Senior linebacker Nathan Goldie wasn
’t happy after last night’s Red and White scrimmage at Santa
Cruz High. “That wasn’t no kind of scrimmage,” he told teammates.
“We only got 15 plays, if that.” Goldie’s frustration, while aimed
at the scrimmage’s format, was indicative of a general unease about
the Live Oak High fo
otball team’s performance during its first full-speed,
full-contact action of the season. In fact, first-year Acorn head
coach Rick Booth said he couldn’t point to any bright spots in Live
Oak’s showing at the scrimmage. To be fair, Booth did say he was
waiting to see the game film to pass fin
al judgement on the lone preseason session. But he was clearly
unimpressed with most of what he saw.
Senior linebacker Nathan Goldie wasn’t happy after last night’s Red and White scrimmage at Santa Cruz High.
“That wasn’t no kind of scrimmage,” he told teammates. “We only got 15 plays, if that.”
Goldie’s frustration, while aimed at the scrimmage’s format, was indicative of a general unease about the Live Oak High football team’s performance during its first full-speed, full-contact action of the season.
In fact, first-year Acorn head coach Rick Booth said he couldn’t point to any bright spots in Live Oak’s showing at the scrimmage. To be fair, Booth did say he was waiting to see the game film to pass final judgement on the lone preseason session. But he was clearly unimpressed with most of what he saw.
“(We need to improve) in every phase of our game because we have guys playing who have never played (varsity) before,” Booth said. “I’m not sure the tempo was as high as it could have been. We talked about that at the end of the (scrimmage). I asked the kids, did we hit as well as we could have? And, the kids said no. We didn’t swarm on defense like we should have. And, we didn’t block as a group. I think we got better as the evening went on. We got hit in the mouth a few times and asked ourselves are we going to take it?
“We have six days to get better.”
Six days from now, Live Oak kicks off its regular season with a non-league home game against Silver Creek at Richert Field on Friday night. Game time is 7:30pm.
The Red and White scrimmage, named for the host Cardinals’ colors, featured the Acorns, Santa Cruz and San Lorenzo Valley, which was added at the last minute. The three teams took turns on offense and defense, going through a series of multiple-play sets matching up the three teams against each other. There were also third-and-long, goal-line, punting and kicking sets.
Seniors Stephen Webb and Ryan Bennett split time at quarterback, still in a battle for the starting nod. Both had fine completions, but also struggled with errant throws and interceptions. Running backs Dustin Muhn and Kevin Abbott had their moments, too, including Muhn’s seven-yard sprint for the Acorns’ lone TD in a goal-line set and a 15-yard run late in the scrimmage.
“We finally got to hit other people,” Muhn said. “We were a little better than last week (but) we’re still working the kinks out.”
Meanwhile, the Acorn defense, led by Goldie and strong safety Victor Kalata, turned in a few good plays, but there is room for improvement, according to defensive coordinator Glen Webb.
“I think we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Webb said. “We’re still sorting out who the starters are at outside linebacker, and who will play in the secondary. But we got a good taste tonight, a good cross-section of looks.”
