FORT LORAMIE – For a good portion of Thursday’s seven-on-seven scrimmage against Fort Loramie, Arcanum football coach TJ Powers thought his team outplayed Loramie.
Fort Loramie is one of the top programs in the area as it’s made the playoffs each of the past six seasons. But at times the Trojans dominated Thursday’s scrimmage against their tough competition.
While many coaches don’t put a lot of stock in the passing scrimmages, Powers and his staff care about the outcomes and were pleased with the strong results while also seeing room for improvement.
“Seven-on-seven, we definitely keep track because that’s the competitor in you; that’s what I was telling our guys,” Powers said. “I thought we came out a little rusty at the beginning, and I thought for the middle portion of the seven-on-seven scrimmage we played really well. I thought we outplayed them in the middle. At the beginning and end we got outplayed.”
Arcanum and Fort Loramie had varsity and junior varsity scrimmages running concurrently Thursday. On the varsity side of the field, the teams started off the evening with each offense getting three eight-play offensive series.
Arcanum struck first with a 40-yard touchdown pass on its second offensive play but also threw an interception on its eighth play. Fort Loramie’s offense converted back-to-back touchdown passes during its initial possession.
Arcanum’s offense added a touchdown on both of its next two possessions while the Trojan defense shutdown Fort Loramie. Loramie failed to complete a pass during its second eight-play series and then had a few completions but failed to score during its third possession.
“At times our defense was shut-down,” Powers said. “We locked down on them, and we played really well. And then there were just some lapses. And those are the things you just can’t have if you want to win a league title, which we do, and you won’t go the playoffs and make some noise. You can’t have those lapses.”
After concluding the eight-play series, Arcanum and Fort Loramie moved to a down-and-distance situations in which each offense had to gain 10 yards to pick up first downs to keep possession of the ball, like in a game situation.
Both Arcanum and Fort Loramie scored a touchdown on their first possession of the down-and-distance format. Then both offenses saw their next drives end with interceptions.
After Arcanum’s next possession ended on a turnover on downs, Fort Loramie scored the night’s final touchdown.
Both squads then had an offensive series end with turnovers on downs. Arcanum’s final possession of the night ended with an interception, and Fort Loramie’s final drive ended with a turnover on downs.
“Overall I’m pleased, especially for our first one,” Powers said. “We’ve got two nights of camp so we haven’t had a ton of practice, but we have done played-led workouts all summer led by the players. That’s a testament to our kids. We’ve got great kids. We’re really excited about the season.”
