Among the things coach Tyson Moore looks for from his Seymour football team are some players who can step up and become starters so the number of two-way players can be reduced.

“Our biggest thing right now is we’ve got so many two-way players,” Moore said following the purple-white scrimmage Friday night at Bulleit Stadium.

“Our depth is not where we want it to be,” Moore continued. “We’ve got some great pieces to the puzzle. It’s just trying to find some of these younger guys to step up in case they have to play. We’ve found out the last couple years there are quite a few people that are one play away from getting in the game on Friday night.”

A lot of underclassmen are going to get an opportunity on the varsity level.

“We’re playing a lot of younger guys, some inexperienced guys, so at times things aren’t always as crisp as they could be. We’ve done a lot of good things. Our kids will joke around and say nothing ever satisfies me,” Moore said. “We understand that hey, we’re going to make some mistakes and we’re going to do some good things. It’s ‘can we stay consistent with the good things that we do? There are always improvements that need to be made. We’ve made a lot of progress. We had a really good practice (Thursday). We made a few mistakes that were kind of uncharacteristic tonight. We dropped more balls than I was OK with. Those are things that we’ve got to clean up, and we will.”

Two seniors Moore and the coaching staff are looking at for leadership roles are seniors Will Gray and Mark Henson.

Henson started at strong safety last fall, while Gray opened the season as the Owls’ starting quarterback until he suffered a broken left foot in the second game of the season.

Henson said it depends where the ball is at as to whether the Owls play man-to-man or zone defense.

“If we’re near the end zone then we would more likely play man,” he said.

He said his responsibility is either to cover a slot, tight end or wide receiver, “whoever comes into my zone, whatever coverage we’re playing. We glance back at the QB to see where he is running and where he is looking.”

Henson said he likes the contact it takes to play defense.

“I like the physicality that comes with it. I’m one of the smallest (5-foot-8, 130 pounds) so I’ve got to play smart, play hard and know what you’re doing,” he said. “I like the competition. There is nothing like it. We’re a family. I started playing football during elementary school. I played a little flag football. As a team we really want to win sectionals because last year we had a downfall to that (losing 34-27 at New Albany). “

Gray said he is looking forward to his senior year.

“It’s almost like a dream playing quarterback for your home town. I live right across the street. You can see my house from the football field. I love being able to lead the offense. That’s my favorite part about it, being able to lead the team,” he said. “I definitely enjoy throwing it down the field and letting the receivers go get it. We’re working on getting better with our blocking every day. We’ve moved a couple players around on the O-line and I really think that is going to help us out.”

Gray said having Jaylan Johnson and Jack Pennington as the main targets “makes you feel more confident. On any ball, even if you underthrow it a little bit or overthrow it, they’re going to go up and get it.

“With Schlat (Alex Schlatterer) and Nick Wheeler both being in the backfield, they’ll run the ball well,” Gray said. “This coming week, cleaning up the small things I think is what is going to help us. We want to see if we can make something special happen.”

Moore said, “There were some jitters tonight understandably. I told the guys that next Friday the season really kicks into gear. We’re finally going up against somebody that is not ourselves. Hopefully things will be a lot better and guys will play a lot looser.”

The Owls will host Silver Creek for a scrimmage at 7 p.m. Friday and will open their season Aug. 19 at Greenwood.

Moore said, “It will be nice to be at home in front of our crowd. The biggest thing I’ve been stressing to our guys is we’ve got to get off to a good start in week one. I’ve told the guys we’ve got to set the standard from game one and go from there.”