Seahawks “Do Have To Clean Up Some Stuff” Before Regular-Season Debut

By BRIAN McNICOLL

Offense. Defense. Coaches. Everyone connected to South Lakes High football agreed on one one point after the Seahawks' scrimmage Thursday night at South County – that the team needed to address some loose ends before its season opener Aug. 28 at Yorktown.

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The Seahawks dressed only 47 players for the scrimmage in part because some of the players are not signed up or cleared to dress. The heat and humidity forced the team to practice indoors three times last week – not optimal for a squad trying to break in lines on both sides of the ball.

And that's not to mention the play on the field. For much of the scrimmage, the teams took turns starting drives on their opponents' 40-yard line with 10 plays on offense. South County scored 10 touchdowns during this period to five for South Lakes.

"The lack of practice hurt, but we have a lot of new guys learning new positions," said Christian Wyatt, a senior who started all of last season at quarterback. "We have young guys on the line, and it takes time to get up to speed."

Indeed, Wyatt was "sacked" three times and backup Gavin Satterfield twice. But as Coach Jason Hescock pointed out, quarterbacks are not tackled in scrimmages – they are whistled down if the defense makes contact – and that hurts Wyatt, a scrambler who ended up as South Lakes' leading rusher last season, far more than it does Satterfield, a more traditional dropback passer.

In one sequence, South County scored three touchdowns in its 10-play "drive," South Lakes responded with two, then South County scored four more touchdowns and held South Lakes to just one.

The Stallions, who went 8-4 last year and were knocked out of the playoffs the same night as South Lakes, scored in every way – a 34-yard pass for one, a 3-yard run on third down for another. South Lakes got scores on long passes to returning all-region wide receiver Nick Picarelli from both Wyatt and Satterfield.

The teams then played a quarter of timed regular football. After the teams exchanged punts, South County drove from its 20 to the South Lakes 35, but the Seahawks' Cameron Soto stepped in front of a pass for one of three interceptions on the day by the South Lakes defense.

The Seahawks couldn't take advantage, but they did force a punt and took over for their final drive at the South County 46. Satterfield hit Picarelli for two passes down to the 17, and James Smith, a big, bruising back who has turned heads in preseason, scored from eight yards out to give South Lakes a 7-0 lead.

But one play later, South County completed an 80-yard touchdown pass to tie the score. "There were 30 seconds left. All we had to do was not let the ball get on top of us," said Hescock. "But that's what happened, and we weren't ready."

Joshua Dagbe, the junior returning all-district player and leader of the secondary, acknowledged the task ahead.

"Mistakes like that just can't happen," he said. "Playing with intensity means more than hitting hard. It means focus as a unit and as an individual. We were making some plays today, such as the interceptions. But we do have to clean up some stuff."