Friday night scrimmage notebook

Published: August 18, 2007

First-year Mustang quarterback Josh West got thrown right into the fire Friday night as the Broncos hosted defending Class 6A champion Jenks.

"There's good and bad to it,” West said. "But I like it overall. It tells us where we're at. Being from the west, we don't play teams like Jenks or Union a lot.

"The biggest thing I got from it was getting used to game speed. You can't simulate that.”

Mustang coach Ty Prestidge said the scrimmage was a good way to gauge where his team is.

"It's easy to look good against air,” Prestidge said. "But when you've got a team like Jenks out there, you're going to find out what you have to work on. If you have any weaknesses, they're going to exploit it.”

•Rose happy with QB situation: Carl Albert coach Gary Rose is happy with both his quarterbacks. Senior Robert Kizer and sophomore J.T. Realmuto each showed the ability to throw the ball well in the Titans' scrimmage against Del City.

"I feel real good about J.T. and Robert,” Rose said. "Robert is ahead right now. He has a little more experience.”

The development of Kizer and Realmuto could be key for Carl Albert, because the better they play, the more likely running back David Oku and fullback Joe Stoner will have open running lanes.

"We want to be able to throw the ball so people have to defend it,” Rose said. "When they defend it, Joe and David are going to run the ball.”

•Stoner comfortable in new role: Stoner, who played quarterback for Carl Albert last year, is lining up at fullback and linebacker.

"I've done it before... my freshman and sophomore year, so it's no big deal,” Stoner said. "I want to play, so I'll play anywhere they put me.”

The senior set the tone for the Titans on both sides of the ball against Del City. He had a key run in the Titans' opening drive and several big plays on defense.

"I like where we have Joe, I like what he's doing,” Rose said. "He's an emotional leader and heck of a player.”

•Familiar ground: Lawton quarterback Cornelius Douglas felt right at home scrimmaging at Norman on Friday. That's because Douglas started at cornerback for the Tigers as a sophomore before moving to Lawton. It would have been a boon for Norman if Douglas had stayed.

Last year's team, which went 9-1 in the regular season, would have been able to play Douglas at running back, freeing up current OU receiver Ryan Broyles to play receiver instead of spending time at tailback.

•Lightning delay: The Lawton-Norman scrimmage was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., but the varsity didn't get on the field until 9:30. Lightning in the area caused a lengthy delay. Both teams were willing to wait out the lightning to get in the full scrimmage, including the junior varsity portion.

The scrimmage between Mustang and Jenks was put on hold for about 30 minutes while a storm with heavy lightning moved through the area.

The scrimmage resumed before the lightning quit, and rain was still falling, but Mustang's training staff had a hand-held lightning detector on the field to determine if the strikes were far enough away to keep everyone safe.

Jenks coach Allan Trimble was happy about the delay.

"You've got to take advantage of situations like that and use them for good,” Trimble said. "We've got a young team, especially on defense, and you can't simulate something like that where you've got to go back to the locker room and wait for the game to go on.”

•Bring on the big boys: When Chandler head coach Neal Bacon found out that Meeker was not going to renew its series with the Lions for the 2008-09 season, he was left with an open date and little time to fill it. But when he read Clinton also was scrambling to find an opponent for the same dates, he was a little wary. After all, the Class 4A Red Tornadoes have won seven out of the last 11 state titles, and Chandler — while it did win the Class 2A title in 2005 — is a much smaller school. Still, Bacon decided to book it, and now the Lions will face Clinton in a home-and-home match-up. Plus, Bacon managed to wrangle the first game of the series to Chandler for next season — a year in which the Lions figure to return a large nucleus of talent.

"We're a little apprehensive,” Bacon said. "But hopefully we can use it to build on. Our program's at the level now, where we're not just going to play anybody, we want someone who will make us get better.”

By Ryan Aber, Brandon Chatmon, Zach West and Justin Harper

Comments