Last Friday at West Laurens, Putnam County’s football team played its first of two scheduled preseason scrimmages.
After a rough first half, the War Eagles hit their stride and played well against the Raiders in the final two quarters. Trailing 20-3 at halftime, they mounted a comeback despite the score not being kept in the second half.
Overall, Putnam head coach Joel Harvin said he was proud of his players’ effort.
“After not playing in a spring game, we had a lot of questions that needed answers. Seeing what kids help us after the summer OTAs, we’re trying and experimenting with different things as you should in the preseason,” Harvin said. “Coming out of it, I was kind of pleased with it. We’ve got certain kids stepping up and playing where we need them to. There’s always a lot to fix in a preseason game, though.”
The War Eagles’ coach would rather see his players make mistakes in a preseason game than later in the year.
“After only being in pads for four days, you’re going to have a lot more stuff to fix than you would a little later in the season,” Harvin added. “We figured we’d have a few issues, but now, we can work on those things and fix them before the next scrimmage, and by the time week one gets here, we should be good to go.”
Harvin felt his team’s physicality was one of the highlights of the scrimmage. The War Eagles’ defense created negative plays by getting into the backfield, and on offense, the line created holes for their running backs.
In the offseason, Putnam had to replace several starters on both sides from last year, so new players have had to step up and fill those roles. There’s been a learning curve, but Harvin felt they did well last Friday.
“On defense, an example would be Branan Griffin, who played linebacker last year but is now at safety. He did well,” Harvin said. “Also, Jamarion Robertson is primarily playing quarterback. I thought he did a good job with a new offensive coordinator and played well. There were a lot of positives to take away from it.”
Harvin also shouted out senior wide receiver and defensive back Jason Clemons and junior running back Omarion Butts. Clemons made several key stops on defense and scored a touchdown on the offensive side of the ball. Butts had several hard runs and managed to make a few critical blocks against defenders for his teammates.
After reviewing the scrimmage film, Harvin felt certain fundamentals needed tweaking by him and his staff. He and the coaches spent this week working on fixing those little aspects of the game.
“I think that stuff can be fixed easily,” Harvin said. “We’ve got film to show these guys what they’re doing wrong and what we can do to fix it to make them better football players. But it will make us a better team.”
Putnam will play its final scrimmage on Friday, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. at Washington County in Sandersville. It will open the regular season at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 16 at Greene County in nearby Greensboro.