TENNERTON – A little rain never hurt anyone and a lot of rain certainly didn’t hurt the Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers in their football scrimmage with Hurricane Friday evening at Freal “Red” Crites Memorial Stadium.
The Bucs gave up two quick varsity touchdowns to the Redskins prior to a huge downpour, but coming out the storm, Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Zach Davis thought his team played some solid football.
“At the start of the Hurricane scrimmage, it took us some time to get adjusted to their speed, their athleticism and their size,” noted Davis. “Hurricane is a playoff caliber team with some Division I prospects. But after those two quick strikes by them and after the rain delay, we came out and scored a touchdown on their varsity defense and our defense played better. After the rain, I liked what I saw.”
Last weekend, the Bucs went to North Marion’s grid-o-rama where they scrimmaged Lincoln and Wheeling Park.
“I thought against Lincoln everything was pretty even,” stated Davis. “It was back and forth with Lincoln. Against Wheeling Park, our defense was on the field with them with like 21 consecutive snaps and that was something I wanted to see. I wanted to know how long can we go and how tough are we. I thought the defense proved they were tough against Wheeling Park.”
Davis said playing potential Class AAA playoff teams like Wheeling Park and Hurricane is good for his team, despite what the final scrimmage score may be.
“Those are good teams and that part is by design to get us ready for the regular season,” noted Davis. “In scrimmages, I am more focused on what we are doing. We are trying to get our plays on film and make sure everyone gets in the game. I am not sure the ‘score’ is something we focus on a whole lot.”
As the Bucs wrapped up their third week of practice with Hurricane, Davis said he has been pleased with how things have gone.
“I think things have gone well,” concluded Davis. “The team is excited for the season. I told them after the scrimmage, that was the best and the hardest I have seen us play since I have been here. I thought at times we were shocked at how big and fast some of the teams we played were. We are getting past that as we move forward. Our guys are moving past that. Sometimes you have to make it tough on guys in practice and we have responded well”
The Bucs will open their regular season this Friday at Bridgeport with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.
