Lake Oconee Academy got an early taste of what Friday nights will look like this fall when the Titans hosted Bethlehem Christian and The Walker School for a three-team scrimmage at Titan Stadium.
The night allowed head coach Patrick Stewart to see his team compete against outside competition while giving his players a chance to play in front of their home crowd, experience the atmosphere of a Friday night, and face two different styles of opponents before the regular season begins.
“It was our first home scrimmage. It was good to see the crowd,” Stewart said. “It was good for Friday night lights, you know; get them back into the groove. And it was good to see our community finally back out here.”
The Titans also received a valuable measuring stick against two teams that presented different challenges.
“Bethlehem Christian was a really good team, and The Walker School had a lot of speed,” Stewart said. “So both of those gave us a really good look of what to expect for week one all the way through really the whole season.”
Several Titans stood out during the scrimmage, including Griffin Stanford and Alden Barreras.
Stanford and Barreras were named the Titans’ “Dogs of the Week,” an award given to players who demonstrate toughness, effort and a willingness to contribute on both sides of the ball.
Jones Brown also earned the team’s “Standout Award” for exceeding expectations during the scrimmage.
While Stewart was pleased with several aspects of the team’s performance, he knows the Titans still have plenty to improve upon before the regular season.
With several players expected to contribute on both sides of the ball, conditioning remains a focus. Stewart also wants the offense to become more consistent at sustaining drives and controlling the clock.
“Everywhere we can always improve,” Stewart said. “I think the number-one thing we can improve on is, you know, we got a lot of guys that play both ways. So we always can improve on conditioning and just being able to sustain long drives.”
Defensively, the Titans will continue to emphasize tackling, alignment, and assignment football.
One area Stewart was particularly pleased with was the team’s effort. Lake Oconee Academy consistently had players running to the football, something Stewart believes shows the Titans are further ahead than they were at the same point last season.
“Consistency definitely with our effort and running to the ball,” Stewart said. “That was never a question. We’re ahead of schedule from last year at that point.”
Stewart said he believes his players are picking up the offensive and defensive schemes quicker than they did a year ago.
The Titans will get another opportunity to test that progress this week when they travel to face Social Circle in their second scrimmage.
Rather than focusing solely on the result, Stewart wants his team to use the scrimmage to continue improving while staying healthy and preparing for the regular-season opener against Mount Pisgah Christian School.
“We’re going to still focus on us,” Stewart said. “It’s a scrimmage, so at the end of the day, I mean, we love to win and compete, but we want to stay healthy, number one, and we just want to get better at our base stuff and what we do for the season start next week against Mount Pisgah.”
Mount Pisgah will provide Lake Oconee Academy with its first regular-season test at Titan Stadium.
Before then, Social Circle will offer another important measuring stick, particularly with the Redskins providing a look at the type of competition the Titans could face later in the season.
“Social Circle is going to be a really good test for us and look at what we’ll play region-wise,” Stewart said. “If we can win or compete and be play-to-play with these guys, then that’s going to be like us down the stretch at the end of the season.”
With every regular-season game carrying importance under the new power-ranking system, Stewart wants his players to remain focused on the task at hand.
“Every week matters,” he said. “We’re not trying to look ahead too much, but try to take it day by day.”