JACKSONVILLE - With his objective to use Saturday's preseason scrimmage, an officials scrimmage to be more precise, Oakleaf High football coach Chris Foy was looking for two things when his Knights stepped up to trade head knocks with Trinity Christian Academy and legendary coach Verlon Dorminey and his handful of state titles and Final Four finishes.
"You can match that kind of game speed in practice," said Foy, who saw the challenge of his just-as-fast secondary to match up with Trinity's vaunted pass-run game. "This is the team's final evaluation for start spots on our team for the upcoming fall. Steel sharpens Steel."
Foy opened with a scrimmage with a kickoff setup that included a long kickoff from kicker Andrew McDaid and an explosive collision by someone on the way down in coverage.
"I want them to be able to punch people in the mouth and also to get punched in the mouth and get back up," said Foy. "We delivered some hits and they did also."
In the first offensive sequence, starting at the Oakleaf five-yard line and repeating play sequences to allow both sides to exercise some play selection on offense and defense repeatedly, Oakleaf had success early with quarterback Jack McKissock finding outside swing passes to running back Chris Foy and flanker Carlos Witherup that kept the chains moving to the Trinity red zone.
"You can't make the commit to anything if the run game is not pushing them back," said Foy. "Our big boys up front were knocking people back and my running back, "Wendy's Son" was running hard out there. We're not going down on the first impact, I can tell you that."
With McKissock trading places near midfield with Foy's second signal caller, Jayven Moreno, coming in and showing off some solid footspeed out of the pocket including a 30-yard scamper to the end zone.
McKissock did connect with wide receiver Michael Conners III on a short post for a back-of-the-end zone catch referees discussed whether he had control of the ball on his final step, but the play was still magnificent on both ends.
On defense, Trinity's pocket was collapsed numerous times by the head rush of noseguard Amari "Biggie" Thomas and the end rush of Mason Thomas as Oakleaf's big boys tangled on an even par with Trinity's equally big boys.
Trinity did flex some downfield speed muscle with a long sideline pattern caught and a post pattern caught between two Oakleaf defenders. Safety James Kitchen blasted one sweep play with a thunderous knockout blow and Oakleaf got a fumble off a hit on a second sweep attempt as the Knights outside defenders showed off strong run support from the outside perimeter.
One massive defensive play came from a blocked field goal attempt by defensive back Kaylib Singleton that smothered the Trinity kicker's attempt.
"That's a game-changer in a game with teams of this caliber," said Foy. "Everyone came away with some positives and negatives today."