Scrimmage demonstrates potential depth

Fort Scott High School junior Zarek Fewell (22) looks for a chance to turn upfield during the varsity/junior varsity portion of the annual lawnchair scrimmage held at Frary Field Saturday morning. The Tigers will host their annual Red & White Scrimmage Friday then begin the season Sept. 2 at home against Parsons. (Scott Nuzum/Tribune)

This year, "Lawnchair scrimmage" was a misnomer as Fort Scott High School's team worked out at Frary Field Saturday morning as some areas of the practice field are still sectioned off due to construction at the high school.

So the fans got to be a little more comfortable sitting in the stands at the stadium and the team got to be a little more comfortable working out on a cool, overcast day.

"The weather all week was such in our favor and made it easier to get a lot of work done," Tiger head coach Bob Campbell said. "Even though it's tough and the kids are tired, after 10 practices and a good scrimmage, they're worn out. But the 70s and 80s were a lot better than the 90s. It was a really good week of practice. We got a lot done. We had a great effort out of the kids. We have a very competitive team. We have a lot of guys batting for positions. So it's a very competitive scrimmage in that it's not lopsided. It was competitive on both sides of the ball."

The freshmen, as always, scrimmaged first. They are a bit short on numbers -- there's only 19 of them -- but Campbell was pleased with their work.

"The freshmen did a really nice job," Campbell said. "We're a little thin on numbers at the freshman level. But the 19 we have have worked extremely hard. I saw a lot of good things. They executed pretty well for just a week into it."

There are only 39 on the varsity/junior varsity team but Campbell was encouraged with what he and his staff saw in the roughly 90-minute workout.

"(A)ll 39 are contributors," Campbell says. "They worked hard all summer. Now we're trying to develop some depth, especially when it's early in the season and it is warm, try to play as many of those guys one way as possible.

"We're fortunate that we have a lot of good players to develop some depth -- and a lot of those are young. We have some very good young players. As they come along, it'll give us some more depth at the varsity level."

Week two of practices allowed by the Kansas State High School Activities Association will lead into Friday's annual Red & White Scrimmage. Because of the later start to the school year, the team will be able to have two-a-day practices though the Sept. 2 opener against Parsons if the staff so chooses.

"(This) week, the first part of the week, the morning practice will be primarily film and an individual review of things," Campbell says. "The afternoon practice will be a padded, regular practice. The morning practice, we'll be taking advantage of the time to watch some film and evaluate and work on some individual position work that we don't normally get time to do."

The Red & White Scrimmage will be held Friday night at Frary Field. The freshmen will scrimmage at 6 p.m. with the varsity/JV teams to follow.