The McDonald County High School football team wrapped up the Big Red Team Camp last week with an intrasquad full-contact scrimmage followed by a 7-on-7 scrimmage against Buffalo High School on Saturday at MCHS.
The camp ran from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. each weeknight, leading up to Saturday's scrimmages. New Mustangs coach John Diehl said he was very pleased with his team's work during the camp.
"I thought the whole week was great," Diehl said. "The kids worked hard, maybe harder than they ever worked all of last year. We had a real tough practice on Wednesday night -- a real tough practice -- and I think the kids hadn't been used to practicing that hard. That would have been the third day in a row we went hard and I told them, 'your practices are going to be harder than your ball games.'"
Diehl said he had told the kids that games are going to be "a walk in the park" compared to the practices they go through on Mondays through Thursdays, but he wasn't sure the kids knew what he meant until they went through a week of practices.
"They found out not only were we serious, but we were also intense," Diehl said. "The thing we pointed out was this is not the same old program that it has been the last couple of years. All the coaches that were here are gone. It's a brand new coaching staff. It's a new era. It's a new program completely from head to toe. I think they appreciate it. I think they understand it. They want to do good and they worked really hard. I was very pleased with them."
The intrasquad scrimmage started with the first offense going against the second defense. Led by sophomore quarterback Shiloh Jackson, the offense racked up eight touchdowns, including several on long plays, in the 30 minutes of play.
Jackson, Jake Will, Izzy De Santiago and sophomore Oakley Roessler all had long touchdown runs, while Cole DelosSantos led the receivers with several catches, including one for a touchdown.
"All of the backs ran well," Diehl said. "Jake Will ran and blocked really well. I thought both of the tailbacks, Izzy and Oakley, are both very quick and very shifty and elusive -- those are the adjectives that describe those guys."
Diehl said the team finished camp without any major injuries, but they did suffer a few "nicks and dings." Lost to camp was junior quarterback Kennedy Hodson, who missed due to tonsillitis.
"I think the kids were used to, 'Oh my God, we have lost our starting quarterback -- let's jump off the bridge,'" Diehl said. "That's not the case. It's next man up. I have been at this for 35 years coaching high school and college and I just don't get upset. I am concerned, but not upset."
Diehl said he was pleased with how the kids adapted to his spread offense. He said he just put the basics of the offense this first week, with one formation (right and left) and base running and passing plays.
"I have been pleased with how Shiloh Jackson has stepped up as a sophomore and operated the offense," Diehl said. "I was impressed with how we ran and threw the ball in our scrimmage. We had 35 to 40 kids here and I thought they did a good job. I was pleased with the younger kids -- the eighth-graders coming up that will be freshman. They did a very good job. They are hard-nosed kids. That freshman team is going to be a very good team this year I think."
Diehl said he thought the first defense went to the ball very well and was pretty aggressive.
"Defensively, Coach McCullough and his staff are doing an outstanding job," Diehl said. "We were aggressive. The Notre Dame drill that we do really exemplifies and amplifies what we are trying to do in regards to playing good, hard-nosed football."
7-on-7
In McDonald County's 7-on-7 scrimmage against Buffalo, each team scored three touchdowns in the hour-long game.
Buffalo scored first, scoring the first play after a 40-yard pass play moved the ball to the one-yard line. McDonald County answered on its ensuing possession after its first two drives ended with interceptions in the Buffalo end zone.
Jackson hit DelosSantos with three straight passes to move the ball from the 50-yard line to the six. De Santiago caught a pass for three yards before Jackson and DelosSantos connected for a three-yard touchdown.
Jackson and DelosSantos connected from 20 yards out for the Mustangs' second touchdown. Buffalo tied the score on five consecutive completions a series later.
Both teams scored on their final possessions, with Jackson hitting a diving DelosSantos from 21 yards out.
McDonald County's defensive efforts were highlighted by interceptions by De Santiago and Roessler.
"Cole DelosSantos is off the chain," Diehl said. "He is absolutely amazing. He might be one of the top receivers I have seen in the last 35 years. He has an uncanny ability to catch the ball at different angles and has an unbelievable ability of getting open. Devin Aubrey is going to be a good player. Jamie Hanke did a good job today and caught a lot of good balls."
Diehl said 7-on-7 is not "real football" -- but it is fun for the kids.
"We don't throw empty backfields and have five guys out on a pattern," Diehl said. "We just don't do that. You run three or four receiver routes keeping in six or seven guys to protect your quarterback. You mix it up with the run/pass and play action. That's real football."
McDonald County continues its summer workout schedule with weightlifting each morning and MCHS mini-camps on Monday and Friday nights. MCHS travels to Lockwood and Shiloh Christian for 7-on-7 camps before closing out the summer program by attending the Buffalo team camp on July 20-21.
Sports on 06/16/2016