Scrimmages show strengths, weaknesses for area teams
Prep football is always all the rage on campus and in communities large and small, especially leading up to that first home game, which packs the house. Preseason scrimmages then offer a real gauge of progress. This past weekend offered glimpses of a high school football season soon to consume a lot of lives. Teams throughout Southwest Riverside County and beyond engaged in full contact scrimmages, against other teams. The intent involved simulated game-like situations in an effort to fine tune their blocking, tackling, passing, catching, kicking, and running skills.
The point of prep football is to foster team building and bonding, to deal with challenges and adversity, to come together for a common goal. And there is one other major factor. Football needs to stay fun because it’s such a great game, though it’s never easy.
Many young players now are worried about getting scholarship offers or which college coaches follow them on social media. They’re living at a higher stress level than needed. Plus, there is always the added factor for families due to injuries related to CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy), which is a progressive and fatal brain disease associated with repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), including concussions and repeated blows to the head, or, the now worrisome Damar Hamlin injury, in which the Buffalo Bills player went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a game on Jan. 2 of this year.
The exact diagnosis doctors gave Hamlin was called commotio cordis, which is when something hitting an athlete’s chest directly over the heart can cause cardiac arrest and ventricular fibrillation, which has been the leading cause of death of youth athletes across all sports. So, scrimmages are essential in a coaches regimen. Seeing where their athletes have made progress from a spring and summer filled with workouts and practices only helps keep anxiety levels stable for parents who enjoy watching their kids do something they love.
As the school year gets closer to starting coaches know it is a big deal to hand out helmets and then to hand out jerseys before these scrimmages take place. Those items are the early rewards of grinding through everything it took to get to this point. Some players sleep with a helmet next to their bed. Some try to convince mother or father it’s OK to wear a jersey to church. Such items are treasured because not everyone is a star and not everyone is a starter…but everyone can be part of the team, and nothing signifies “team” more than gear and apparel. So, when you see a player donning their jersey, congratulate them on what it took to achieve that goal.
The real fun starts Aug. 17-19 with season openers in Zero Week. That’s when the product starts to look more genuine with student rooting sections filling the stands, the marching band and cheerleaders adding to the pageantry and fans of all ages squeezing in together.
Zero Week games have become increasingly popular since this first game results in a bye-week somewhere during the preseason, leading to a week off, which gives everyone a breath of fresh air in the grand scheme of things.
It also gives the banged-up guys a week off to heal, and it gives teams an extra week of preparation for the next week’s football game. Most coaches and players always prefer getting the season started early since they have been working out all summer together and would much rather be lining up across from someone else other than their own teammate.
This season the Valley News Sports Department will be teaming up with Inland Sports and will be on the sidelines at as many games as we can be, but due to print space and manpower, it may be in more of a limited coverage area. If your team is not getting the coverage they deserve, please share photos and stats by utilizing the contact information at the end of this article.
Opening weekend schedule for high school football season for Southern Section teams in our include:
Zero Week
Thursday, Aug. 17 (all games at 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted)
NONLEAGUE
Elsinore at Grand Terrace
Lakewood at Orange Vista
Vista Murrieta at Great Oak
Friday, Aug. 18
NONLEAGUE
California Military Institute at Anza Hamilton
Chaparral at San Clemente
Citrus Hill at Redlands
Maranatha at Lakeside, 6 p.m.
Morningside at Perris
Nuview Bridge at Ocean View
Pacific at West Valley
Rancho Cucamonga at Murrieta Valley
Rancho Mirage at Hemet
San Jacinto at Beaumont
Tahquitz at Chaffey
Temecula Valley at Charter Oak
Temescal Canyon at Paloma Valley
Tesoro at Murrieta Mesa
Valley View at Winchester Liberty
INTERSECTIONAL
Maranatha Christian at Linfield Christian
Rancho Christian at Layton (Utah) Christian Academy
Steele Canyon at Heritage
6/8/9-MAN
Saturday, Aug. 19
NONLEAGUE
Santa Rosa Academy vs. San Jacinto Valley Academy at Mt. San Jacinto College, noon
*All stats, schedules, photos and scores are supplied by local high school athletic directors, MaxPreps, CIF-SS offices, contributing writers/photographers and countless fans of the games via social media. Is your team’s score missing? Let us know if your school is inside our coverage area and would like to be mentioned.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
