MT. AIRY, Ga. — With the final Dead Week of the offseason fast approaching, area prep football teams are wrapping up the first half of the summer.
Habersham Central opened a two-day padded camp on Monday, with fellow area program North Hall also taking part as one of five teams, including Hart County, Madison County, and Morgan County also attending.
They all will return on Tuesday for their final camp games before Dead Week begins on July 3.
For all of the five teams, it was the first live contact against other opposition of the summer. Raiders’ coach Benjie Harrison said it’s always fun to see how teams react to live contact for the first time of the season.
“You could tell it was the first time we’ve had live action since the spring. We were a little tentative at the beginning, but that’s to be expected,,” Harrison said. “But as the first game went on we got more in tune and more physical. That’s what you hope you’re going to get with these kinds of things.”
Habersham Central brings plenty of experience back with eight on offense, including three-year starters Carson Parker at quarterback and Zeke Whittington at receiver. They also return five on defense.
But Harrison said getting the hogs up front some live action may be the most crucial aspect of the camp.
“I’m looking for physicality up front on both lines of scrimmage,” he said. “The linemen don’t take part in the 7-on-7s so to get them out here in a padded camp and let them be physical, you can’t really simulate that stuff in practice.”
For North Hall’s Sean Pender, it’s much the same.
“When you have a chance to play against somebody else, it’s always better,” Pender said. “I loved the physicality we showed out there. I thought we did some good things.”
The Trojans also return a lot from last year’s group, including quarterback Tanner Marsh and a slew of talented receivers, and several along the line as well.
“The second year for these guys in the system is a key. I told them after we were done that they are light-years ahead of where they were this time last year,” Pender said. “We’re already putting in some new stuff on offense that we weren’t able to do last year. But staying healthy will be a big key for us this year.”
If intensity is what both coaches wanted, they got it as both squads were involved in minor skirmishes during the day on Monday. The Raiders had a brief scuffle with Madison County and the Trojans had a dust-up with Morgan County.
“You don’t really want to see it but you want guys to be physical and play hard with intensity,” Harrison said. “From that standpoint, you like to see the guys fighting back and trying to compete. These things almost always happen but they usually end pretty quick.”
No one was hurt and all the teams high-fived when it was over. Just the way you want it to end.
