Thursday night’s Bulldog scrimmage against Paducah was the game to watch for fans of offensive six-man football. Defenses were left on the practice field as each varsity squad took their turn in a 15-minute continuous- clock session; together they racked up nearly 700 yards of offense (Spur–341, Paducah–336). Spur scored on all five of their possessions and left with a fresh first down when time expired on their 6th. The offensive system traveled through Ethan Parson in eight runs for 134 yards and one touchdown, and five passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns.
The only hiccup the offense faced was Parson’s injury which cut his night short. When asked after the game, Coach Tate Clark said, “Not 100 percent sure what’s going on with him—it’s his hamstring—but we don’t know if it’s a serious or a mild thing.” The Bulldogs certainly hope for a quick recovery from Parsons as their offense struggled in the live quarter without him.
However, one bright spot after Parson’s injury was Jacob Cole. When asked for a player of the game, Clark responded, “Jacob Cole has never played three-back for me before but he came out and he had some pretty big runs out of it, so you can give that to Jacob Cole.” With Parsons injured, expect the Bulldogs to expand Cole’s role even more.
Defensively it was Spur’s intensity and desire for aggressive play that actually worked against them Thursday night. Paducah handed Spur a steady diet of traps, as they patiently waited for the aggressive Bulldogs to over-penetrate so Paducah could cut underneath for big gains. Paducah scored on five of their eight possessions in the opening segment and then added three more touchdowns in the live quarter, leaving Clark to comment, “We’re trying to read keys and we’re kind of getting mixed up in what we’re trying to do so it’s still kind of a learning curve that’s going on. But I think that we’re going to get a lot out of it as far as understanding the troubles we’re still having on the defensive and offensive side.”
The Bulldogs had a little over a week to make their adjustments as they kick off the season Saturday, September 1 at 10 a.m. in Jayton, where they will face the Crowell Wildcats.
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