By JASON KING
Leader sports writer
The Sylvan Hills Bears held their annual blue-white scrimmage game on Saturday night at the Sherwood Sports Complex. Parents and hometown fans came out to get the first glimpse of the 2005 squad. Everyone who follows the team has been interested to see if this year’s team can match the Bears of the previous year, in a season that saw Sylvan Hills win their first seven consecutive games of the year in 2004. Sylvan Hills head coach Ron Sebastian was pleased overall with the performance in the intra-squad practice.
“It showed that we have made some improvements,” Sebastian said. “I think they did as good as could be expected this early in the going.”
Even though it was against the same colors, it was still a chance for Sylvan Hills to break the summer routine of morning and afternoon practices wearing pads and shorts. The Bears went with the intra-squad practice game in lieu of a scrimmage against another school. It was still the first opportunity of the year to fully suit up and make full contact in game-like conditions.
“They got to play under the lights for the first time, Sebastian said. “That’s important to them. It also gave us a chance to see what we may need to work on before the real season starts.”
Although Sebastian liked a lot of what he saw on Saturday, he was also quick to point out that there needed to be several improvements made before game one on September 2nd against Newport.
“Saturday showed we still have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks,” Sebastian said. “That’s another reason this was important for us, it gives us a good guide for us to go by to get ready. There are several things we are going to have to work on before I believe we will be fully ready.”
The scrimmage revealed weaknesses that cannot be seen as easily in a more contained daily practice. The full-field set gives the coaches a bigger picture of what their team looks like in game-like situations.
“We made quite a few mistakes both offensively and defensively,” Sebastian said. “We will look at the tapes, and see where all we can improve. Like I said, there were improvements and some simple mental mistakes, but overall I thought they did fairly good. I was pleased with how things went.”
The Bears will try to match last year’s regular season success beginning on September 2nd, as they host Newport on the opening night of the new season.
