Seymour football hosts Silver Creek for final scrimmage

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The next time the purple and black step on the field, it’s the real deal. The dress rehearsals are over.

Seymour High School’s football team finished up preseason play Friday evening in a scrimmage with Silver Creek at Bulleit Stadium.

The Owls beat the Dragons 4-3 in touchdowns scored.

“I wanted to see us be physical and aggressive,” Seymour coach Mike Kelly said. “As a coach, you hope that all of the preparation in the offseason will show out on the field. The other part you want to see is if it’s clean in terms of assignments. There were some good things and a lot of things we need to work on and get better at. We got a lot of guys in the game tonight that got a lot of reps. We’re seeing where we are physically and mentally.”

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In the opening series, which allotted each team 15 plays, the Owls started on offense.

Starting on their own 35-yard line, the Owls marched down the field on 13 plays to get down to the Dragons’ 14. Junior quarterback Brendan Smith then rolled out to his left to find Devin Hill for a touchdown.

With one play remaining before giving the ball over to the Dragons, Smith launched a 36-yard pass down the field to senior Elijah Corwin.

Silver Creek didn’t score on its first series but had chances.

The Dragons got down to the Owls’ 32-yard line on 12 plays before a wide-open Dylan Whitt dropped a pass from QB Josh Landers. The Owls would limit the Dragons to 15 yards on the next three plays.

In the next series, both teams started on the opposing side’s 10-yard line and had 10 plays total.

The Owls scored once in the sequence on a 4-yard run from senior Nathan O’Mara.

Silver Creek had another open drop in the end zone before Landers connected with Whitt in the back left corner of the box for a score. After resetting at the 10, Mike Lowery scampered 10 yards for a TD.

In the final series, the teams started on the opposing side’s 35-yard line with 12 plays loaded.

Smith rushed in for a score for 10 yards after a 20-yard run from O’Mara put the Owls in scoring position. Owls sophomore QB Drew Schroeder then came into the game and tossed a 35-yard bomb to Corwin for another TD.

While Smith got the start, Schroeder took a number of snaps with the first team.

“I haven’t named a starting quarterback yet, but I think we’re getting close to that,” Kelly said. “I think both of them do some things well. It creates competition, and I think competition breeds success. They both know they have an opportunity here. We had a guy that was a starter for the past four years, Alan Perry, leave. We need someone to step up and lead our group.”

The Dragons would score once in their final 12 plays on a 1-yard plunge by Heath Knight.

The Owls’ secondary struggled at times in the scrimmage, leaving receivers open downfield.

“Defensively, in the back end, we missed a lot of coverages. There were a lot of open people running in the secondary,” Kelly said. “We can’t have that.”

Kelly said the defensive line played well.

“I thought (the defense) hustled and played hard, and we did really well at the line of scrimmage. We saw a lot of good things from our defensive front, but we need to clean up the back,” he said. “Like coach (Brian) Balsmeyer says, ‘They don’t score points.’ That needs to be our mantra.”

Both reserve teams also were in the mix on the night.

On the first play, freshman Dylan Fields ran the ball 85 yards for a TD. The Owls would later score on a 10-yard pass from sophomore Thomas Fraizer to sophomore Drew Vehslage.

Silver Creek’s reserve offense scored one passing touchdown on the night.

On Friday, Seymour will travel to South Dearborn to open its regular season.

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