BROWNSTOWN

Even if the stands hadn’t been built, the fans still would’ve come.

With the night temperature dipping into the mid-60s and fans posted up on Elm Street, it felt like the start of football season in Brownstown on Friday night.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

Brownstown Central’s football team held their annual Red/Black towel scrimmage at Blevins Memorial Stadium, getting the chance to showcase both their players and upgraded facilities.

Those in attendance sat on the new stadium bleachers, which are trimmed with red, and saw the new press box, which more than doubles the size of the previous media row.

“The stadium looks beautiful,” Braves head coach Reed May said. “It has a great press box and seating. It came out perfectly.”

Towels and other amenities were donated as form of admission to the game.

Following warmups, the Braves went through their usual pregame rituals before taking the field for a live scrimmage.

For those on the field, it was the first full-contact play since Nov. 18 at Lawrenceburg.

“It feels good to pop the shoulder pads again,” Braves senior quarterback Gus Hogan said. “It’s good to be back.”

The Braves’ teams rotated onto the field every 20 plays, with offense and defenses also changing out after 10 plays each.

First and second team players intermingled on the night.

Between the freshman, JV and varsity teams, 79 kids make up this year’s roster.

There are 10 seniors and 13 juniors listed on the depth chart.

With so many underclassmen, May said they are looking at who is ready to make the jump to varsity.

“The biggest thing is that we don’t have a lot of inexperience at a lot of positions right now,” May said. “Watching film, we will have a good idea if they have an idea of what they’re doing and if they have correct technique.”

May said there could still be changes coming to the first team lineups.

“There are a lot of positions open,” he said. “We haven’t made any depth chart changes yet this week, but there are some guys who have impressed this week. We’re young, and what we tell them is that it doesn’t matter how good we are against Corydon Central (week one), it matters how good we are come postseason. We just need to take it one practice, one day at a time.”

Two of the big offensive plays on the evening came from senior back Reece Covert and junior Grant Stuckwisch, who both ran for touchdowns of nearly 20 yards.

On special teams, senior Stuart Hayden blocked a PAT kick.

Hogan, who replaces Kyle Kramer as QB, said he’s confident in taking over at the position.

“The coaches have helped a lot with becoming quarterback,” said Hogan, a former slot. “It’s more of a running position, so I’m comfortable with that.”

Senior lineman Lendon Underwood said the team was excited to get back in full pads.

“It was nice to break up the monotony,” Underwood said. “This is a nice change, being able to hit people.”

With so much youth, May said the senior group is doing a fine job of working with the underclassmen.

“I think (the seniors) are doing a great job,” May said. “Any time they need to run as punishment or anything like that, they’re in front. I think they’re a little frustrated with some of the work ethic of some of the kids. They want to win and do well. Many of them were contributors last year. They want to have success again, and it’s their last hurrah. They’re going to give it everything they can.”

On Friday, the Braves will scrimmage at Jennings County. They will host Corydon on Aug. 18 for the season-opener.

Coming off of a semistate berth in 2016, the Braves are doing what they did last year — taking it one day at a time.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Underwood said. “You can’t just say a team is ready. I think we just need to get better week by week.”