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The Nicholas County News Since 1867
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Hopkins pleased with offense in last weeks pre-season’s scrimmage against Harrison County
Coach Robert Hopkins knew his team was going to have a hard time matching up with the talent of Harrison County, but he was impressed with what he saw from his Nicholas County team in Friday’s home football scrimmage.
“Overall we came away seeing what we’d hoped to see,” the seventh-year coach said. “It was promising. We gave a good effort and we knew what we were doing on offense.”
Not everything was positive, however. Hopkins had concerns about his defense before the game and they did not clear up Friday.
“The defense was a little shaky,” he said. “I was not satisfied. We gave up too many long bombs for TDs. We’ve got to shore up our secondary and team tackling.”
No score was kept on Friday, but Harrison County got into the end zone, while Nicholas County did not.
“We moved the ball pretty well. On our first 10 (play series), we moved down field, but had a turnover,” Hopkins said. “Things like that are going to happen in a scrimmage. We didn’t score, but we moved the ball. The offense ran and threw it well; we just didn’t catch it. Those things will be corrected and the kids will make those plays down the road.”
The game was divided into two groups of 10-play offensive sets for each team, then a 10-play series for each junior varsity squad, a quarter with the varsity playing for down and distance, and then finally a 10-play freshman series for each offense. There were no special teams.
“We were pretty satisfied. Everyone got in from the varsity to the freshmen,” Hopkins said. “All three levels did themselves proud. They did what we wanted them to do.”
As was expected Hopkins liked the play of his offensive line.
“The offensive line was our strong suit. They did a tremendous job,” he said. “They protected the quarterback and gave him time to throw, and created holes for the backs to run through.”
Harrison County’s athleticism and speed gave the BlueJackets problems, but Hopkins thought his team played hard and rose to the challenge.
“They were faster outside of the tackles, but we dominated inside of the tackles,” he said. “Overall I was real pleased.”
Nicholas County will face-off against Lewis County in the grid-o-rama played at Rowan County, beginning at 7 p.m.