By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Yukon will take its first and only pre-season test on Friday, as the Millers travel North to a scrimmage in Stillwater.
The Millers will face five other teams in the scrimmage.
The junior varsity teams will scrimmage at 6 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m.
The first part of the scrimmage is a round robin called rapid fire, where a defense will face a pair of offenses.
The teams will get to go the full length of the field in a simulated quarter.
“The thing we will be looking for from an offensive standpoint is our technique,” Miller head coach Jeremy Reed said. “We have had a plan together for some time of how we wanted to treat the pre-season and the opening part of our schedule and we have stayed true to that plan. Our kids know what to do, we just have to do it better.
“Defensively, making sure we get lined up correctly, on time, how we run to the football and basic tackling,” he said. “Those are always the things I look for in this first scrimmage. It will definitely be a point of emphasis for this team.
“We will be basic in what we will do, moreso for our kids. The whole intent is to check what we are doing. We will keep evaulating ourselves because we have a game coming up shortly.”
The Millers wrapped up their first week of drills with an intraaquad scrimmage on Saturday night.
The middle schools and freshmen teams also scrimmaged before the varsity took the field.
“I thought we had a really good four days of technique and execution in our first four days without pads,” Reed said. “When you get pads on you see some that go backwards a little bit in technique and our emphasis this week is to get that technique back of what we saw those first four days with the pads on.”
The varsity part of the scrimmage was more situational, from special teams, to running goal line, coming out from near the goal line, etc.
“The scrimmage was okay,” Reed said. “We had a long week, had five practices, practiced Saturday morning, then were out in the heat media day and finished that with a situational scrimmage. To say they were a little worn out was an understatement.
“But, it went fine, a lot of things for us to teach off on film both good and bad,” he said. “It is the same song, second verse every year with your first live action. You teach and teach and teach and when you get the pads on some things change based technique. It’s the same thing this year, there is no panic, you just have to reset everybody and get back in the flow of things. It is only the second day you are allowed in pads, so it is pretty quick to expect things to be perfect.
“We accomplished what we wanted to for the most. If anything, it got some things out of the way that we needed to from the standpoint of special teams and situations. we got a lot of good out of that.
“As far as overall execution, it wasn’t what you would like. But we got what we wanted out of it and now its time to teach off that.
“It was hit and miss, but that is typical for this time of year,” Reed said. “You will show signs of looking good in areas and then go through a span where it looks like we need a lot of work in that area.
“It was kind of up and down, but that’s typical this time of year,” he said. “We have a lot of kids that are assisting on both sides and we truly may have never had our full offensive or defensive unit out together. It will be nice to see our starting crew all together when we get the availability to do that.”
“The lack of overall busts was one thing we liked about the scrimmage,” Reed said. “I feel like we are in a good place of knowing what to do, it’s now the how of doing it.
“I would think that was the No. 1 thing I noticed as we watched the film he said. “Another positive was that we only put the ball on the ground one time. There were some individuals you would look at as a positive. But, there is a lot of work we need to do before we go play a game.”
