Blaze Football Shows Improvement In Scrimmages

New Burnsville football coach Tyler Krebs had two goals for Saturday’s scrimmages: have no players get injured and see his team get better.

Burnsville did both against St. Thomas Academy, Shakopee and Apple Valley. Blaine was also at the scrimmage.

“I thought we made some good strides both offensively and defensively today,” he said. “We'll watch some film and we’ll learn from the film.”

Burnsville has just four starters back from last season.

“We’re going to be evaluating constantly and moving guys around. We’ll really big on having competition at each position and creating depth,” Krebs said. “We’re still moving guys around, and we will be all the way through the season until the last game.”

Co-captains Chase Roullier, who plays left guard, and Michael Callanan, who plays on both sides of the ball, each had good scrimmages. Krebs said the play of those seniors and others in the Class of 2012, including quarterback Dan Motl, linebacker Brad Scharber and defensive linemen Brian VanderWoude and Matt Deering are critical. “There’s about 15 seniors that are really going to determine our season.”

Burnsville opens the season at home Thursday against Bloomington Jefferson. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

“They’re always competitive, they always have great athletes and we’re going to have to play very well to beat them,” Krebs said. “We’re just excited to give it as shot.”