Blue/White Scrimmage Thoughts

Rain seems to be the theme thus far this season. We have accumulated about 7 inches of rain in the last 4 days and everything is wet and soft. Tonight at the Blue/White scrimmage, we cut the first game a bit short and the second game only got in about 30 minutes before the rain came. Rather than wait out the rain and continue playing, we decided to cancel and not tear up the field.

For those around in recent years, Flinn Stadium has had a few issues and actually looks very good right now. The grass was long and the kids had a tough time adjusting to the taller grass.

The scrimmages allowed us to see a lot of things from a lot of different kids. We had some kids that have looked very good in practices but didn't perform as well tonight. There were also some kids who have looked average in practices, but played really well tonight. If I could bottle up and sell the secret formula, "what makes a high school kid tick," I would be a millionaire.

We have a lot of things to sort out between now and the 28th at the varsity level. I think it is safe to say that 9 players have a pretty strong hold on a starting position right now. There are a couple spots where there is a battle going on. I think the biggest concern is figuring out the kids we can count on to give us those valuable minutes off the bench. In recent years, we played 17-18 kids a game and always had great depth. This year, that doesn't seem to be the case. Our depth lies in defense, which doesn't get subbed for as much. We need to find who those kids are going to be that can sub at the Midfield and forward positions. One day a particular player looks good and the next day they look lost. We are looking for consistency for sure.

We have 6 practices to get it sorted out as next weekend we host the Midwest Soccer Classic with games against McHenry, Kirksville, and Collinsville.

Tonight former Blue Devil Donivan Bradshaw stopped by. It was neat to watch him harrass coach Longo by asking, "if he wanted to touch his state championship ring?" Maybe this is the year where we can get one too.