By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ANSONIA — The Ansonia High School football team came out ready to go in their first scrimmage of the year against Troy Christian at home on August 9.

Head coach Adam Hall said after a few tough weeks of practice, it was exciting to go up against another team and see where they are as a team.

“We’ve had a week and a half of two a days. We had bad weather. It’s been hot. We had lighting storms where we had to practice inside. To finally get to a game-like situation tonight is good. It’s good for us to see how we matchup with another team. It’s good for us to get on film,” Hall said. “It’s why we do all of this other stuff we’ve been doing. I think the guys were ready for it, I definitely was.”

The scrimmage was broken up into two sessions. The teams started out switching sides every 10 plays. Each offense got three possessions. After that, the team’s played a 12 minutes quarter to get used to the flow of the game. Most of the first team got those reps. After that quarter, the second and third string teams each got ten more plays on offense to close out the scrimmage.

The Ansonia offense looked like they didn’t skip a beat as they scored on every possession they had. The Tiger rushing attack led the way once again.

Hall said the offense did a good job in the game-like situation by moving the ball and getting to the line in time. There are still some things the team can clean up.

“We had a lot of good things tonight. We know there’s still a lot of stuff we got to get fixed and clean up,” Hall said. “For the first scrimmage, that’s what you expect. There’s a lot of good stuff, which is a good thing, but we know that we got a long way to go for where we need to be.”

After losing WOAC Offensive Player of the Year Keegen Weiss, the running backs on the team took advantage of their chance to claim a starting spot in the backfield.

Every back that touched the ball flashed their athleticism making a move or two on the Troy Christian defense for a long gain or touchdown. Hall said they knew they had athletic backs on the roster, they’ve just been behind some more athletic ones the past two seasons.

“We have a lot of athletic backs. They haven’t gotten to play a lot because we’ve had more athletic backs over the last few years. It’s good that these guys are getting a chance to play and make plays. It’s not that we didn’t know they couldn’t do it. It’s just they’ve been buried in the depth chart a little bit,” Hall said.

The defense stifled the Eagles offense. They allowed a handful of first downs and did not let them score a touchdown. The Tiger defense had two interceptions, including one to start the scrimmage during the Eagles’ first offensive possession.

The front eight for Ansonia also lived in the backfield. Every few plays, a linebacker or linemen met the running back in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage.

Hall said the defense has been successful the last few years when the unit as a whole can get to the ball. It all starts with the defenders in the box.

“If we’re going to be good, our front eight has got to be good. We had some good things tonight. There’s still some things that we got to get right,” Hall said.

Ansonia will have one more scrimmage at Sidney Lehman Catholic on August 16 at 6 p.m. They will then open the season at Riverside on August 23 at 7 p.m.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].