By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
After losing out on a week of summer practice and a second scrimmage because of participating in spring practices, Lopez doesn’t seem to mind at all.
The Lobos are treating their last week of summer practice, leading up to their only scrimmage, as a regular game week.
“The key this week (is) to make this week (as) much like next week as it can be,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said.
Just as each day serves a specific purpose during a regular season week, Lopez is implementing that ahead of schedule.
“We need them to understand what Monday is, installation and game plan day,” Starkey said. “We need them to understand the role each day plays as we get towards a football game. We need them to be intimately familiar with expectations in regards to a standard week of practice.”
The Lobos are preparing like it is already Week 1.
“The scrimmage needs to look and feel as much and as real as possible,” Starkey said. “So we can prepare them mentally for what the expectations are on game day.
“I want them to treat it like it’s the first game.”
KEEP BUILDING: Like most teams that played last week, Hanna used the first scrimmage of the season to see what it could do well and what it needed to work on.
“I thought our first scrimmage went well,” Hanna coach Rene Medrano said. “The main thing is you want to go out and have a good practice against somebody and we did that.”
The Golden Eagles won’t be completely live this week, as at least part of the time will comprise a controlled session. But Hanna will add more live action this week against Edinburg Economedes.
“We’re going to put in another quarter this week (three quarters in total),” Medrano said. “So we can get focused on getting on and off the field, on personnel and making sure everything’s right.”
LOOKING FOR DEPTH: When a large senior class graduated in the spring, Rivera lost several starters and backups on both sides of the ball.
Now the Raiders must fill in the holes left by some of those players. Experience is at a minimum.
“Not getting anybody injured at this point,” Rivera coach Tom Chavez said. “Because we don’t have a whole lot of depth. We’re very young, especially on the (offensive) line.”
Chavez hopes that practice reps rectify the lack of experience.
“We need to overcome that situation, and then we need to overcome the inexperience that we do have in the line to experience the speed and quickness at the varsity level.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.