CHARLOTTE C.H. – After two weeks of preseason football practice, the Fuqua Falcons finally got to hit players wearing different colored uniforms last Friday night in a pre-season scrimmage against Randolph-Henry High School.

The Statesmen scored twice in the three-session scrimmage that gave each team ten plays from their own 30-yard-line. Fuqua was held scoreless, though the Falcons managed to move the ball relatively well between the 30s.

“I thought we did okay for the first time out,” said FS head coach Skeeter Fore. “The positive for us is that we know exactly what we need to work on.”

Randolph-Henry's lines seemed to have the advantage against Fuqua most of the evening.

“They have a good line that will serve them well this season,” said Fore. “But I think we helped them out a little. We were a little hesitant on our schemes. All it takes is a fraction of a second of indecision for the guy that's standing across from you to get a decisive advantage.

“We now have a scrimmage on tape, and we'll study it. Sometimes a player can't figure out what we're trying to teach them until they see it on tape. Then, they look at it and all of a sudden, everything makes sense.”

Fuqua almost scored on its first play from scrimmage. Quarterback Charles Williams found a wide-open Carter Cunningham streaking down the field, but Cunningham was unable to come down with the catch. From there, Fuqua worked on short passes and rushes.

Williams and Haskins each had runs of over 30 yards, but the Falcons ran out of plays before it could complete a scoring drive.
“We have some things to work on before we head into our scrimmage against Bluestone,” said Fore. “The first couple of games are crucial for us in terms of conference standing.”

Fuqua will host Bluestone on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Prince Edward

Prince Edward didn't get a lot out of its two series of scrimmages against Liberty Christian Academy and Halifax. The Eagles only played two sets of ten-downs on the afternoon. But one thing does ring loud and clear for the young Eagles, who are breaking in almost an entirely new varsity squad in 2010. Hold onto the football.

PE tied LCA 1-1 in its first set of scrimmage plays and played Halifax scoreless in the second.

“Fumbles didn't help us get a good feel of what you're trying to do,” said PECHS head coach Terrence Edmonds. “We fumbled three times in our plays against Halifax. Those plays count toward your ten. Considering where we are, though, it was decent.”

Davon Adams tossed a 50-yard pass to Michael Lawrence in PE's scrimmage against Liberty Christian, and the Bulldogs scored on their last play to even the score count.

“The defense looked pretty good,” said Edmonds. “We would've liked to see how they would've held up as everyone started to get tired, but on the whole, I saw some things I liked.”

Noah Bowman and Raheem Smith each recovered fumbles, and Rashaad Walton had an interception.

“Offensively, we've got to work on our snap, and to make sure we get a clean hand-off to our running backs.”

Prince Edward will host Randolph-Henry in its second scrimmage on Friday at 6 p.m.

Cumberland

The Cumberland Dukes scrimmaged against Goochland and West Point last Friday at West Point. Each team played a double-round-robin of ten sets of plays in the controlled scrimmage.

Cumberland won its first set against West Point 2-1, and lost to Goochland 1-0. In the second set, Cumberland lost to West Point 1-0, and to Goochland 2-1.

“We definitely have a lot to work on, but we'll get there,” said CHS head coach Michael Sutton. “It's all about finding a rhythm and maintaining our intensity.

Quarterback Devonte Booker threw three touchdown passes in the scrimmage.

Defensively, Sutton saw some good and bad against two run-heavy teams.

“Right now, we really need to find that one player who is going to step up and lead the defense. It was a run-fest against us, but that's what those two teams do regularly.

“Offensively, our passing was okay, but we really need to work on our pass blocking. I liked what I saw from Quentin Langhorne at running back.

“Right now, the biggest thing we have to work on is to find a way to keep that fire for four quarters. We started out well, but our intensity seemed to fade as the night went on. We're in shape, so I don't think it was all fatigue. We have to find a way to stay up the whole way.”

Cumberland will travel to Thomas Jefferson on Saturday at noon to take part in a scrimmage that will include Greensville.”

Buckingham

The Buckingham Knights aren't known for ducking their competition in the regular-season, so why should a preseason scrimmage be any different?

The Knights traveled to defending Group A, Division 1 State Champion Altavista last Friday.

The Colonels scored twice to Buckingham's one score.

“Altavista could repeat as state champs,” said BCHS head coach Craig Gill. “They have a lot of speed, especially on defense, and run their offense well. For us, we had those typical first scrimmage mistakes.”

Buckingham, which is replacing 16 graduated seniors from last year's 10-1 James River District Championship team, did have some success.

Quarterback Tarian Ayers hit LA Briley on a touchdown pass, but the night was about giving new players varsity experience.

“We have a lot of new players playing new roles,” said Gill. “I'm pleased now they stepped up, and they played well considering everything. They're athletic, but they'll have to get real-game experience.

“We took turns making mistakes, and defensively we didn't tackle extremely well, but some of that is probably that we didn't get a lot of field time last week with the heat. Still, I liked how we approached the scrimmage. They're coachable young men.”

Saturday, Buckingham will travel to Riverheads to take part in the Riverheads Jamboree. The Knights will scrimmage Buffalo Gap and Riverheads at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.