly know happened, but we didn't put him back in because (his arm) felt weird.
"I think he was having a little bit of fun tonight. I'm proud of him."
Pugh was plenty accurate most of the night, showing good touch on a pair of TD passes into the corner of the end zone. He got the ball to his best playmakers in Nate Walker and RaShon English on the perimeter, letting them go to work, spinning and making Cardinal defenders miss to pile up several highlight-reel plays. Blake Davis suffered a minor injury early and was held out as a precaution the rest of the way.
Pugh also didn't panic after dropping the snap in a goal-line situation, improvising and scoring. The Cougars helped him by running the ball solidly behind Carter Matthews and Brayden Johnson.
Defensively, North's group was flying early, allowing Southport only a couple first downs and no points in the opening set of 15 plays.
Senior end Gunner Pugh and linebacker Anthony Wrancher were as good as advertised, with Shamar Franklin, Rudy Burton, Seth Hankins and Kaelan Frank among those making some big stops. North tackled well and Jackson Gill picked up an interception in one of the late series.
"I'm a defensive guy so I want to set the tone where we can," Harding said. "I thought our linebackers stepped up, got everyone in position, filling spots and breaking on balls. I was pleased with what I saw from that crew.
"Up front, I thought Gunnar Pugh played his heart out tonight. Our defensive tackles were making plays in the backfield. Overall, I thought our defense set the tone."
The Cougars morphed into different looks all night long and stayed connected and in the right spots.
"We want to play sound, fundamental defense," Harding said. "I thought you saw that. It doesn't matter what they do, we're going to get lined up correctly. The linebackers are talking with each other."
North opens at home next Friday, Aug. 21 against rival Bloomington South.
Bloomington South at Lawrence CentralBloomington South went up to Indianapolis to face a Lawrence Central team now under the command of former Ben Davis coach Russ Mann.
The Class 6A Bears usually provide a good test for the Panthers with their size, speed and athleticism, and this year was no different. It was tough but much needed outing after a rough week as far as practice time due to the weather.
"We scored five times, they scored three times on our 1s and three times on our 2s," South coach Gabe Johnson said. "We rotated quite a bit. I was happy with the front end of our stuff. We kept it pretty vanilla. We just wanted to see our guys get out there and play hard.
"We saw some good and we saw some bad. The offense moved the ball well. Their team speed gave us some issues on the perimeter early, but we adjusted and settled in. They're big and strong and physical and we want that. We only got outside for an hour this week with the heat, then the lightning. We got in the gym, but we were limited in what we did."
Individually, South's top players handled it well. Quarterback Duncan Combs and running back Hayden Clark had the time and space to perform.
"Duncan and the O-line played really well," Johnson said. "The inside backers were solid. The receivers were pretty good blocking on the perimeter Hayden had almost 100 yards. The guys you expect played well.
"Our O-line pushed their front a little bit. It's a new group for us, so that was important."
Fisher Pugh finds Nate Walker for a 10-yard TD. pic.twitter.com/ws2hFRLcJ0
— Jim Gordillo (@JimGordillo) August 14, 2026Edgewood at Indian CreekEdgewood's defense and physicality were the stars of the show on a trip to Trafalgar to take on a potential sectional foe in Indian Creek.
"I thought it went really well," Edgewood coach Scott Fischer said. "The defense was a little bit ahead of the offense. The defense really played well. They were physical, really sound. We didn't give up big plays. They just did a really good job.
"Offensively, we moved the ball early, but sputtered a bit when we started subbing. We ran the ball hard. (QB Braylon) Linerode hit some really nice passes. Overall, just really pleased with the physicality. We w ere able to move guys around and stay sound."
Fischer also noted some good play from receiver/corner Will Hosey, who had three pass breakups and an interception to lead a strong effort by the rebuild secondary. Toby Connors, Rowan Heitink were "lights out" at middle linebacker and Dylan Wickens and Evan Enghauser also stood tall at the outside spots.
Now, it's on to a tough home opener against Springs Valley.
"We keep stacking practices," Fischer said, "We'll have a chance to be pretty good."
Brown County at Eastern GreeneSecond year head coach Shawn Nikirk was pleased for the most part and saw just how big a leap his team has taken since he took over last last summer. The T-Birds had plenty of success early on offense to set the tone for a good night as they prep for their opener against Pike Central.
"It was good to get out against a different opponent and I thought the guys responded really well," Nikirk said. "We scored a lot of touchdowns. Our offense was clicking. The offensive line did a good job and we ran the ball well and threw the ball well, so I hope that carries over into the season opener.
"We made plenty of mistakes we need to work on, but it was a good scrimmage."
Defensively, Eastern had some issues in the red-zone series but more good than bad overall.
"Defensively, we gave up three scores on the series inside the 10 and I was not happy with that," Nikirk said. "We held them at bay outside of that, though. We tackled fairly well but the one TD they scored on we had missed four tackles."
Sophomore quarterback Saxton Pennycuff looked good with a year of experience under his belt.
"He's matured so much in a year," Nikirk said. "He made every right read tonight. Last year, he threw a lot of interceptions but he did not put the ball in harm's way tonight. And all our receivers caught the ball, but we messed up on a few routes.
"Overall, last year to this year was a complete 180."
Owen Valley at North DaviessNew coach Troy Burgess is preaching a more physical brand of football and saw his Owen Valley squad match up well in the department with talented North Daviess team. Up next is Brown County at home in Week 1.
"I liked our physicality tonight," Burgess said. "I thought we matched that pretty well. That's a good football team, they're going to win a lot of games. So, I was happy with that.
"We've got some things to work on. We got hit a couple times in the open field and didn't do a good job tackling. Offensively, they've got some good linebackers and we didn't do a good job getting to the second level to block them. Those are those two things we've got to get better at."
Burgess did like the way his quarterbacks operated the way his back ran the ball. OV got nowhere on its first four plays to start, but found a spark and saw Jake Heidrick gallop for a long TD to get off the mat.
"I thought we did a good job running the ball tonight," Burgess said. "There are still some things with our play-action pass we need to work on but overall, very happy with the effort."
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Defense sets tone for Bloomington North football in scrimmage
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