Football scrimmage Saturday

As sure a sign of fall as the changing leaves and cooler temperatures, football teams around the region will scrimmage Saturday signaling the unofficial beginning of the fall high school sports seasons.

For the Granville Golden Horde this means hosting three other teams to have a chance for some full speed live action play heading into the 2011 season. Head coaches Mario and Aaron Torres said they will play host to Cambridge, Greenwich and Ticonderoga Saturday morning, rain or shine on Sam Eppolito Field. Varsity teams will play after junior varsity teams; with junior varsity starting play at 8 a.m. followed by varsity at 10 a.m.

Teams will face off in full speed live action with referees; typically each team will conduct 10 plays on offense or defense before switching sides of the ball. Following 20 plays between two schools the teams will switch to other schools. 

Torres said while the main goal is to evaluate talent and get a look at the team in a live action situation, the most important aspect of Saturday will be coming out of the scrimmages without injury.

“We want to get through the next two weeks of camp with everybody healthy, go into the scrimmage, get an idea where some kids are going to play and get a look at a couple of different kids in a couple of different spots, but when noontime rolls around everybody walks off the field healthy so we can start to prepare to play Stillwater.

With numbers he described as “40-ish” Torres said he was pleased with the numbers but would like any coach always take more.

As food for thought he said students who come out before school starts would miss one or two games while those who wait until classes begin, might miss as many as three games. “It’s never to late. We invite out anyone who wants to play – even if they’re not sure. Come out and watch what it is we’re doing here and if you think you may be interested, we’ll sign you up,” he said.

The prospect of missing a game or two should not deter anyone from coming out to play, he said.

A “good nucleus” of younger players is lead by 16 freshmen and the coach said he’d like to see more players from the sophomore class. “We’re counting on those guys to be building blocks for the program,” Torres said.

Admission is free and the gates will be open for spectators to take up positions along the field.

“We’d like to have people come out and watch and support Granville Football and get excited about what we’ve got going on here,” Torres said. 

The concession stand will be open for refreshments around 9 or 9:30 a.m. and will also have Granville apparel and gear for sale, Torres said.

In recent football news the Hoosic Valley team finally has a head coach came as a welcome relief for the coaches around Class C North. Reports out of Schoharie had the position unfilled with coaches scrambling to try to fill that schedule hole, only to find teams in the area, region and section has full schedules

According to published reports Dan Calhoun, a Hoosic Valley basketball coach, takes the helm for the football team as well this year, not Scott Roy who was expected to replace Jay Harvey, the coach who started the program just four seasons ago.