Morgan County will get one final opportunity to test itself before the games begin to count.
The Bulldogs travel to face Class 4A Cherokee Bluff on Aug. 13 for a preseason scrimmage, giving them a chance to experience a game-like atmosphere before opening the regular season Aug. 21 at home against Madison County.
Although the result against the Bears will not count, Morgan County head coach Clint Jenkins said his team is approaching the contest much like it would a regular-season game.
“I think you use it as a dress rehearsal,” Jenkins said. “Kind of getting in a game week is a little bit different because we feel like we’ve been practicing for a really long time now, going through the summer and stuff. It’s good for the kids to be excited about playing somebody else and getting an opportunity to go.”
The scrimmage represents the next step in a preseason that largely focused on preparation and evaluation.
With the regular season just around the corner, Jenkins said the Bulldogs are eager to see how their work translates once they line up against another opponent.
While the score will not be kept officially, the intensity is expected to resemble a regular- season contest.
“It’s a glorified scrimmage, but it’s the next step,” Jenkins said. “Next week, it’ll start counting in the win-loss column. I think our kids are really excited, and it’s just another chance for us to go out there and evaluate our guys and kind of see where we are.”
Cherokee Bluff should provide a significant test.
The Bears, a Class 4A program that reached the postseason last year, return plenty of experience and will be led by Tennessee commit Dylan Haley, allowing Morgan County to see where it stands against a talented opponent.
For Jenkins, however, the matchup carries some familiarity.
The two programs have developed a relationship through connections between their coaching staffs, with several coaches on both sides having previously worked together in Gwinnett County. That familiarity has helped make Cherokee Bluff a regular early-season measuring stick for Morgan County.
“There’s a relationship there between the two programs,” Jenkins said. “There’s a coaching tie there after a lot of us on both of these staffs have coached together in Gwinnett County. So we know them very well.”
That familiarity also gives Jenkins a good idea of what to expect from the Bears.
“We know they’re going to be well coached,” he said. “We know they’re going to be hard-nosed up front. We know that, for us, they’re a really good measuring stick early.”
Facing a physical, postseason-caliber opponent should give the Bulldogs the opportunity to identify areas that still need work before the regular-season opener.
At the same time, Jenkins said Morgan County’s primary concern won’t be trying to prove itself against Cherokee Bluff.
Instead, the Bulldogs will use the scrimmage to continue building toward what matters most — the season ahead.
“Hopefully, you kind of know what to expect from each other,” Jenkins said. “But in the end, it’s more about us, and us getting better, than it is about them.”