Week one of the high school football season in the Schuylkill League and all across Pennsylvania is less than a week away.
But before teams turn to to preparing for their week one opponents, they’ll have the opportunity for a tune-up as the league holds it “Scrimmage Saturday.”
Numerous scrimmages will be happening locally including Greater Nanticoke facing Mahanoy Area, Tri-Valley along with Executive Education Charter Academy from Allentown will be scrimmaging Pine Grove Area, Nativity and Shenandoah Valley will also be partaking in a scrimmage at Minersville, and Schuylkill Haven will host Lakeland.
By this point in the summer, most head coaches already have a good idea of who their starters are, how their offense and defense are progressing, and where their team is overall prior to week one.
The scrimmages on Saturday will offer the opportunity for coaches to make sure their teams are ready to go for next Friday while also for the first time this fall giving them the opportunity to face someone in a different color jersey.
Gauging the roster
Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr, now in his 41st season at the helm of the Hurricanes, offered insight into what he finds valuable in the tune-ups.
While the NFL uses preseason games as ways to determine depth charts and who makes the final 53-man roster, for high school teams, their lone “preseason” game offers a much different value.
“If you’re prepping the correct way, you already kind of know where you’re gonna be, and when you’ve been around for a while, you can gauge where you think you’re at,” Farr said ahead of Saturday’s scrimmage against Lakeland.
“Number one, I use the scrimmage to validate some of the guys that are fighting for spots,” he explained. “Validating that those reps are the right reps and you don’t have guys misaligned.
“Number two is just getting them game-ready. That’s important for me out of a scrim, making sure we get enough reps.”
But there is a balancing act for coaches when it comes to getting each player those reps.
They need key pieces get live snaps against opposing competition, but also want to work in backup and depth pieces, all while trying to avoid any injuries before the season even begins.
“You don’t want to have too many reps,” Farr said. “But you definitely don’t want to have not enough reps.”
For smaller schools like many in Schuylkill County, scrimmages allow younger and inexperienced players a chance to gain valuable experience.
When teams have just a few-dozen players on the roster, each player must be ready to go in on a moment’s notice. With snaps limited once the games count, scrimmages can often provide one of the few opportunities for those players to get snaps.
“It’s really important, and that’s why it’s really important that you have a quality scrim, a quality opponent,” Farr said. “Because I’ve had several years where we’ve had scrimmages that weren’t good quality, and, you think you’re ready, and then you come out week one, and you’re like, ‘Oh boy, what happened?’”
“For the younger guys, it definitely opens their eyes up,” he further explained.
Time to tackle
Beyond getting reps in, the scrimmages also act as an extension of conditioning prior to week one, especially when it comes to contact.
“It’s more of a conditioning day than it is a check and boxes day,” Farr explained. “When they took a week of contact prep away from us, what is more concerning to me than anything is making sure that my guys are contact-ready.
“Because you can condition all you want, and run all you want, and do everything all you want, but until you are in movement with physical contact, it really means nothing. That’s really what scrimmages are for me is getting us game-ready.”
For the players, scrimmages are often looked at as the end of early morning workouts and practices as they begin to transition back into school.
“More importantly, for our guys is, man, no more two-a-days, no more Coach Farr making us be in the weight room at 7 a.m., and so for them, ‘Thank goodness that’s over.’”
Scrimmage Saturday
Blue Mountain at Exeter Township, 10 a.m.
Tri-Valley & Executive Education at Pine Grove, 10 a.m.
Lakeland at Schuylkill Haven, 10 a.m.
Greater Nanticoke at Mahanoy Area, 10 a.m.
Nativity BVM & Shenandoah Valley at Minersville, 10 a.m.
North Schuylkill at Danville, 10 a.m.
Panther Valley at Palmerton, 10 a.m.
Upper Dauphin at Marian Catholic, 10 a.m.
Williams Valley at Newport, 10 a.m.
Pottsville at Selinsgrove, 1 p.m.
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