The Turnaround – Coronado Scrimmage

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Lubbock Head Coach Jason Strunk last night during scrimmage with Coronado. Photo courtesy of AbbyReedPhotography.com

Lubbock Head Coach Jason Strunk last night during scrimmage with Coronado.
Photo courtesy of AbbyReedPhotography.com

by Jason Strunk
Lubbock High School Head Football Coach
Follow @WestTXCoach

Last year at this time we were driving back from Big Spring. The ride was miserable. We were wondering what went wrong in our first scrimmage of 2013. Tonight? Not so much.

Dae Dae

Lubbock sophomore running back Dae Dae Morgan in action vs. Coronado. Photo courtesy of AbbyReedPhotography.com

Solid scrimmage to start 2014 for the Westerners. Was it perfect? No. It never is. But I was looking for some things and I saw them tonight. For starters, I wanted to be physical. I think we were. More so than at any other point last year. Were we mentally tough? I would say we were. A couple things to work on in this department. But overall the mental toughness element is there.

The last thing I was looking for was the ability and WILLINGNESS to compete. We did that in a big way. Coronado is a tough, 6A school. They have some cats that can go. They move well in space. They can sling the ball. Just a good athletic group of kids they have. We went at them and our kids did well. We showed a willingness and desire to compete and be great. I loved what I saw tonight.

Lubbock HS QB James Garcia avoids the rush in Friday night scrimmage. Photo courtesy of AbbyReedPhotography.com

Lubbock HS QB James Garcia avoids the rush in Friday night scrimmage.
Photo courtesy of AbbyReedPhotography.com

We need to build on this outing. Shallowater comes in next week. They are always good. Last tune up with them. We need to be ready!

SOLID START
RB Dae Dae Morgan had a great start to his season tonight. He hauled in a long TD pass from James Garcia. Later he added a nice run on an outside zone play. He is just a sophomore. Big things to come for him and his teammates in the backfield.

THE DEFENSE
I am very pleased with how the defense performed tonight.
We tackled well for our first time out. It was good to see! They were flying around and having fun. That’s what defense is all about. They were full throttle last night. I loved it. Nate Jephcott and his defensive staff have made that an emphasis. You can see it. As you can tell, I am really impressed and pleased with it!

RANDOMNESS
– We scrimmage Shallowater next Friday here at Chapman.
– We stayed base on defense last night. We will do so this week as well. We won’t rev up the stunts until week one.
– Lots of kids impressed us yesterday. Tomorrow when we meet we will juggle the depth chart.
– The world is a simpler place when (or if) people mind their own business. Seriously, don’t open your mouth unless you have something good to say. If not, close the trap and only speak of things you are educated in. By the way, this is non-football related. This is my life skill moment of advice to people who are not experts on me.
– The sun came up today.
– The Yankees season is mercifully coming to an end.
Matt Roberts at KLBK challenged me to some ice water dumping tomorrow. Sounds like it is for a good cause. I’m in!
– I ran 4 miles before our scrimmage yesterday. Felt great. Stay in shape coaches.

That’s all the fat lady has for today. She is singing!

Until next time… FIO.

No More Fumbles

Play Football

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About the Author

Jeff Fisher
Jeff is an award-winning journalist and expert in the field of high school sports, underscored with his appearance on CNBC in 2010 to talk about the big business of high school football in America.Jeff turned to his passion for high school football into an entrepreneurial venture called High School Football America, a digital media company focused on producing original high school sports content for radio, television and the internet.Jeff is co-founder and editor-in-chief of High School Football America, a partner with NFL Play Football.