The Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn football team saw some different faces on the field August 23 as the Hawks traveled to Hinton for a scrimmage. Although the Blackhawks reached the end zone more often than did HMS, there was no score kept. Both the varsity and the JV saw action.
HMS head coach Jeremiah Delzer felt the Hawks’ play was nearing the level of where he would like it to be at this early stage. “We’re playing with brand new techniques against maybe the most physical team that we might play all year,” noted Delzer. “So it’s new and guys have just got to get used to it. We’re that close on everything. We’ve just got to get there. We’re going to have to watch film and improve, but I think we’re really close. We’re where we want to be and where we expect to be for a Week 0 scrimmage. I don’t think any of us coaches were walking away saying offensively we have to work on this and this and this thing. We were off in certain places but that’s to be expected early in the season.”
The HMS coach cited the need for the defense to match Hinton’s physical style of play. “Defensively, obviously, we’ve got some things we need to work on, especially physicality,” said Delzer. “We learned today that we’ve got to up that in practice so we can compete in the game. But, other than that, I’m pretty happy with where we are. Special teams looked really good. We almost had a kick return for a touchdown so that was pretty fun.”