Ringling and Lone Grove hit the field on Friday night for their first scrimmage of the football season at Rich Gandy Field.
The Blue Devils, who have not lost a regular season game in over two years, did not disappoint their fans. That’s not to say Lone Grove coach Kenny Ridley wasn’t proud of his squad.
Quarterback Tyler Shores, a three-year starter, looked good in the pocket as he directed Ringling’s offense.
“We did a lot of good things tonight,” Ringling coach Tracy Gandy said. “We made some mistakes, but you’re never going to play a perfect game. For the first scrimmage of the year, we played about as good as we could have possibly played.”
Some Ringling fans said it was the best the Blue Devils had ever looked the first time out, which is saying a lot considering the program’s proud tradition.
“We love starting things off with Ringling,” Ridley said. “They’re always a really physical team, and it gives us a chance to gauge how we’re going to respond to that type of team. We made a lot of mistakes, a lot of mental errors, but everything is correctable. We’re pretty pleased with how things went.”
Lone Grove walked away feeling really good about its chances this season. A big question mark entering the year was the squad’s offensive line, where the Longhorns replace three 3-year starters. The Longhorns didn’t have any concerns about their running game or their quarterback, just the guys that were going to be blocking for them.
“I was most pleased with the offensive line, where we’ve had to plug in a few guys. They stepped in and did an admirable job,” Ridley said. “Our running back Dalton Keeton, a returning 1,000-yard rusher, worked really hard during the offseason. He’s back and he’s better than ever.
“And I thought quarterback Jacob McClennahan didn’t make any mistakes. He sat back and made some really mature decisions. He’s a guy that played all last year, and some as a freshman. We’re really proud of the progress that he’s made.”
Eric Spruill
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